| CONTENTS Introduction
WTH = W. Thomas Huyck CM = Christopher Moore |
30 - Washington Trip 1970WTH: You made several trips to Washington? CM: We made several trips to Washington over the years, and on each of them, we visited Capitol Hill and we did as many interesting things as we could find a way to do. WTH: On one occasion, you appeared before a committee [in the U.S. House of Representatives] that was considering cuts in the National Endowment for the Humanities -- I guess that was quite a thing. CM: There was a states and major arts organizations day in Washington during our last trip there when major budget cuts for the NEA were being contemplated, and when Sid Yates [Illinois Congressman and Chair of a House Appropriations Subcommittee] had, in effect, arranged a hearing to help the NEA fight for its life and its vitality. We did a lot of telephoning around in the last days before we left for Washington to see what we could do to be of help in this situation. We're there -- what good are we for the cause. And the assignment that we drew was a delight...we were invited to serenade in the 15 minutes before the Committee met. The Committee was meeting in one of the largest hearing rooms of the House -- old House office building. And the old House office building has not only delightful heavy woodwork, but marble corridors and a great deal of marble and elegant plaster work in the walls and the ceilings of the whole place. So here we were assembled outside the open double doors of a large hearing room, and we were there singing while both the people who would testify and the people who would hear the testimony were gathering. At a certain point, we signalled back and forth with the rostrum, and at the announced hour of the meeting, we got a signal for one more piece, and at the conclusion of it, Sid Yates read into the minutes an identification of who we were and our involvement with the National Endowment, and then made the very nice comment, "Thank you for your elegant and eloquent testimony." And we went off. Now, the other thing that we did -- either that day or the next -- the other thing that we did on that visit was that we went over to the offices of the National Endowment, whose staff gathered (they had no performing stage)...the staff gathered in what little loge they had in the corridors that led to it and we did a little serenade, with a few pithy comments by me saying, in effect, you know -- "We're here both to say thank you and to keep up the fight, that we know that the tremendous amount of your task involves paperwork. Some of you get out in the field to see what is being done; others of you get a feel for what's happening only by hearsay and by all the papers that come in here." And what was the phrase that was being used for our kind of project ...."Misplaced social service?" I said, in effect, we're community and expansion arts. That's what you're hearing -- misplaced social service from the Heritage Foundation reporter or whatever. But we had people with their handkerchiefs out with tears in their eyes, openly weeping. [NEA Chair] Livingston Biddle was not present, but his associate was, and she came up to me and said afterwards, "You know, I didn't know how badly we needed this until you began singing, but I think you can feel the reaction of this group." Before we did our final couple of fanfares and gospels, I said, "We're, I guess what we're trying to say through our singing is 'Hang in there.' We've all got a lot at stake, and we think it is important and we hope you can feel that importance in that salute in our singing." But that was a very special moment, and some of the people who were on that staff have not forgotten it. |