Past, present and future. (Viewpoint).

There are some grounds for hoping that the fear voiced in this column two months ago about the arts being starved in the wake of September 11 was excessive. All around the country, bold plans are being announced that show confidence in the future. Herewith, just a few that we've heard about in the last few weeks.

While many popular programs were severely cut, the new federal budget calls for increases of $2 million each for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

In New York, the Met has announced that it will double -- to six -- the number of concerts given by the MET Orchestra at Carnegie Hall next season. The programming reflects confidence in the ensemble's audience allure; there are fewer sure-fire sellouts like the Verdi Requiem that packed the hall last season. A world premiere by Hsueh-Yung Shen and a flute concerto by Carl Nielsen are two entries on the opening program, and there are two all-Berlioz concerts to celebrate his bicentennial.

Washington Opera has plans to retrofit Constitution Hall to accommodate the company during the 2003 season, while its home in the Kennedy Center is being refurbished. By the look of it, this is no string-and-chewing-gum operation. Since the Hall lacks an orchestra pit, the musicians will be placed behind the stage, separated from the singers by what's described as an "acoustically-transparent scrim."

The Atlanta Opera is moving from the Fox Theatre, where it has played since 1995, to the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center. The reason is not the usual one -- that more space is needed; both facilities boast more than 4,500 seats. Rather, Atlanta's cultural calendar is so full that the Fox cannot accommodate the Opera's growth. Three performances each of four operas was the limit, and attendance maxed out at around 47,000. For the 2004-05 season, expected attendance at the four performances of five productions is estimated at nearly 66,000, ...