Archinect - News

ASU's Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson is announced as President Biden's selection for NEA chair

2021-10-06T13:46:00-04:00

Arizona State University professor Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson has been officially named as President Biden’s nominee for chair of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Once confirmed, Dr. Jackson would become the first Black and Mexican American woman ever appointed to the prestigious chair since the agency’s inception during the Johnson administration.

Dr. Jackson holds a PhD in Urban Planning from UCLA and has served on the National Council on the Arts since 2013. She is currently a tenured faculty member at ASU’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, where her work focuses on community revitalization, race and ethnicity studies, and systems change.

Dr. Jackson is a native of Los Angeles and joins Harvard professor Shelly Lowe, a citizen of the Navajo Nation whom Biden tapped for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) chair, on a progressive slate with shared agendas that look to move forward in their mission in the wake of threats to eliminate both agencies that ha...

Trump's 2019 budget includes another attempt at defunding NEA and other cultural agencies

2018-02-14T14:12:00-05:00

The White House has revealed its budget proposal for 2019 and despite recommending a $716 billion spending increase for defense, Trump wants to slash funding for cultural programs. He has suggested cutting the NEA's budget from $150m down to $29m. Other cultural organizations would also see their budgets broken—Trump's plan would cut funding for the National Endowment of Humanities from $150m down to just $42m, the Institute of Museum and Library Services from $231m to $23m, and public television from $495m to just $15m.

Last year, when the President first took office, he similarly tried to institute significant cuts to these federal programs. Despite his best efforts, Congress—who has the final say on passing the federal budget each year—ultimately ended up retaining funding for the various cultural organizations in bipartisan agreement. Beyond being extremely important to the well-being of the country in general, these agencies also support many architectural initiatives that are ...

Post-Harvey Houston reopens its museums

2017-09-06T14:22:00-04:00

As aid workers and Texans begin to take stock of the destruction wrought by Hurricane Harvey, museums across Houston, the fourth biggest city in the country and one of the areas hardest hit by the storm, are starting to reopen. Gary Tinterow, the director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), announced Friday that the institution would partially reopen on Tuesday 5 September with free admission through Thursday, 7 September. He offered the museum “as a place for reflection and renewal.”

While a leisurely visit to the museum may not be on the minds right now of Houston residents hit the hardest by Hurricane Harvey, reopening its cultural institutions is an important first step for the city to start the long process of recovery and breathe new life into the civic spirit.

RIP the National Endowment of the Arts

2017-03-15T13:08:00-04:00

The Hill has penned an obituary for the National Endowment of the Arts, following its defunding at the hands of the Trump administration and the current Republican-controlled government. As the obit notes, the NEA has been threatened many times before, notably in the 80’s and 90’s following a string of controversial, NEA-funded exhibitions. At the onset of the Reagan Administration, the government tried to give the department, which uses up a tiny amount of the national budget, the ax. Later, controversy boiled when the NEA sponsored an exhibition of Robert Mapplethorpe photos depicting gay men in sexualized and aestheticized fashions.

At the end of the day, the NEA was already a drastically underfunded organization, particularly when compared to government-sponsored art funding in other countries. Still, the move leaves the United States as the only country in the world without a federal arts presence, according to the Hill. That’s pretty shocking.

As I outlined in a previous article...

Trump may eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts — here's why that matters for architecture

2017-01-19T13:38:00-05:00

According to a report published by the Hill, President-elect Trump is planning significant cuts to federal programs, including the departments of Transportation, Commerce and Energy. What else is on the chopping block? The National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. And, according to the report, they’re not just going to get budgetary cuts—they’re going to be eliminated. This matters.

The United States already barely supports the arts at all in comparison to other developed countries. But still, the NEA and NEH are crucial for the survival of arts and cultural organizations around the country. Best known for supporting the fine arts, these organizations also support many architectural initiatives under the rubric of “Design”, a category which here covers: “architecture, communications and graphic design, fashion design, historic preservation, industrial and product design, interior design, landscape architecture, planning, universal design, social i...

Tod Williams and Billie Tsien presented with National Medal of Arts by President Obama

2014-07-30T21:04:00-04:00

Tod Williams and Billie Tsien were honored with the prestigious National Medal of Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). As the highest award bestowed to artists and arts patrons by the U.S. federal government, the medal specially recognizes individuals or groups for their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support, and availability of the arts in the country.

President Barack Obama individually presented the medals to Williams, Tsien, and all the recipients during the recent awards ceremony at the White House in Washington D.C.

Read on for more info:

"Billie Tsien and Tod Williams [were acknowledged] for their contributions to architecture and arts education. Whether public or private, their deliberate and inspired designs have a profound effect on the lives of those who interact with them, and their teaching and spirit of service have inspired young people to pursue their passions"

The list of notable medal recipients also included:

Julia Alvarez, Noveli...

NEA Grant Funds Collection of 50 Women Architects

2012-11-14T16:43:00-05:00

The Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to pursue the project recording the accomplishments of 50 women architects practicing before 1980.

The Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (BWAF) has selected a national advisory council of esteemed architectural scholars to oversee the selection of women architects for the foundation’s new special collection, “Making a Place for Women in 20th-Century American Architecture.” The creation of the advisory council is pursuant to BWAF’s application for a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) matching Art Works grant of $35,000. The NEA awarded the grant to BWAF earlier this year to support the project.

The NEA’s Art Works grants aid the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and the strengthening of communities through the arts. The special collection will honor women architects active prior to 1980 and, for the first time, document their contributions to the profession.

Rocco Landesman, Chairman of the NEA, said, “The arts should be a part of everyday life. Whether it’s...