NEA slashes funds to WNET arts series, elevates digital media

The Arts on Radio and Television fund of the National Endowment for the Arts, a source of millions of programming dollars for public media, is distributing matching grants to a wider range of recipients this year — from a smaller pool of money. Pubcasters are anxious about the plunge in funding to flagship programs and independent projects now that the Endowment’s revamped Arts in Media fund also supplies cash to digital-game designers, app designers and artists working on web-based interactive platforms.

In 2011, almost all of the grants went to public TV and radio programs. This year about half did. The number of grantees was up from 64 to 78 and the total amount committed was down from $4 million to $3.55 million. Alyce Myatt, a former PBS programming VP who now directs the media-arts program, is spearheading the change. Myatt told Current that after she arrived at the agency in early 2011, the staff decided to examine “how artists were using media to create art and how the public was consuming art through different media platforms.” They concluded that NEA’s grants should go beyond broadcast, supporting media artists and developers working on digital and interactive platforms.