Thus the suggested amendment is stated as a matter of principle in language that clearly refers to your organization and to ANTA but purposely does not name them.

The amendment will be clearer if I read, first, the present first sentence in S. 1250, page 8, line 4, section 6(a) under the heading “Administration and Enabling Authority": "The Foundation may appoint committees or councils or panels concerned with particular regions of the country or with particular aspects of the performing or visual arts, or both, and composed of persons who need not be Trustees of the Foundation, or of organizations."

This sentence is incorporated into the suggested amendment, which would replace it, as follows: "In carrying out its responsibilities under section 4 insofar as they relate to the performing arts, the Foundation shall request existing organizations chartered by Congress for activities in a given field or fields of the performing arts to administer for the Foundation such programs or projects as the Foundation may approve for that field or those fields and to expend therefor such funds as may be allocated to that organization by the Foundation. When necessary or when such an organization has not been chartered by Congress for a given field of the performing arts, the Foundation may appoint committees or councils or panels concerned with particular regions of the country or with particular aspects of the performing or visual arts, or both, and composed of persons who need not be trustees of the Foundation, or of organizations." The last sentence of that section 6(a) would remain unchanged.

Following its usual procedure, the NCAG is seeking the opinions of organizations most concerned before voting on the above amendment or submitting it to the appropriate congressional commitees. ANTA has determined its stand. We now request the decision of the National Music Council.

I hope that you will wish to endorse without reservations the first two measures, the Federal Advisory Council on the Arts and the National Cultural Development Act, and that you will also approve the U.S. Arts Foundation bill on condition that the suggested amendment or the equivalent of it, however reworded, is accepted by the sponsors of this legislation. All three methods of aiding the arts supplement each other, as I have tried to make clear. They deserve strong support from organizations and individuals desiring to forward the arts in the United States.

Thank you for your attention. I shall be glad to answer any questions that I can.

Mr. CoE. It seems to me in reading H.R. 4172 and H.R. 4174 and just from the talk this morning I feel that working through HEW is a perfectly sensible way of doing it.

I would be against trying to get a Cabinet position for it at this time. I would rather aim at the more realizable at this time, rather than the ideal.

Mr. THOMPSON. I think, if this is enacted and successful, that it would follow that perhaps the scope of its work would require a different administrative setup and that therefore some time later there might follow a Cabinet-level appointment. People have been talking about this for a number of years.

First we have to get the Government, somehow or other, in the business of not only recognizing the arts here and there but all of them at once which it would do with a Federal Advisory Council.

Thank you very much.

Mr. COE. Thank you.

Mr. THOMPSON. Is Dr. Ralph Beelke here, executive secretary, the National Art Education Association?

Thank you for coming, sir.

STATEMENT OF DR. RALPH G. BEELKE, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, THE NATIONAL ART EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

Dr. BEELKE. I have a prepared statement which, in the interest of time, I will summarize briefly to the effect that my statement does have a copy of the resolution recently passed by our association in favor of H.R. 4172 and H.R. 4174.

Briefly, our association has supported arts legislation in past hearings and many of our members have written letters in support of this, which testifies to our interest in it. Our specific interest, of course, is the area of the visual arts, and we would be anxious to point out here this morning, at least so far being the only representatives of the visual arts, that in a sense the United States is the art capital of the world and that much of the leadership at least in the area of painting and some of the other visual arts which is evidenced in this country is due to the encouragement which was received by many of our outstanding artists during the days of the WPA.

While admittedly the WPA was a program designed to solve human problems rather than cultural ones, we are today reaping the rewards of this encouragement and nurture on the part of the Federal Government in the arts.

We would also point out the President Kennedy recently referred to our society as an open one in the relationship to publicity concerning our recent space efforts. History shows that the arts flourish in an open society and we believe that the stipulations given in these bills would maintain the open context under which inventiveness and creativity can flourish.

So that again, to briefly repeat, we are heartily in favor of both of these measures and we recognize that the arts are important and this legislation recognizes the arts as an important part of our national and individual life.

The legislation also gives concrete evidence of support and encouragement and is structured in such a way that the characteristics of our open society are maintained.

Mr. THOMPSON. We thank you very much and might note that for the first time in a number of years when this type legislation has been under discussion we have not had notice of any opposition to it, particularly from a well-known sculptor who has appeared a number of times, Mr. Wheeler Williams. I really almost miss him. He did. the Taft Memorial and that may be his valedictory-I do not knowhere in Washington.

Dr. BEELKE. I mentioned the WPA thing, I think, largely because Mr. Williams' previous testimony in this committee always referred to this in the negative rather than in a positive way.

Mr. THOMPSON. Yes, Mr. Williams did not approve of anything that was done in the WPA.

Thank you very much for coming, Doctor. We are most grateful to you.

Dr. BEELKE. We appreciate the opportunity to be here.

(The complete statement referred to follows:)

STATEMENT OF RALPH G. BEELKE, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, THE NATIONAL ART EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is Ralph G. Beelke and I am executive secretary of the National Art Education Association, a department of the National Education Association. The National Art Education Association is a professional association of teachers of art from the elementary school through the college and university levels and has approximately 5,000 members. I am pleased to represent the association at these hearings and to inform the committee of the association's support for H.R. 4172 and H.R. 4174. At the recent biennial conference of the National Art Education Association held during April, a resolution supporting these bills was adopted upon the recommendation of the association's legislative committee. The resolution reads as follows:

"Whereas it is a responsibility of the National Art Education Association to be cognizant of and actively support Federal legislation pertaining to the arts: Be it

"Resolved, That the National Art Education Association strongly urge that the present Congress take favorable action on the following bills currently submitted or pending: H.R. 4172, a bill to provide for the establishment of a Federal Advisory Council on the Arts; H.R. 4174, a bill to establish a program of grants to States for the development of programs and projects in the arts."

The resolution also lists companion bills introduced into the Senate. The association has suported arts legislation in previous sessions of the Congress. The record of other hearings will testify to our interest and to the interest of many individual members of our association who have often written in suport of efforts designed to provide Federal recognition of the arts. I can only reaffirm here the belief of our association in the importance of the arts in our national life and in the lives of individuals, and of our hope that the 87th Congress will not only provide Federal recognition of the arts but will provide concrete means for the encouragement and support of art activities.

The specific interest of our association is the visual arts. The work of American artists, painters, sculptors, architects, and graphic artists, is outstanding in today's visual activity throughout the world. There is general agreement that the visual arts of the United States are vigorous and that our country is the art capital of the world. There is also general agreement that the quality of the visual production of many American artists is due to the support that most received from the Federal Government in the years of the WPA. This Federal support was, admittedly, support given to solve a human problem rather than a cultural one. The results culturally, however, are being realized today in the quality of American visual production and in the esteem in which this production is held in the free world and, to the extent possible, by the artists in countries not free as viewed in our terms.

President Kennedy referred to our society as an open one in relation to the publicity of our recent space effort. History shows that the arts flourish in an open society and that it is within an open context that new ideas and new expressions are born. There is no doubt of the creative inventiveness of American artists in the fields of the dance, painting, architecture, music, and the theater, and world leadership and vigor will continue to be ours in these arts if we nurture and support them. The bills now being considered do this very thing and do it by maintaining the open system of a free society.

In closing I would repeat-the National Art Education Association strongly endorses H.R. 4172 and H.R. 4174. We feel the Federal Government should (1) recognize the arts as an important part of our national life; (2) give concrete evidence of support and encouragement to arts activities; and (3) structure this recognition and support in such a way that the characteristics of our open society are maintained.

Mr. THOMPSON. We had scheduled 2 days of hearings. We have done remarkably well.

The full committee is to meet tomorrow.

Our next witness is Miss Marie A. Hurley, the national legislation chairman of the National Federation of Music Clubs. Thank you for coming.

STATEMENT OF MISS MARIE A. HURLEY, NATIONAL LEGISLATION CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL FEDERATION OF MUSIC CLUBS

Miss HURLEY. It is a privilege to be here, sir.

Mr. Chairman, as national legislation chairman of the Federation of Music Clubs, I am privileged to represent the world's largest single musical organization, with a membership of more than 600,000 with 5,500 clubs in 50 States, whose purpose is to raise the musical standards of our Nation, to aid and encourage musical education, and to promote the composer, the young artist, and the musical youth of America.

Today I appear in behalf of the National Federation of Music Clubs in full support of the two worthy legislative proposals under consideration here; one, which would provide for the establishment of a Federal Advisory Council on the Arts within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, consisting of 21 members appointed by the President and the other, designated the National Cultural Development Act, which would establish a program of grants to States for the development of programs and projects in the arts, under which an annual allotment would be authorized of not more than $100,000 to any State having a suitable art agency and proposing specific projects in any field of art for which the State will provide not less than 50 percent of the required funds, such assistance to be limited to nonprofit undertakings, with determination by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare as to whether projects proposed carry out the intent of the act.

Since 1955 when former President Eisenhower in his state of the Union message stated:

I shall recommend the establishment of a Federal Advisory Commission on the Arts within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to advise the Federal Government on ways to encourage artistic and cultural endeavor and appreciation.

The National Federation of Music Clubs has lent consistent support to bills introduced in the Congress for this specific purpose. The National Federation of Music Clubs is interested in a Federal Advisory Council on the Arts as a part of our Government; it welcomes the prestige nationally and internationally that would accrue to American music and the arts by the establishment of such a Council; it recognizes the desirability of American national artistic sponsorship, and the maintenance of the musical and artistic activities of our Nation on a sound and permanent basis which it believes such a Council would insure.

During the 1960 presidential campaign the National Federation of Music Clubs and the American Federation of Musicians requested a cultural plank in both political platforms. Such a plank was included. On page 49 of the Democratic platform this pertinent statement appeared:

We propose a Federal advisory agency to assist in the evaluation, development, and expansion of cultural resources of the United States. We shall support legislation needed to provide incentives for those endowed with extraordinary talent as a worthy supplement to existing scholarship programs.

In addition to this, both presidential candidates last fall agreed on the need for the establishment of a Federal Advisory Council on the Arts.

On August 25, 1960, I received a letter from General Wilton B. Persons, Special Assistant to the then President Eisenhower which stated in part:

The President has asked me to reply to your enthusiastic letter supporting legislation to establish a Federal Advisory Council on the Arts. As you know, the President favors this type of legislation, and the administration has repeatedly asserted itself for enactment. It is, of course, our hope that this Congress will act favorably on the desired legislation, and the congressional leaders know of this attitude.

With such widespread prominent recognition of the basic need for a national arts policy for America, immediate enactment of this legislative proposal is inevitable.

The National Federation of Music Clubs has endorsed the National Cultural Development Act because the financial assistance provided to States under the act is limited to nonprofit undertakings; determination is made by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare as to compliance with the intent of the act; the financial assistance is a supplement to the local effort and not a replacement; also, left to the States is the initiative to support whatever arts projects and programs they consider appropriate. The federation believes that music and the arts need aid just as much as business, education, or the sciences do, and that the Government should lend encouragement and prestige to the arts. Suffice it to say, making the arts a responsibility of the Government is making the arts a responsibility of the people, for American Government is "of the people, by the people, for the people."

Therefore, we urge enactment into law without delay of the National Cultural Development Act which would lend encouragement through Federal assistance without Federal control to arts programs and projects.

Mr. Chairman, our national president, Mrs. C. Arthur Bullock of Canton, Pa., who had wanted very much to appear here in person today to speak in support of these bills, was unable to do so. However, she sent me a telegram yesterday, May 14, which I respectfully request to be included in the record, and which states as follows:

Regret previous commitments prevent testifying Monday in Federation's full support of bills for establishment of Federal Advisory Council on Arts and for grants to State to assist arts programs at National, State, and local levels, but National Federation of Music Clubs reconfirms its consistent support of these bills and urges their immediate enactment into law. We heartily commend and appreciate Senator Clark, also Representatives Thompson and Kearns, for sponsorship of bills.

DOROTHY DANN BULLOCK,
President,

National Federation of Music Clubs.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this opportunity to appear and express the views of the organization I represent.

Mr. THOMPSON. Thank you.

Miss HURLEY. Thank you.

Mr. THOMPSON. Our next witness is Mr. Harold F. Berg, national counsel, American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA).

Mr. Berg, we thank you for coming.