Festival Directors Reject NEA Grant

The directors of the Los Angeles Festival, overriding a vote by fellow members of its board, have rejected a $30,000 NEA grant in protest of the agency’s anti-obscenity stance, officials said today.

Although “an overwhelming majority” of the board’s 20 members submitted written ballots over the last two weeks to accept the grant, 10 members of the board voted unanimously to refuse the grant at a meeting Wednesday, the festival’s executive director, Judith Luther, said.

Board President Maureen Kindel said the festival directors refused to sign the National Endowment for the Art’s required anti-obscenity clause and therefore could not accept the grant.

With only two weeks before opening day, the financially strapped festival is still short of its $5-million fund-raising goal.