Arts and Minds: The State Department Wants to Fund Artists to Create Works for Overseas Museums-So Long as the Art Promotes U.S. Foreign Policy

Butler, Sharon L., The American Prospect

THE UNITED STATES GOVERNment wants to enlist members of the art community to help win "hearts and minds." This fall, the American Association of Museums will award almost $700,000--half of it from the State Department--to American grant applicants for overseas artistic outreach projects. The idea isn't new, but the level of control the government may assert over the actual art is.

At first blush, this program, Museums & Community Collaborations Abroad (MCCA), appears to be an earnest extension of U.S. "public diplomacy" efforts, intended to help our country regain the international admiration it has lost during the Bush presidency. Under closer scrutiny, however, it is less benign. For one thing, the State Department requires that each proposal explain "how this project …

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Publication information: Article title: Arts and Minds: The State Department Wants to Fund Artists to Create Works for Overseas Museums-So Long as the Art Promotes U.S. Foreign Policy. Contributors: Butler, Sharon L. - Author. Magazine title: The American Prospect. Volume: 18. Issue: 10 Publication date: October 2007. Page number: 55. © 1999 The American Prospect, Inc. COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale Group.

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