Art for the red states

The NEA's plans to bring Shakespeare to the hinterlands shows a new approach to support for the arts | Gene Edward Veith

The National Endowment for the Arts, which under earlier administrations had become notorious for using federal money to fund art that was offensive to the taxpayers who were paying for it, has announced its most ambitious project ever: bringing Shakespeare to the American people.

The Shakespeare in American Communities program will mobilize six regional theater companies, which will go into more than 100 cities, small towns, and military bases to put on plays by the greatest writer in the English language. The performers will also go to some 1,000 high schools to work with students, many of whom have never before seen live drama.

The goal, according to NEA head Dana Gioia—the neo-formalist Catholic poet whom President Bush appointed to direct the agency—is to prove that "excellence in art and democratic outreach are not incompatible."

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June 28, 2003, Vol. 18, No. 25

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