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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2009 > August > 10 > Entry
New NEA chief has tough talk for Capitol Hill
Broadway producer Rocco Landesman, owner of Jujamcyn Theaters, is the new chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, as of late Friday.
Landesman replaces Dana Giora, a Bush administration appointee.
In an interview with the New York Times, Landesman said has already come up with a new slogan to replace “A great nation deserves great art,” which he says is too apologetic. “Art Works” betters suits the federal agency, according to Landesman.
Among other pointed statements, Landesman, who has a PhD in dramatic literature from Yale, said that the NEA’s current budget of $155 million — down from the agency’s all-time high of $176 million in 1992 — is “pathetic” and “embarrassing.”
Landesman also advocated re-instating individual grants to artists which were eliminated in 1996.
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