The Arts: NEA Nominee Announced
I was wondering when this was going to happen: A new chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts has been nominated. According to the White House, it’s Rocco Landesman:
[P]resident of Jujamcyn Theaters, a company that owns and operates five Broadway theaters and produces Broadway shows[,] including the landmark productions “Angels in America,” “Proof,” “Smokey Joe’s Café,” “The Grapes of Wrath[,]” and “Caroline, Or Change.”
At first glance, the 61-year-old producer appears up to the job, but it likely didn’t hurt that he held a big fundraiser in 2007 for then-presidential candidate Obama.
If confirmed by the Senate, Landesman’s main task will be to advocate for congressional approval of the 2010 NEA budget, chair and appoint members to the National Council on the Arts, and generally try to create interest in and drum up support for NEA’s arts programs – not an easy task when his budget will be but a drop in the federal funding bucket. It will be interesting to see how Landesman makes the transition from big man on Broadway to head of a tiny, somewhat obscure, federal office, and if he can raise the profile of performers and artists during this time of severe economic anxiety.
[Pictured: Esperanza Spalding, performing at last night’s poetry, spoken word, and music event at the White House.]