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Mixed messages from
the Arts Commission
Lesbian playwright questions bias in funding
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B Y
C A R O L Y N
G A G E
just received a letter from the
Oregon A its Commission (OAC) asking
that I protest the Congressional attempts to axe
the National Endowment for the Arts. These
attem pts are a hom ophobic backlash from
right-w ingers who protested NEA funding of a
gay artist. I am especially concerned with this
backlash, because I am a lesbian playwright/
producer who is heavily censored and
physically threatened for the work I do.
In 19881 won the Oregon Book Award for
my lesbian one-woman play. I began to talk
about funding for women with a number of
women writers. I expressed my concern that
too often the OAC panels that judge the
proposal* are top-hpavy with men.
Although a proportionate num ber of
women were receiving fellowships, our issue
was what kind of “wom en’s art“ m ale judges
were rewarding. I know lesbian women with
grants from the OAC, but not for work about
lesbians. This would be as oppressive as black
or Native American artists having to write
proposals for projects that did not touch on
their experiences in their own cultures.
My own work addresses vehemently the
violence o f men and how it affects women’s
I
lives. I also write about lesbians. My work is
heavily censored by mainstream theaters. I
receive threats when I produce my own work.
Recently I was subjected to an eviction
because of my outspoken defense of my
theater, and the m anager from the hall I rent
was threatened with loss of business for
renting tom e.
My experience is that men do not respond
favorably to my work. I resent that my last
proposal, a musical adaptation of an interna
tional feminist bestseller by a Norwegian
writer, was rejected by an all male panel. The
word “lesbian” had been highlighted in the
text, although I had already written it in under
the categories for cultural minorities.
Several distinguished women writers and I
met with a member of the OAC to discuss this
situation. At the lunch, this member politely
informed me that perhaps I was looking for an
excuse because I was rejected. Would he have
told this to four Mack writers whose work was
being judged by white panels?
In a telephone discussion later with a
different member of the OAC. I asked if he
knew of any lesbian or gay art projects that
had been funded by the commission. He
couldn’t name any. Then he said that there
had been a film proposal by the man who
C arolyn G age
made "Mala Noche" and that it had been
rejected solely on the basis o f homosexual
contenL
In closing, this OAC staff m em ber told me
that the passage o f M easure 8 was a mandate
from the people o f Oregon for the OAC not to
fund any gay a rt
In light o f these experiences a year ago, I
protest the fact that the OAC is publicly
posturing to those on their m ailing list as a
commission fighting hom ophobic legislation
when in fact, according to at least one staff
member and the com m ission's record of not
funding lesbian/gay projects, the OAC itself is
implementing policies that discrim inate
against gays.
(This article is adapted from a letter written by
Gage to Leslie Tuomi, executive director of the
Oregon Arts Commission. The commission
includes "sexual preference" in its statement
ofnon-discrimination).