Throwback Thursday: Crepe Paper Dropping Artist Gets Grant
In 1977, Sen. William Proxmire gave the National Endowment for the Arts a Golden Fleece Award for spending $6,025 — $29,456 in 2022 dollars — for an artist to film the throwing of crepe paper and burning gases out of an airplane.
Proxmire, a Democrat from Wisconsin, gave awards to wasteful and nonsensical spending, eventually handing out 168 Golden Fleece Awards between 1975 and 1988.
In this instance, the National Endowment for the Arts received the award for a grant given “to document on film an event designed to alter an audience’s immediate environment for a short period of time,” Proxmire quoted the endowment’s chair, Nancy Hanks, as saying.
The senator described the artistic endeavor as having an altered immediate environment for the audience “when four, one-mile long, 20-inch wide crepe paper rolls were thrown out of two small planes flying over El Paso, Texas. The crepe paper rolls were accompanied by two sky divers, who reeled out the crepe paper as they (the paper and sky divers) fell to the ground. Another taxpayer-sponsored drop involved a team of skydivers parachuting down to earth in Pennsylvania wearing backpack of glowing gases.”
From the grant, $1,424 — $7,414 in 2022 dollars — was spent on air fare and lodging for the artist and her husband, who served as a cameraman, for a week’s stay in February 1976 on the Caribbean Island of St. Maarten. The artist explained it was necessary to go to the excusive island to film one of the environments that had influenced her development as an artist.
Another $1,713 — $8,919 on 2022 dollars — was spent on travel expenses in August 1976, including air fare, meals, car rental, and airport parking in the southwest for the artist, her cameraman husband, a skydiver, and two of her children, who were ground crew assigned to collect the dropped crepe paper.
The 20-minute movie created by this project “contains only brief glimpses of the crepe paper and light drops,” Proxmire said. “Much of the film shows various scenes of the artist posing in St. Maarten.”
He said the film only made its way to the Endowment after his staff asked to see it.
“While I strongly support the idea of free expression by all creative artists and believe that the crepe paper dropping artist sincerely believes in the importance of her work, I see no reason for the federal government to support these activities,” the senator said.
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