1990 Event Archive
January 1990
Members Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins appear on HBO’s Comic Relief program. Members Jaynne Keyes and Nina Streich assist in the production.
January 1990
Member Stephanie Allen and others represent The Creative Coalition at Albany rally protesting the building of an Interpower Cogeneration plant in Half Moon, NY.
February 1, 1990
A membership meeting on the environment is held. Speakers include Dennis Hayes, International Director of Earth Day; Michael Oppenheimer, Scientist; Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Project Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Fund; Lee Wasserman, Executive Director, Environmental Planning Lobby. Member Steven Haft organizes the meeting. An environment committee is established.
February 26, 1990
The Creative Coalition’s first benefit is a premiere of HBO’s “Fellow Traveler” starring co-founder Ron Silver. A discussion of the present-day threats to First Amendment rights is a featured part of the evening.
March 20, 1990
Members take an active part in Arts Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C. Alec Baldwin, Ron Silver, Stephen Collins, Christopher Reeve, Susan Sarandon, Jaynne Keyes, Patty Ewald, Gary Springer, and Cristine Cronin attend. Silver, Baldwin, and Reeve appear on the Today Show, and Sarandon appears on CBS This Morning. Extensive media coverage is focused on the benefits of the arts in education throughout the day. Private meetings are held with Senators Bradley (D-NJ), Hatch (R-UT), and Simpson (R-WY). Other representatives spoken to are Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Pat Leahy (D-VT), and Cass Ballenger (R-NC).
March 1990
Members participate in Earth Day.
March 26, 1990
Members Ron Silver, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, Jennifer Beals, Christopher Reeve, Jaynne Keyes, and Cristine Cronin go to Albany to ask Governor Cuomo and key legislators to introduce and pass key environmental laws. They meet with the Black and Latino Caucus, House Minority Leader Clarence Rappleyea, House Majority Leader Al Miller, Senate Majority Leader Ralph Marino, and are introduced to the full Assembly.
March 28, 1990
Members Ron Silver, Stephen Collins, and Alec Baldwin address the Congressional Arts Caucus in New York.
March 1990
Members Stephen Collins and Cristine Cronin are invited by Representative Pat Williams (D-MT) to attend a meeting in Washington, DC with 18 other leading national arts organizations.
April 5, 1990
Co-founder Stephen Collins speaks before and emcees a rally of 3,500 students at Columbia University organized by NARAL and Hollywood Women’s Political Caucus.
May 7, 1990
Co-founder Ron Silver appears as a guest defending the NEA on the McLaughlin Show.
May 8, 1990
A membership meeting is held on the National Endowment for the Arts. Speakers: John Frohnmayer, NEA chairman; Garrison Keillor; Kathleen Sullivan, Harvard Law Professor; Ira Glasser, ACLU; and co-founders Stephen Collins and Ron Silver.
May 15, 1990
Members Christine Lahti, Stephen Collins, Christopher Reeve, and Ron Silver address a New York City NEA rally in Union Square. On the stage with our members are over 100 noted playwrights, novelists and poets.
May 27, 1990
The Creative Coalition takes out full-page ads in local papers to pressure New York state legislators who have blocked the passage of the “Citizens Suit” bill. Members Dan Greenburg and Suzanne O’Malley create and arrange for the ads.
June 1990
Members conduct a letter-writing campaign to New York state legislators encouraging passage of the “Citizen Suits” bill.
June 1990
The Creative Coalition is awarded a $20,000 grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation to combat misinformation about the NEA, and to educate the public through artists’ appearances. A committee of publicity specialists work on the grant activities, including Gary Springer, Tobe Becker, Jaynne Keyes, and Jacque Becker.
June 19, 1990
Co-founder Christopher Reeve gives numerous interviews on the “Citizens Suit” bill organized by Gary Springer. The Creative Coalition then sends transcripts of all interviews to the nine New York state senators responsible for blocking the bill.
June 1990
Co-founder Christopher Reeve narrates a public service announcement on the “Citizens Suit” bill.
June 26, 1990
Governor Cuomo calls a press conference on the “Citizens Suit” bill in an effort to get the New York state senate to bring the bill to a vote.
July 1990
Co-founder Christopher Reeve speaks at a New York State Democratic Convention to urge tougher action on environmental issues, and announce the defeat of the Interpower cogeneration plant in upstate New York.
July 1990
Members Joy Golden, Cynthia Adler, and Meir Ribalow create and produce an educational radio advertisement for the Environmental Bond Act.
July 15, 1990
The Creative Coalition joins with People For the American Way at a Hollywood gathering hosted by Michael Ovitz and the Creative Artists Agency, to brief members of the entertainment industry on threats to the National Endowment for the Arts and to artistic freedom of expression.
July 16, 1990
Co-founder Christopher Reeve debates Pat Robertson about the National Endowment for the Arts on CNN’s Crossfire.
August 1990
Member Alec Baldwin briefs members of the Hollywood Policy Center on threats to the National Endowment for the Arts and artistic freedom of expression.
August 1990
Co-founder Ron Silver debates Pat Buchanan about the National Endowment for the Arts on CNN’s Crossfire
August 1990
Member Michael O’Keefe appears on a panel to discuss the National Endowment for the Arts for People Are Talking, NBC-TV, Boston.
Summer 1990
Member David Henry Hwang, author of M. Butterfly, discusses the importance of the National Endowment for the Arts on each stop of a national press tour for the play, and receives coverage in the Miami Herald, Tampa Tribune, Atlantic Journal – Constitution, Boston Globe, and Pittsburgh Press.
Summer 1990
Member Amy Robinson speaks before the Arts Committee of the Nathan Cummings Foundation, on a panel on censorship.
September 1990
Members Susan Sarandon, Christopher Reeve, Ron Silver and Stephen Collins appear on the Phil Donahue Show to discuss the National Endowment for the Arts and over 10 million viewers watch. Member Kathleen Turner appears as a spokesperson for People for the American Way.
September 18, 1990
Co-founders Ron Silver and Christopher Reeve make a whistle-stop “Toxic Tour of Long Island” to bring attention to environmental hazards in the region. Stops include Peconic Bay, Hauppauge Landfill, Mediwaste Incinerator, and Roosevelt Raceway: The media covers the tour and follows up with several investigative articles outlining the dangers posed by these sites.
October 1990
The Creative Coalition’s Warhol grant committee prepares material which results in the National Endowment for the Arts debate being used on a Murphy Brown episode.
November 5, 1990
A membership meeting on “Energy Independence” is organized by member Steven Haft and held at Sardi’s. The featured speaker is Ralph Nader. Other speakers are: Dr. Barry Commoner, director of the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems, and Christopher Flavin, Vice-President of the Worldwatch Institute.
December 12, 1990
A panel discussion entitled “Can NYC Be Saved?” is held. Speakers are: Herbert Rickman, President, NYC Pride; Joe Klein, New York Magazine political columnist; Stephen Berger, former director of the Port Authority; Bob Herbert, New York Daily News columnist.
December 15, 1990
The Homelessness Committee undertakes an intensive two-month effort to sponsor Continuing Education entertainment programs for the Greyston and Yonkers public school systems.
December 1990
Homelessness Committee members sell Rainforest Crunch cookies made by Greyston Bakery with funding assistance from Ben & Jerry’s.
Back to Events
|