NEA Settles Suit by Deleting Pledge Against Obscenity

A district court judge in New York dismissed a lawsuit against the National Endowment for the Arts on Wednesday after the agency agreed to delete a controversial anti-obscenity requirement of groups seeking federal arts funds.

The case was brought last May by New York’s New School for Social Research, the institutional parent of Otis/Parsons Art Institute in Los Angeles, which asserted that requiring artists to pledge in advance not to create or show obscene art is unconstitutional.

Under the terms settling the New York case, the NEA agreed to replace its anti-obscenity provision with a new policy stating that art projects can only be considered obscene if local courts classify them as such on appeal.

A federal judge in Los Angeles last month also struck down the anti-obscenity provision in similar cases brought by dancer Bella Lewitsky and the Newport Harbor Art Museum in Newport Beach.