NCAC Censorship News Issue #67:
Actions by officials in San Antonio, TX and Mecklenburg, NC to bar funding for the arts speak volumes about the likely result nationwide had the House proposal to substitute block grants for federal funds been approved. San Antonio’s city council cut funding for the arts by 15% and defunded the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, a gay and lesbian arts organization, because it’s an “in-your-face organization.”
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Arts and Science Council’s $11 million budget was cut by $2.5 million. A commission majority wanted to “promote the traditional American value system” in the arts. Last year North Carolina’s indecent exposure law was invoked in an attempt to shut down Tony Kushner’s prize-winning Angels in America (Censorship News 6l).