The National Endowment for the Arts was founded in 1965 to encourage artistic excellence and broader access to the arts nationwide.

There can be no doubt about the need. The arts — music, theater, visual arts, dance and literature — are the mother's milk of human expression, and their robust development should be encouraged in the public and private sectors alike.

That's why Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, representing the U.S. Conference of Mayors, was right to urge Congress to oppose the Bush administration's proposed 11 percent cut in NEA funding for next year, and to support restoring funding to its 1992 high point: $176 million.

It's a reasonable request, worthy of support. Last year, the NEA awarded about $100 million in direct grants and partnerships with state and regional agencies nationwide. It's money that seeds the growth of arts education, reaching children who might otherwise never know such intellectual stimulation. And the NEA's grants expand the effectiveness of local public and private arts agencies.

Critics of the NEA have complained that the endowment supports work that is at best elitist and at worst pornographic. Fair enough: Debates about artistic merit will always be raised where public funding is concerned.

But the NEA plays a positive role in reaching underfunded and otherwise arts-deprived communities across the country. It's a worthwhile investment in American culture, and America's cultural future.