i'm ken paulson, executive director of the first amendment center. holly hughes is a widely respected performance artist who is known both for her thoughtful work and as a member of the n.e.a. four. her fight for free expression took her all the way to the u.s. supreme court. she's here today to share her thoughts about that battle and about free expression in america. welcome, holly. thank you, ken. now, a membership in the n.e.a. four-- that's not exactly like joining the kiwanis club. no, it's not. it was kind of an honor-- dishonor sort of imposed on us by the national council of the arts when they took away our funding that had been recommended. it sort of sounds like a bad band, you know, that-- or we were later referred to as karen finley and the three homosexuals, which sounds like a really bad band. i've seen them play. [laughs] and yet this has been a battle. your status as a member of the n.e.a. four has been a decade long, really. yes, it all started in 1990, when the four of us were recommended for funding by peer panels in the n.e.a. an

i'm ken paulson, executive director of the first amendment center. david crosby has written and performed some of the most powerful music of the past 35 years. throughout his solo career and his years with the byrds; crosby, stills, nash, and young; and now cpr, he's demonstrated that music can make a difference. now he's teamed with david bender, a founding contributing editor for george magazine, to write stand and be counted: making music, making history. welcome, gentlemen. it's a book about courageous musicians and courageous music, and at a time when i read on the front page of the new york times that record companies are routinely self-censoring themselves to enhance marketability of music, why this project, why the book, and why the television show now? well, to pick one of your words, courage. we are both very taken with human courage. our heroes have been people who had the guts to stick up for what they believed in, and we saw that there had been no one looking at music being used to gather people in a cause as a phenomenon. the two bigges

i'm ken paulson.t week with another conversation about the first amendment, the arts, and american culture on speaking freely. captioning provided by the freedom forum first amendment center. captioning by tate at captionmax www.captionmax.com

i'm ken paulson. orson welles once called eartha kitt the most exciting woman on earth, and you know what? she spent her entire life proving that. it's our pleasure to introduce our guest, eartha kitt. (applause) ek: thank you. q: what an incredible compliment, and yet what a burden to be labeled as the most exciting woman on earth by orson welles at the very beginning of your career. how did you react to that? ek: i believed everything he said. (laughter) q: what was it like to work with orson welles? he . he gave you a big break in your career early on. ek: yes, he did, as an actress. it was very frightening, working with orson welles, because being as physically huge as he was and having to . well, at that time i was very, very small, like in my teens still. and to work with him was not always the most exciting thing in the world in the manner in which you would think this is, "oh my goodness, this is so exciting. " but it was very scary. and at . at the same time, it was very exciting because i wa

i'm ken paulson, executive director of the first amendment center, with a new program in a series called whitney dialogues at the first amendment center. here to introduce our guest is a cohost for the series, director of the whitney museum of american art, maxwell anderson. thank you, ken. bill t. jones was born in florida and grew up in upstate new york. he studied classical ballet and modern dance at the state university of binghamton, where he began his relationship with choreographer arnie zane. (man) the next thing i knew was that i, like a bshee, was whirling throughout this [...] park, throughout flower beds, looking for coverage so that the bulldozer with the burning logs would not get me. i woke up. in 1974, after living in amsterdam, he cofounded the american dance asylum and in 1982 formed the bill t. jones/arnie zane dance company with his partner, arnie zane, who died in 1988. based in new york city, the ten-member company tours extensively, performing its repertoire of more than 50 works for audiences of approximately 100,000 each year in america and abroad. jones is the r