New Arts Endowment Chief Challenges Critics of Cultural Spending

Rocco Landesman, who was confirmed by the Senate on Friday to become the new head of the National Endowment for the Arts, says the agency’s $155-million budget is “pathetic” and showed signs he is willing to take on politicians who disdain arts spending in an in-depth interview with The New York Times interview

The blunt-spoken Broadway producer said he would seek “more than incremental” budget increases and said arts spending “should be part of the plans to come out of this recession.”

“The arts are a little bit of a target” in American politics, Mr. Landesman said, referring to criticism of adding such money into the federal stimulus package. “The subtext is that it is elitist, left wing, maybe even a little gay.”

He added that he would focus the endowment’s grant making on rewarding artistic merit rather than follow the approach of his predecessor, Dana Gioia, who sought to spread money to every congressional district.

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