(FORTUNE Magazine) – No surprise, arts administrators welcome the Clinton victory as the end of a 12-year battle with a Republican White House over freedom of expression. The same years also saw funding of the National Endowment for the Arts drop 36% after adjusting for inflation, to $174.5 million for fiscal 1993. Says Paul Irving, executive director of San Francisco's Joe Goode Performance Group (shown above): ''We won't have to live on pins and needles wondering if government support will be cut dramatically.'' But nobody expects the government to turn into an angel. NEA funding accounts for only a small proportion of revenue for most not-for-profit outfits. The balance -- ticket sales, foundation grants, and corporate giving -- is dependent on the economy. An extra worry: Clinton's plan to tax foreign corporations doing business in the U.S. They donate an estimated $40 million to $50 million a year, but it's unclear whether the tax would make them give less or go for greater deductions. Another unknown is Clinton. Says Judith Jedlicka, president of the Business Committee for the Arts: ''We know he plays the saxophone, and his daughter, Chelsea ((12)), takes ballet lessons. But how that translates, none of us can be sure.''