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ARTS AND CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES

The 20th century has been one in which artists in the United States have broken free from Old World antecedents, taking the various cultural disciplines in new directions with impressive, innovative results.

Music, film, theater, dance, architecture and other artistic expressions have been enhanced and transformed. A rejuvenation in music, new directions in modern dance, drama drawn from the U.S. heartland, independent filmmaking across the landscape, the globalization of the visual arts -- all of these are part of the contemporary scene in the United States.

What is at the root of all the ongoing creative ferment? Dana Gioia, the poet who currently is chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, identifies one likely source: "The reason that America has had this diversely distinguished history of art, this unprecedented breadth of achievement -- ranging from movies to abstract expressionism to jazz to modern literature -- is because America was and is a society that recognizes the individual freedom of its citizens."

Abridged from U.S. State Department IIP publications and other U.S. government materials.