Giuliani Announces Appointments To "Decency" Commission; "Even Acting As An Advisory Group, The Committee Could Potentially Have A Chilling Effect On The Arts In New York City," Coalition Responds

NEW YORK CITY, NY -- On April 3, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani announced the appointment of 15 men and five women to the New York City Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission, which, according to the Mayor's office, will "assess the extent to which, consistent with the Constitution, public funding for the arts should differ from private funding for the arts."

In 1999, the City withheld funding from the Brooklyn Museum of Art (BMA) after Mayor Giuliani vehemently objected to a mixed media Madonna by black artist Chris Ofili which was included in the exhibition SENSATIONS. However, a U.S. District court ordered the City to restore all funding withheld -- noting that The museum "has established irreparable harm and a likelihood of success on its First Amendment claim."

This February, in reaction to YO MAMA'S LAST SUPPER, a photograph by Renee Cox in the exhibition COMMITTED TO THE IMAGE: CONTEMPORARY BLACK PHOTOGRAPHERS at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Giuliani declared that he would appoint a commission to set "decency standards" to keep such work out of art institutions which receive public money.

"The Mayor's argument that taxpayer money should not support 'offensive art' rests on a belief that, by funding art museums, the City converts the artists and curators into government spokespersons who can be told what artistic expression they may and may not convey," interim Executive Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) Donna Lieberman pointed out in response. "But, this conception fails to recognize that there are a variety of publicly-funded institutions that are specifically devoted to discourse and expression where it is well recognized that the ideas conveyed within those institutions are not those of the government, even if a state or municipality pays the bills."

Public universities are a classic example of such institutions and libraries and art museums are similar, in this respect, she explained.

"Even acting as an advisory group, the committee could potentially have a chilling effect on the arts in New York City," emphasized a group of organizations including the National Coalition Against Censorship; the New York Foundation for the Arts; the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; PEN American Center; the National Association of Artists Organizations; the College Art Association; and Theatre Communications Group.

"A museum might have to look at new work through Giuliani eyes and weigh its chances in court before making a decision," the coalition wrote in a joint statement which is available on the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) website. "City funding is awarded to practically all arts institutions in New York."

"THE RELATIVE HOMOGENEITY OF THE MAYOR'S HAND-PICKED CULTURAL AFFAIRS ADVISORY COMMISSION RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW FAR HE IS WILLING TO GO TO GATHER VIEWPOINTS THAT MAY DIFFER FROM HIS OWN." - Joint Statement of Free Expression and Arts Organizations Opposing Mayor Giuliani's "Decency" Subcommittee

The City Charter provides that the Mayor may appoint 15 to 21 Commission members to serve without compensation for three year terms. The Charter authorizes the Commission to formulate and recommend goals with regard to cultural affairs and policy, foster coordination among government agencies and cultural institutions, as well as perform such other related functions and duties which may be deemed appropriate by the Mayor.

The Mayor states that "The dispute with regard to recent exhibits at the Brooklyn Museum is not about whether someone has a Constitutional right to defame or attack religion, ethnicity, or race. People have a right to do that in America, whether we like it or not. The question is whether taxpayers should be required to subsidize artistic expression that undermines or assaults their deeply held personal and religious beliefs."

The Mayor's appointments to the Commission, which is comprised of artists, arts supporters, and business, civic and community leaders, are:

_Martin Bergman, Freelance Investigative Reporter and News Producer _Bartle Bull, Attorney and Author; Partner, Jones Hirsch Connors Bull; Former Publisher, THE VILLAGE VOICE _Bishop Roderick Caesar, Pastor, Bethel Gospel Tabernacle _Alfred B. Curtis, Jr., President, United Nations Development Corporation; Trustee, City University of New York _Constance Del Vecchio-Maltese, Artist _Raoul L. Felder, Attorney, Author, and Commentator _Alan B. Friedberg, President, Alan B. Friedberg Investment and Development Corporation; Board Member, Metropolitan Transportation Authority; Chairman, Eastside Association, Inc. _Leonard Garment, Partner, Verner, Lipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand; Former Co-Chair of the Independent Commission on the National Endowment for the Arts; Former Special Consultant and Acting Counsel to President Richard M. Nixon _Rabbi Shea Hecht, Chairman, National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education; Member, New York City Commission on Human Rights _Lawrence Herbert, Chairman and CEO, Pantone, Inc.; Member, New York State Council on the Arts; Board Member, New York City Ballet and American Film Institute _Diana Kan, Artist and Author _Bud Konheim, Chief Executive Officer, Nicole Miller; Member, York City Art Commission _Herbert London, John M. Olin Professor of the Humanities at New York University; President, Hudson Institute _Mary Ann Mattone, Trustee, Queens Borough Public Library
_Imam Izak-El Pasha, Resident Imam, Masjid Malcom Shabazz; Member, New York City Commission on Human Rights _Kay M. Pesile, Pesile Financial Group; Trustee, City University of New York _John Howard Sanden, Artist; Recipient, John Singer Sargent Medal _Curtis Sliwa, Founder, Guardian Angels; Commentator _Marta Varela, Chair, New York City Commission on Human Rights _Lester Wallman, Partner, Wallman Gasman & McKnight, LLP; Member, National Arts Club

The Commission also includes as ex officio members a Deputy Mayor, the Commissioner of Cultural Affairs and the Commissioner of Parks and Recreation. Giuliani announced that Daniel S. Connolly, Special Counsel at the New York City Law Department, will serve as Executive Director of the Commission.

According to THE NEW YORK TIMES, Raoul L. Felder was the mayor's own divorce lawyer. The Times also reports that the three artists on the committee are Constance Del Vecchio Maltese, an illustrator and portrait painter who is married to State Senator Serphin R. Maltese, chairman of the Queens County Republican Committee and a founder of the state Conservative Party; Diana Kan, a Chinese-American painter; and John Howard Sanden, a painter who specializes in portraits of chief executives of major companies. Former Village Voice publisher, Bartle Bull is also a writer. Artist Peter Max apparently declined the Mayor's invitation to serve on his panel.

"The relative homogeneity of the Mayor's hand-picked cultural affairs advisory commission raises questions about how far he is willing to go to gather viewpoints that may differ from his own. But no committee can ever fully represent the rich diversity of opinions, ideas, and beliefs that exist in this city and in contemporary art and one that came close would never be able to agree on a universal set of standards," the coalition of Free Expression and Arts Organizations which oppose the committee states.

"His proposal, with his follow-up appointments, are "simply 'indecent,'" observes New York City artist and independent Producer, Dara Birnbaum.

"Given that funding is a powerful factor in determining who gets to speak and who doesn't, refusing funding to a particular type of expression based on its 'offensive' content is censorship," the Coalition emphasizes. "The choice is not between art that is inoffensive and art that is controversial, but between freedom and government control."

"...THE WILD WONDERFUL SOMETIMES SCARY PARADE THAT IS THIS CITY'S TRUE HEART" -- MARK RUSSELL, P.S. 122

New York-based interdisciplinary artist Coco Fusco -- who, with Brian Wallis, is currently curating an exhibition on racial taxonomy in American photography which will open at the International Center for Photography in NYC in 2002 -- expressed concern that if arts institutions receiving public funds have to undergo more self censorship, "it will eventually mean that most contemporary art practice will have to take place underground, outside those institutions, or in other countries."

Fusco is optimistic that art will continue to thrive despite the intimidating climate which the Mayor's commission has created. She hopes that not only will most people will think Giuliani is going overboard but also that art making will continue, as it always has, "to thrive in the underground and on the margins."

Zach Feuer, one of the founders of the LFL Gallery in the Chelsea neighborhood of NYC, is also optimistic. I'm sure the Commission will be ignored, he told Arts Wire. "Giuliani will be out of office soon, and the panel will hopefully just fade away."

But, if the Mayor has his way, art exhibited in museums could be boring to both audiences and arts administrators "who will have to deal with an endless stream of visual muzak," Coco Fusco cautioned.

"The mood in the city is one of waiting until this curmudgeon is out of office and we can try to get the real New York back again," commented Mark Russell, Executive Director of Performance Space 122. "Something that does not look like a mall, that values a diversity of views, that celebrates the wild wonderful sometimes scary parade that is this city's true heart."

In the next three months, P.S. 122 is hosting performances by John Fleck and Karen Finley as well as John Kelly and a hip hop theatre festival.

"IT'S TIME TO STOP USING ARTISTS AND THE ARTS AS POLITICAL PAWNS IN THE LARGER GAMES OF PERSONAL AMBITION AND POSTURING, DEMAGOGUERY, AND VICTIMIZATION - WITH TOTAL DISREGARD FOR THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE CONSTITUTION." - Ted Berger, NYFA

On April 5, representatives of free speech and arts organizations, artists, lawyers and civic leaders -- including Peter Vallone, New York City Council Speaker; Adolph Green, lyricist; artists Chuck Close, Renee Cox, and Hans Haacke; Ted Berger, Director, New York Foundation for the Arts; Ann Pasternak, Director, Creative Time; Alisa Solomon, Executive Director, Center for Gay & Lesbian Studies at CUNY; and Ron Feldman, President, Ron Feldman Fine Arts Inc. -- spoke at a press conference to announce their opposition to Mayor Giuliani's decency committee and their plans to monitor its activities. The conference was moderated by NYCLU interim Executive Director Donna Lieberman.

"The NYCLU opposes the 'decency panel'. We will insist that it conduct its affairs in public and will monitor it very closely. The NYCLU calls upon the art community to organize in opposition," said Lieberman.

Ted Berger, Executive Director of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) emphasized that "The implied threat to take money away from any institution based on decency standards is a threat not only to museums or to the entire arts community; it weakens the foundation of the basic freedoms and separation of powers that are fundamental to a civil society and every citizen's basic rights."

In 1996, NYFA gave an artists fellowship to Renee Cox, the photographer to whose work the Mayor objected in February.

"I'm proud to say Renee Cox was one of our Fellowship recipients in photography. So it is in the context of this fact that I'm here today in solidarity with my colleagues, standing for the fundamental rights -- not just of artists and the cultural community -- but for each and all citizens," Berger said. "It's time to stop using artists and the arts as political pawns in the larger games of personal ambition and posturing, demagoguery, and victimization -- with total disregard for the basic principles of the Constitution."

NYCLU Legal Director Arthur Eisenberg noted that "The Mayor's defense that the Commission is merely advisory is similarly unpersuasive. If the Commission's recommendations are simply precatory, the Commission represents an utter waste of time. On the other hand, if the Commission recommends and the Mayor withholds funds on the basis of the views expressed in particular artistic presentations, such action would violate clearly established the First Amendment doctrine."

The NYCLU is calling upon the arts community to develop a set of principles of artistic and curatorial freedom modeled after the principles developed by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) in response to efforts to curtail artistic expression at academic institutions. The NYCLU urges that these academic freedom principles -- designed, in part, to protect academic judgments about what art to display from the control of funding authorities -- be applied to current situations which threaten freedom of expression in the arts.

"The Mayor's proposed 'decency panel' reflects a basic misunderstanding of the nature and purpose of government funding for art institutions; a disregard for the virtues of diversity and pluralism in connection with expression, in general, and artistic expression, in particular; and a fundamental misreading of Supreme Court case law respecting the First Amendment prohibition against viewpoint-based restrictions by government," said Donna Lieberman.

For recommended actions, contact Svetlana Mintcheva, NCAC Arts Advocacy Coordinator at Email: svetlana@ncac.org tel 212-807-6222 x 23

Sources/resources:

"Mayor Giuliani Announces Appointments to Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission"
NEW YORK CITY MAYOR'S OFFICE WEB SITE -- http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/om/html/2001a/pr105-01.html

Mayor Rudy Giuliani
"The Rights and Responsibilities of Public-Funded Cultural Institutions"
http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/om/html/2001a/weekly/wkly0409.html

NATIONAL COALITION AGAINST CENSORSHIP (NCAC) -- http://www.ncac.org

"Free Speech Advocates Announce Opposition to Mayor Giuliani's Censorship Committee"
NYCLU WEB SITE -- http://www.nyclu.org

Elisabeth Bumiller
"Giuliani Names His Panel to Monitor Art at Museums"
THE NEW YORK TIMES -- http://www.nytimes.com
April 4, 2001

"Giuliani Calls Renee Cox Photo 'Disgusting','Anti-Catholic';
Announces Plans for a NYC 'Decency' Commission"
Arts Wire CURRENT -- http://www.artswire.org/current/2001/cur022001.html
February 20, 2001

Arts Wire CURRENT Coverage of the 1999 Giuliani v BMA conflict is indexed under "Freedom of Expression" in the 1999 YEAR IN REVIEW issue, available on the index page at http://www.artswire.org/current/archive2.html

COCO FUSCO -- http://www.artswire.org/cocofusco/intro.html
Fusco's new book THE BODIES THAT WERE NOT OURS WRITINGS ON THE SITUATION OF POSTCOLONIAL CULTURE, will be published by Routledge/inIVA later this year.

LFL GALLERY -- http://www.lflgallery.com
The gallery, which features conceptually based work by emerging and mid career artists, is currently showing Jocelyn Lee's color photographs

P.S. 122 -- http://www.ps122.org
Currently showing: RAVE MOM (Or: One Woman's Mid-Life Crisis in the Last Year of the 20th Century) A work-in-progress written and performed by Ann Magnuson directed by David Schweizer; David Rousseve: THE TEN YEAR CHAT, A solo evening and work-in-progress

NEW YORK FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS -- http://www.nyfa.org

Frankie Edozien
"His controversial art panel is a goner no matter who moves into the mansion"
THE NEW YORK POST -- http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/28635.htm
April 16, 2001

Arts Wire is a service mark of the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Arts Wire CURRENT is a project of Arts Wire, a national computer-based network serving the arts community. Arts Wire CURRENT features news updates on social, economic, philosophical, and political issues affecting the arts and culture. Your contributions are invited. Contact Judy Malloy, editor.

To encourage the exchange of arts information and perspectives, Arts Wire CURRENT contents are not copyrighted unless specifically stated. We ask that you cite Arts Wire CURRENT as well as Arts Wire's url (http://www.artswire.org) when reprinting material. In addition, Arts Wire is very interested in documenting the use of material from Arts Wire CURRENT in other newsletters, publications and on online networks. Please send a copy to: Joe Matuzak, Arts Wire Director.