Letter: Default forced NEA to recover funds

Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2006 | 7:02 a.m.

Regarding the Aug. 12 editorial "Final curtain call," additional facts may be helpful for a better understanding of this situation.

For nearly a decade, the National Endowment for the Arts has given the National Theatre for the Deaf every consideration allowed by law regarding repayment of the 1998 Challenge Grant. We have great regard and respect for the National Theatre for the Deaf and the work it does. So much so, that we continued to fund other National Theatre for the Deaf grant requests totaling more than $600,000 concurrent with working out a repayment plan.

Because the NEA does not have the legal authority to forgive a debt, we have renegotiated the repayment plan - at the National Theatre for the Deaf's request - four times. The National Theatre for the Deaf's last payment was made in March 2005 and a final notice was sent in April 2006, three months before the National Theatre for the Deaf was notified about its $200,000 from the state of Connecticut.

As a federal agency, we have a fiduciary and legal responsibility to distribute taxpayer dollars per the agency's contracts. But because the National Theatre for the Deaf is now in default, the NEA is required to turn the matter over to the Treasury Department. Any recovered funds go to the Treasury, not to the NEA.

Victoria Hutter, Washington, D.C.

Editor's note: The writer is senior media specialist for the National Endowment for the Arts.