Independence vs. Accountability: Correcting the Structural Defects in the National Endowment for the Arts

Politics has moved to center stage in the arts world. It has been almost twenty-seven years since Congress established the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) as part of the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act of 1965 (Act). Since then, the NEA has faced a variety of challenges, but none like the one which unfolded during the last four years in Washington, D.C. During this time, the very existence of the organization has been at issue