Maddenation
Steve Stewart wins an NEA grant
I think everybody in the family has met my friend Steve Stewart, who is married to my friend Erin Baker. He and I have recently been collaborating on translations of poems by Eduardo Milán, a Uruguayan who now lives in Mexico. It’s been a lot of fun, and we already have nine of them accepted for publication (and a lot more still under consideration). Steve has done very well with his translations, including a book (and another in the pipeline), a poem in Harper’s magazine, a couple online at Poetry Daily, and now, he’s recently been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Grant to translate a Spanish poet named Angel Crespo. I just thought you might like to know. I don’t know if this will change Dad’s views on government money to support the arts.
Patrick • Felicitations • 12/09/04 • 1 comments
Comments
Dad • 12/11/04 • 11:24 AM:Congratulations to Steve. Of course, it’s never his kind of project that causes consternation among the taxpayers. It’s those guys who express themselves by spreading excrement on sacred symbols. Or there was the guy a few years ago who put a curtain in front of a scenic vista at the Grand Canyon. His artistic creation was to pull back the curtain. Any sort of control over the work these grants support is seen as interference with artistic freedom. My solution to the problem is just eliminate the public support and allow private donors to pick up the slack. My belief is that art will happen whether or not the NEA exists. For what it’s worth, there are many other areas of the federal budget that I’d like to see cut before the NEA.
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