After he had cut critical subsidy programs for cultural institutions and placed most of its staff on leave, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is now looking for artists for images in the ‘National Garden of American Heroes’ by President Trump.
A application Page on the NEH website says that the agency is looking for images of “famous American statesmen, visionaries and innovators” on a list of 250 people torn by Trump, ranging from the late conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Samuel Colt, known for mass production of the Revolver; To Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, national football coach Vince Lombardi and Helen Keller. Successful applicants will be put into use for a maximum of three images at the rate of a maximum of $ 200,000 each.
The NEH accelerated 85% of the subsidy programs of the Bureau voor Libraries, Museums and other cultural organizations earlier this month, Reportedly agree To approach some of the funds again to build Trump’s sculptural project.
In addition to his sister agency The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the NEH $ 34 million will contribute to building 2020 For the Semiquincerennial of the United States, according to a press release today, April 24. On the way to the White House in 2021, Trump gave one executive order Require that the NEH and the National Donation for the Arts are a twelfth of discretionary funds to the project. When Biden took office, the garden plans were stopped quickly, but within a few days after returning to the office, Trump restored the project in a Executive Order January.
A spokesperson for the American Federation of Government Employees Local (AFGE) 3403, the trade union that represents NEH employees, expressed his concern that the Agency is used as a propaganda pipeline to promote and celebrate the Patriotism of the President. “
More than 60% of NEH employees have been cut, said the spokesperson for the Union, and more than 1,000 subsidies have been canceled as part of the cutbacks on the Trump administration. Last week the agency introduced a new one ‘Four America! “Grant Program, which will grant $ 25,000 to projects that focus on the” exceptional performance of the United States “.
The NEH Statue Commission application uses comparable praise language And asks potential artists to detail how their sculptures will honor American history.
“Neh Funding celebrated the best in America,” said the 3403 spokesperson Hyperallergic. “Now it is used to build a Vapid tribute. Americans deserve much better.”
From the funds arising from the sister -in -law bodies to create the garden, $ 30 million goes directly to the construction of images, which must be made from marble, bronze, granite, copper or brass.
“It is absurd to think that subsidy dollars used to do things, such as publishing the writings of President George Washington, recovering the artifacts of Mark Twain and the support of citizen education instead are dedicated to give images on order,” said the trade union.
The union said it was worried that Trump’s list of ‘heroes’ was hurried, with little reflection or assessment. NEH staff, the spokesperson said, has the expertise to “offer historical context about these people and their impact”, but the agency does not have the authority to commission these works of art.
