National Endowment for the Arts Support for Literature 1985 – 1994

1. National Endowment for the Arts Support for Literature 1985 – 1994

2. Categories of Support • Fellowships: Direct grants to poets, fiction writers, creative nonfiction writers, and translators • Ex. In 1986, $20,000 to poet Andrew Hudgins • Literary Publishing: Publishing assistance grants for small pressesand literary magazines; distribution grants for nonprofit organizations • Ex. annual support for Graywolf Press in St. Paul, MN, a small independent press; annual support of $10,000 for the Threepenny Review in Berkeley, CA

3. Categories of Support (cont.) • Audience Development: Grants for writer residencies, literary centers, and audience-development projects such as bookfairs and literary festivals • Ex. $7,000 to Fine Arts Work Center In Provincetown, MA, to support payment for a visiting writer series • Ex. $11,913 to the University of Houston to support traveling bookfair and author tours of Hispanic authors in the southwest

4. Categories of Support (cont.) • Professional Development: Grants for conferences and membership organizations • Ex. $90,000 to the PEN American Center “to support programs which provide services to writers” and $175,000 to Poets & Writers, Inc., to “support publications which provide practical information to creative writers” • Special Projects: Projects that benefit the field of literature as a whole and are not eligible under other categories • Ex. $75,000 to writer’s center in Bethesda, MD, to support literary fiction in newspapers and the distribution of radio programs featuring fiction

5. Summary of Findings, 1985 - 1994 • Total value of expenditures declined by 15 percent during the period. When adjusted for inflation, this is actually a 38 percent decrease in purchasing power. • Significant reduction in the number of total grant awards from 298 to 215. • Little variation in grant categories, however some were fairly flexible with some grants not linking clearly to the category they were assigned.

7. Policy Changes, 1985 - 1994 • No Senior Fellowships (awards of $40,000 to established writers) offered after 1991 • Distribution projects declined from around 6 per year to only 1 in 1994 • Increased use of cooperative agreements to fund “special projects” by 1994 • Fellowships for translators became a separate funding category in 1993

8. More about Grant Categories • Flexibility in the categories, e.g., a grant to Woodland Pattern to “support the ongoing activities of this literary book center” listed under Audience Development although there is an existing Literary Centers category. • Grants were awarded to both nonprofit organizations and individuals (i.e., $10,000 grant to Bradford Morrow, managing editor of Conjunctions, instead of to the magazine itself). • A few inconsistencies, i.e., no translator fellowships were offered in 1987; in 1991 there were 48 fiction and 42 poetry fellowships

9. Today’s NEA Literature Program • Restructuring across NEA appears to have eliminated specific categories other than direct fellowships • The number of direct fellowships for writers has been drastically reduced, with 42 fellowships in 2011 as opposed to over 100 per year in the 80s • Translation fellowships have doubled in number and continue to be a separate category • Continued support for small presses, but support for literary magazines significantly reduced in comparison along with writer-in-residence programs and funding to individuals