NAAO+ is a podcast dedicated to the oral history of the National Association of Artists’ Organizations (NAAO). Artists’ organizations, also known as alternative art spaces, revolutionized the experience and presentation of  contemporary art in the US. NAAO was founded in 1982 to serve them and lasted about 20 years.

“We were young and there was a lot we wanted to get done. Nobody told us no.”  - Al Nodal

Al Nodal joins us on our first full length episode for NAAO+. Al was a part of a group of stalwart field leaders intent on creating a national advocacy organization to promote and protect the field of artists’ organizations. He provides a lively look at the years that brought NAAO into being. In 1978, not yet 30 years old he moved from California having worked at two artists’ organizations, 63 Bluxome and San Francisco Camerawork, to take the job of director of exhibitions at the Washington Project for the Arts (WPA). In 1982, still at WPA, and now its executive director,  he hosted the third national convening of artists’ organizations at which NAAO was voted into being. 

With unbound energy, he and his staff exhibited local and national artists presenting nearly 200 shows a year. It was never easy, but sounds like a lot of fun. Al pinpoints the combination of energy, National Endowment for the Arts support, a supportive press in DC, at least, and a deep commitment to artists that ignited the field. He has a different take on the field’s origins focusing on the increase in artists graduating from art school and their commitment to increasing opportunities for artists. over New Left politics. There is a lot here. The history is rich with many people who went on to have a deep and significant impact on art across the United States. A few are Allan Kaprow, Holly Block, Ana Mendieta, Nancy Rubin, Walter Hopps, Alanna Heiss, and Antoni Muntadas. He underscores vision and love of art as the engine that brought this diverse field together under the banner of supporting artists.

Al is a native of Cuba. He co-founded Havana Light Neon + Signs, a historic preservation organization in Cuba to relight Havana's vintage neon signs. In Los Angeles he has restored over a hundred historic signs. He was General Manager of the City of L.A.'s Department of Cultural Affairs for 12 years and President of the L.A. Cultural Affairs Commission for three years. He has also served as Trustee of Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System and the President of the Sister Cities of Los Angeles Association. Al published Memoria: Cuban Art of the Twentieth Century, a definitive reference book of Cuban art of the period. He was the co-founder of the Presencia Cuban Festival in Echo Park, L.A.

Links:

Artists’s Organizations:

63 Bluxome,WPA, and Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans,

Some People:

Holly Block, Alanna Heiss,‍ ‍Walter Hopps, Allan Kaprow, Ana Mendieta, Antoni Muntadas, and Nancy Rubin

NAAO+ is a podcast dedicated to the oral history of the National Association of Artists’ Organizations (NAAO). Artists’ organizations, also known as alternative art spaces, revolutionized the experience and presentation of  contemporary art in the US. NAAO was founded in 1982 to serve them and lasted about 20 years.

In this trailer we will take a short ride through some of NAAO’s advocacy efforts on behalf of artists and artists’ organizations. It can’t be emphasized enough how fast moving the far right attacks on art and artists were during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s coupled with the fumbling by the National Endowment for the Arts and its Chair, John Frohnmeyer. NAAO had to work quickly to get the word out, provide updated advocacy information and materials, and respond when demanded. This was the era of snail mail, telephone lines, pc’s and fax machines. Two reasons we and the field could move so quickly were our already established ties to advocacy on the left, both on a local and national level. The other was we knew our enemy —-Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC). We were well versed in his tactics against communities we counted ourselves as members and supporters of.

Here I cover board and staff advocacy activities, give an in-depth look at Nobody Remembers Everything by Vince Leo, a favorite publication of mine, and touch on the beginnings of the National Campaign for Freedom of Expression (NCFE), an organization that gave artists a strong uncompromising voice in DC and was co-founded by Joy Silverman. People mentioned in this podcast are Inverna Lockpez, Joy Silverman, Penny Boyer, Vince Leo, Lane Relyea,, Leonard Bernstein, Bella Lewitsky, David Wojnarowicz, and Cynthia Mayeda.

NAAO+ is a podcast dedicated to the oral history of the National Association of Artists’ Organizations (NAAO). Artists’ organizations, also known as alternative art spaces, revolutionized the experience and presentation of  contemporary art in the US. NAAO was founded in 1982 to serve them and lasted about 20 years.

In this trailer we will look at NAAO’s beginnings and its strong ties to the Visual Arts Program of the National Endowment for the Arts. NAAO was a hybrid organization providing services and advocacy. The idea that you could be both for and against the government made NAAO a different fish altogether not only in its cooperative beginnings with the NEA but also because of the idea you could simply be for the cause of art and artists, not in service to a cause considered to be of higher critical purpose, or importance. Some on the left have a problem with art being for itself but perhaps this is a misguided way of looking at art. Art is a human creation that whether for itself or in service defines us as human — nothing greater or less — simply human. People mentioned in this trailer include Martha Wilson, Brian O’Doherty, Jim Melchert, Benny Andrews, Al Nodal, Renny Pritikin, Linda Goode Bryant, MK Wegmann, Claire Copley, Hudson, Inverna Lockpez, Helen Brunner, and Roberto Bedoya.