Obama’s NEA Chair Is a Broadway Baby
by Larry O'Connor
So Rocco Landesman is the new chairman of the NEA. The gregarious and outspoken producer and theatre executive has long been known for his bold risk-taking, his penchant for publicity and his leftward lean.
As it is no big surprise that the Obama administration would select a liberal to head up the endowment, the fact is it could have been a lot worse. And, his first interview with the NY Times (natch) he spoke of the arts as an economic engine and how he will implement his new “Our Town” program which would subsidize artists and institutions when they move into a downtown area:
“When you bring artists into a town, it changes the character, attracts economic development, makes it more attractive to live in and renews the economics of that town,” he said. “There are ways to draw artists into the center of things that will attract other people.”
If you close your eyes you can almost hear Jack Kemp cheering this supply-sider on!
Only time will tell if Rocco continues on this path or if he follows in many of his predecessor’s paths and becomes either a zealous promoter of offensive art exhibits paid for by all of us regardless of our objections, or as a liberal whiner bemoaning the under-funding of the arts as compared to ACTUAL constitutional obligations like funding the military.
Also of note in this first interview, Rocco showed himself to be perfect for the Obama Administration… he sounded like an elitist snob:
Mr. Landesman said he expected to focus on financing the best art, regardless of location. “I don’t know if there’s a theater in Peoria, but I would bet that it’s not as good as Steppenwolf or the Goodman,” he said, referring to two of Chicago’s most prominent theater companies.
Of course, there is no doubt that President Obama can lose Peoria and still carry Illinois in 2012, but I like the response blogger CultureGrrl got from local Representative Aaron Schock’s office:
Perhaps Mr. Landesman would benefit from a trip to Peoria to see a production of “Rent” at the Eastlight Theater and learn about Peoria’s historical contributions to the humanities. Additionally, if the Steppenwolf and the Goodman are so superior, they should be self-sustaining. It seems to me, Mr. Landesman makes a strong case for weaning them off taxpayer funding.
Amen, brother!
After observing Rocco for over two decades I will make a bold prediction: He will have the highest profile of any NEA Chair before him. It has often been said that the most dangerous place on Broadway is between Rococo Landesman and a microphone.
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22 Comments
The National Endowment for the Arts is one of the big stimulus winners. Thank you, Congress. What would all those folks who have lost their jobs, their houses and their life savings do without a well stimulated NEA?
I love the arts, but I certainly don't want them funded with taxpayer dollars. Note to artists: if you want to create art, either get a patron or get a job!
Without the NEA, artists would have to either make things people actually wanted to pay for, or get a real job to support themselves. Either way, it would cut into the time they set aside to contemplate how great they are.
I have to admit, though, that like liberal arts departments at colleges, there's a part of me that likes the fact that there is a sanctuary for such people so that they are separated from the productive sectors of the economy and can't do any damage. If I didn't have to pay for them, I'd be all for it.
NEA, just as outrageous as the other "N' word — NPR.
How, exactly, will subsidizing a bunch of already broke "artists" who can't afford to buy anything "stimulate" the downtown economies of large cities in which prices are already too high for "artists" to afford to live? Seems to me that exactly the opposite effect would be achieved, but I'm just a musician who runs his act like a business, so I guess I'm missing something obvious again.
I'll say it every time this topic comes up: I believe in a level of public funding for the arts, and the level I believe in is zero percent.
Good evening BH posters. First, thank you Stage Right , for your "shout out" for Jack Kemp. Up here in my neck of the woods , he was not only a great boost for football but his serious efforts at the economic end of the spectrum made life here a tad easier to deal with. Regarding the NEA, I can see both sides of the funding argument, (and let's face it, it does start arguments-what civil discussion?!) but as a Christian, Conservative working in the arts community I would have to reject any idea of accepting money from anyone affiliated with a government "tentacle". It's that very same "tentacle" that ends up binding you, and ultimately keeping you from saying what you really want to say. If they fund you, they have a say as to what you can or can not do with your art.
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Love the arts. Public funded, not so much. The man who painted the original of my avatar didn't need the NEA or a group like it to show his talents. People will find and discover great artists without the help of pompous elitist twits like Landesman.
Bigger question! Who are they to judge art or talent? All of this is subjective. One mans "Mona Lisa" is another mans "Black Velvet Elvis"………………..
Love the arts. Public funded, not so much. The man who painted the original of my new avatar didn't need the NEA or a group like it to show his talents. People will find and discover great artists without the help of pompous elitist twits like Landesman.
Bigger question! Who are they to judge art or talent? All of this is subjective. One mans "Mona Lisa" is another mans "Black Velvet Elvis"………………..
“When you bring artists into a town, it changes the character . . . ”
The NSDAP thought the same thing, and made sure that there was some "German art" brought into every town.
I love the "Dogs Playing Poker". Now THAT'S art. A crucifix in a bottle of urine? That's a lab specimen.
[...] Read it. Only time will tell if Rocco continues on this path or if he follows in many of his predecessor’s paths and becomes either a zealous promoter of offensive art exhibits paid for by all of us regardless of our objections, or as a liberal whiner bemoaning the under-funding of the arts as compared to ACTUAL constitutional obligations like funding the military. [...]
Moochers and Bamboozle Artists,
since entertainment is the only industry in America:
- President Obama allows to make lots green moola without being attacked by Obama as evil, BIG, greedy,
- is not forced to sit before Congress ridiculed by Sen Barbara Boxer (CA-Idiot),
- which is allowed to enjoy HUGE tax breaks,
-which is allowed to renege union members by outsourcing the jobs to non-union countries,
- which is allowed to propagandize, lie, distort, cheat and steal creativity and truth,
then you have all the financial means to pay for your own f**king crap out of your own f**king wallets.
KMA Obamawood MF!
The National Endowment for the Arts is one of the big stimulus winners. THANKS!!!!
By the way, I know I may have lived under a rock for 40 years or so… BUT WHO IS THIS MAN?????
I shall make another prediction. He will be front and center defending taxpayer dollars on an offensive something this fall. You don't expect him to go through the holiday season without being the hottest guest on the invite list do you?
well,
'When you bring artists into a town, it changes the character, attracts economic development, makes it more attractive to live in and renews the economics of that town"
With all due respect,..
please,..
That's insulting on several levels, the common sense one worst of all.
We're losing our police and fire personel to cutbacks,. closing schools, but a statue,….. by God, a statue,
that'll return our industrial base.
I'm sorry, but my brother is being cut after 13 years, we're out of time and money.
Obviously, Mr. Landesman, needs to take some of that NEA money and travel around to many of the fine smaller communities in this great country of ours and see what artists, actors, musicians, and general theatre folk are doing outside NY, Chicago, and LA. He will be amazed what small budgets and lots of creativity can produce. Anyone can create blockbusters with $10Million budgets, but it takes a great deal of actually creativity and talent to do the same for few thousand. And those small companies do it every season.
To those who ask: "Who is this guy?" Please follow the link provided on his name in the first sentence of the post. But, in short: Rocco is a Broadway theatre producer who has served as President of the Jujamcyn Theatre chain (owners of several Broadway Theatres) over the past twenty+ years. He is brash, outspoken and seems to always make headlines.
This Dude looks like George Soros with a beard. I've got this terrible sinking feeling of more crosses set in jars of urine more portraits of the Madonna smeared with elephant feces and more plays with Judy Garland wannabes singing and mincing around in Nazi uniforms and more logic that defends this kind of… art. O.K. Fine! This is still America but not on the Taxpayer's Dime Please.
Ummm… a lot of regional theatres tend to open up shop in some of the worst neighborhoods rather than the best. By establishing a presence in such an area, what was once a ruin becomes "bohemian" thus drawing a crowd and encouraging other (usually small) businesses to open. Its a slow transformation, but I have seen it happen many times.
…and a lot of them receive grant money from the NEA. Go figure.
listen, i disapprove of the stimulus waste just as much as the next guy, but hold up a second… this i disagree with. do you think the people who work at arts organization around our country, don't have houses and mortgages and kids who need braces? do you think they work less hard than you do? not all art is bad. think about church choir directors and people who preserve old recording and other valuabe not-for-profit organizations that are preserving the american way of life. i dont see how their job is any less important than any other job. but they deserve our support. if you donated some money to them, they wouldnt need the nea… but you dont… so they do.
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