FAIR News: National Endowment for the Arts Civil Rights Complaint
Newsletter
Dear Friends of FAIR,
We’re writing to share a new and important step FAIR has taken to defend civil rights in the arts.
This week, FAIR submitted a formal federal civil rights complaint to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) against Maestra Music, Inc. and the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) after they funded and facilitated a discriminatory hiring opportunity that excluded applicants based on sex and race.
In 2023, Maestra and Musicians United for Social Equity (MUSE), in collaboration with the Broadway production Wicked, advertised a three-week paid apprenticeship for aspiring music directors. This opportunity was funded in part by federal grants awarded by the NEA to NYSCA and then passed on to Maestra.
The program was “exclusively open” to members of Maestra or MUSE, but there was a catch: Maestra’s membership was restricted to women and nonbinary individuals, and MUSE only accepted “people of color.”
Kevin Lynch, a talented music director and FAIR in the Arts member who happens to be a white male—and thus a member of federally protected classes under Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act—tried to apply. His applications to both Maestra and MUSE were denied or indefinitely delayed, effectively blocking him from eligibility.
What We’re Challenging
FAIR’s complaint outlines multiple civil rights violations:
Discriminatory Exclusion: Mr. Lynch was denied access to a publicly funded program solely because of his race and sex.
Misuse of Federal Funds: Maestra, an indirect recipient of federal funding through NYSCA, restricted access to a federally supported program in clear violation of Title VI.
Regulatory Noncompliance: NYSCA failed to ensure subrecipient compliance with anti-discrimination laws.
Inconsistent Reporting: Maestra reported different employee counts across various filings and complaints, raising questions about transparency and eligibility under civil rights statutes.
Importantly, this case arrives just as the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in Ames v. Ohio Dept. of Youth Services (2025), affirming that majority-group plaintiffs are equally protected under Title VII. The Court left “no room for courts to impose special requirements on majority-group plaintiffs alone.”
What We’re Asking For
FAIR’s complaint requests that the NEA:
Direct Maestra and NYSCA to revise policies and eligibility criteria to comply with Title VI.
Ensure that Mr. Lynch and others like him can access future opportunities on equal terms.
Mandate civil rights training for NYSCA and Maestra staff.
Launch an investigation into Maestra’s use of federal funds and reporting inconsistencies.
Require oversight mechanisms for NYSCA to prevent similar exclusions in future programs.
Why It Matters
Federal funding should never be used to divide Americans by race or gender. Every artist, creator, and citizen deserves equal access to publicly funded opportunities—no matter their background. We cannot allow a two-tiered system to take root in our institutions, least of all in the arts, where inclusivity and expression should be celebrated.
FAIR stands firmly for fairness—not just for some, but for all.
Warmly,
The Team at FAIR
Join FAIR in Conversation at its next gathering to discuss Facing the Beast: Courage, Faith, and Resistance in a New Dark Age by Naomi Wolf. NY Times best-selling author and celebrated liberal journalist Naomi Wolf chronicles the censorship, surveillance, lies, and violations of individual Constitutional rights that took hold during the Covid era. A decades-long champion of free speech and freedom of the press, Wolf writes a deeply personal and critical reflection that exposes the dangerous descent of global democracies into tyranny, censorship, and totalitarianism that led to her political and spiritual transformation.
Date and Time: June 25th, 2025, 7:00PM ET
Registration link coming soon!
FITA Launch ‘Afraid to Speak Freely’ – Survey of freedom of expression in the arts 2025
We’re excited to share our newly released report, Afraid to Speak Freely, which delves deep into the current state of free expression within the arts.
This comprehensive survey of over 480 artists and professionals highlights some alarming trends—most notably, a widespread climate of self-censorship, fear, and professional reprisals. The report underscores the growing pressures to conform ideologically, with many artists now feeling that expressing dissenting views could result in career-ending consequences.
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This reminds me of a workshop I took at New York Foundation for the Arts last July on writing a successful cover letter when querying to literary journals.
The panel were all 'queer' this, BIPOC that, me me me me...its function seemed to be telling white people to go to hell unless they're 'queer.'
One panelist claimed that the best cover letter she ever got went as follows: I'm a big fat black dyke and I....
In the chat I dared to suggest that the quality of the writing is what matters. Not the identity of the writer.
Later, I discovered that Rita Mookerjee, one of the panelists, posted a comment about me on X, calling me a "racist colonizer."
Further investigation revealed that Mookerjee has made public that she "avoids whyte people as much as possible..."
While seeking tenure at Worcester State University, which has a high percentage of white students.
The journal Mookerjee edits expressly says they won't publish white men.
I asked Mookerjee to remove my name from her post on X.
She responded with numerous racist epithets, written in lower case, including other vulgar expressions.
This person holds a PhD. Calls herself "Dr. Bitch" on X.
Nice, huh? Is this what 'inclusive' means?
I really want to know how the landscape is improved with people like this put into positions of power. Are Mookerjee's white students "safe" with her?
If a benign - and factual -- comment on the quality of writing deserves so much vitriol, in Mookerjee's opinion -- can you imagine how this vicious ideologue grades her students' papers, much less responds to their saying anything that she doesn't agree with?
Another great step taken by FAIR - kudos to your team for this!