Podcast: Mellon Foundation Remains a Bulwark for the Humanities
When President Lyndon Johnson signed the 1965 law that created the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities, one of the people at his side was Paul Mellon, son of Andrew Mellon, the banking magnate and founding patron of the National Gallery of the Art.
Four years later, philanthropies headed by Paul Mellon and his sister, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, merged to form the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which has steadfastly kept up the family’s commitment to the liberal arts.
Today, with funding for NEA and NEH in jeopardy, the Mellon Foundation’s website prominently features an article on why America needs the federal culture bodies. In this edition of the Business of Giving, Earl Lewis, Mellon’s president, makes the case for maintaining the agencies, which he says play a critical role in connecting citizens to the history and culture of their communities...