To put it bluntly, this here is some bullshit. From the NY Times interview with new NEA Chair Rocco Landesman:
And while he praised the way recent endowment chairmen have carefully rebuilt the agency’s political standing, Mr. Landesman — who is known more as an independent entrepreneur than as a diplomatic company man — said he was not planning to follow too closely in their footsteps. While Dana Gioia, his immediate predecessor, made a point of spreading endowment funds to every Congressional district, for example, 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. “There is going to be some push-back from me about democratizing arts grants to the point where you really have to answer some questions about artistic merit.
“And frankly,” he added, “there are some institutions on the precipice that should go over it. We might be overbuilt in some cases.”
Mr. Landesman does believe that the agency should be “perceived as being everywhere,” he said. “But I don’t know that we have to be everywhere if the only reason for supporting an institution is its geography.”Back in May, when word spread of his nomination, I wrote on the Theatre Ideas blog about my qualms:
My uneasiness, perhaps predictably, is with his seeming NY-centricity. It is my sincere hope that Dana Gaoia’s support for geographical diversity for the arts will continue to be championed by Landesman. If the NEA is going to receive the funding it deserves, it will have to reach out to all of the states and districts in this nation, and not only those in the Northeast and in the urban areas. I also hope that Landesman will use his bully pulpit to lead both the public and the arts themselves. I hope he will speak and write extensively, and provide a sense of direction for the arts in the country.
Tut-tut, I was told. Don’t worry your little head. Rocco Landesman is exactly what we need. Right. Now we have this interview, a clear indication that he is the Ny-centric, high art (or rather, high budget — despite his talk of quality, what he is really talking about is big budget, high prestige institutions) proponent I thought he was. I call on all readers of this blog to communicate your outrage to Landesman. He can be emailed at chairman@arts.gov, called at 202-682-5414, or sent a letter at 1100 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20506.
The arts must be for everyone, not just people who live in the big cities in this nation. If you really want to see the NEA budget slashed because legislators don’t see any of the money coming to their home districts, just keep trumpeting this elitist nonsense. Landesman needs to read Grassroots Theatre by Robert Gard and learn about the long tradition in this country of democratic, widespread creativity. Theatre historians during the past 35 years or so have virtually ignored this, despite the fact that some of the most important art of the first half of the century came from it (Provincetown Players, for instance, was part of the Little Theatre movement, for crying loud; the Pulitzer Prize winning Paul Green wrote regional based plays in North Carolina).
Don’t throw up your hands and be silent. Let the NEA know that you are out here, that you care about geographic diversity, that an unexamined notion of “quality” is just a code word for elitism and support for the status quo. And while you’re at it, write to the President as well and let him know what you think about his choice for the NEA. There needs to be a ringing rejection of this Ivy League BS.
easy now. he hasn’t even started work yet. lets give him a week or two before slamming him… maybe he means exactly what he says? maybe it is quality over size or scale… i myself am holding tight.
Quality is a code word that has been used since the beginning of the 20th century as a way of supporting the values and preferences of the elite. It isn’t a neutral value. What he is saying is that he plans to support the metropolitan mainstream megaliths and ignore the need for geographic diversity. It is the equivalent of bailing out the huge banks and the US auto companies whose poor policies have caused them to be bloated, ineffective, and uncreative. The rich get richer — that is a Republican sentiment. Landesman needs to be reminded that he is part of a Democratic administration, and he needs to be more aware of what is happening outside of the major cities. That decentralization is necessary. And we wait to respond at our peril.
You make a jump in your reasoning that makes no sense to me. Why, when he talks about quality, do you assume he means, “big budget, high prestige institutions?”
I’m with “easynow.” Also, I don’t believe that quality is a “code word.” Little too much paranoia here.
Let’s see, Jim511, what does he say? “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. “There is going to be some push-back from me about democratizing arts grants to the point where you really have to answer some questions about artistic merit.”
First of all, it is his job to know whether there’s a theater in Peoria. Second, his belief that Steppenwolf and Goodman are OF COURSE higher quality than anything in Peoria (much less Amery WI) indicates a certain mindset.
Call it paranoia if you wish, but I have seen it all too often. It is the default for our attitudes about the arts in the country. I wrote my dissertation about Robert Brustein, who used to fulminate regularly about the NEA giving grants to folk arts and other less “prestigious” arts organizations than his theatres at Yale and Harvard, and Landesman is a mentee of Brustein.
By the way, “democratizing arts grants” is the code word when coupled with the words “artistic merit.” He is talking about increasing the hierarchy again.
It really is s slippery slope, at the end of the day, when it comes to nationally-based arts support.
One of the primary things at issue is the idea of “quality control” and “artistic merit.” Nobody, bureaucrats particularly, want to be caught funding things with no merit, after all.
However, I do agree that the Peoria reference indicates a somewhat disturbing outlook. While Mr. Landesman may very well be correct in his assertion, with an attitude like that… Peoria’s theatre (or those of any other towns) may not get support to develop and grow into the quality that those citizens deserve.
Personally, I think the NEA should distribute their grant money to the state arts agencies so that they can get a little closer to where they need to go. As a theatre professional in Ohio, I can tell you we’re suffering from major cutbacks at the state level.
I’ll have to say that, in principle, I am in agreement with Darin on this. While I am not particularly opposed to some sort of central, federal funding source… I feel that the primacy needs to come from the states.
As de Tocqueville illustrated in “Democracy in America,” there is no single American nation, but instead a collection of sovereignties. Sensibility and, more importantly, the need for access should be the overarching concern.
How can he criticize the past NEA chairman who achieved credibility for the NEA with congress? And how was this credibility developed? Through listening to Congress.
Mr. Landesman feels he is empowered to make decisions for the NEA that are an abrupt change to that which was working. In addition, Mr. Landesman is ignoring that Congress is who he must please to keep funding to his agency.
Wake up Mr. Landsman – you are not in power, you are in service to our country.
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Definitely the mention of Steppenwolf and the Goodman make me nervous. It is patently obvious that Steppenwolf and the Goodman don’t need anything more from the NEA than a tip of the hat and a blessing. I’m sure they get plenty of money from their subscribers and their ticket sales and I’m guessing other grants.
The idea that he might try to pipe the efforts into theatres like that that, or Broadway even, irritates me. Especially since he did more or less claim that this hypothetical theatre in Peoria must suck, obviously, since it’s in Peoria.
I know my local theatre just had to fire it’s extremely qualified Artistic Director due to lack of funding and now the Executive Director has to perform both duties. Clearly this will produce a drop in quality that wouldn’t have happened if it had the funding it needed.
I don’t see Steppenwolf being forced into situations like that.
His philosophy is going to put a lot of non Chicago, L.A. or New York theatres into a Catch-22 mania. It sucks.
[...] and I am VERY familiar with the types of communities and arts that Scott is advocating for. In Time to Blast Rocco Landesman, Scott is starting an outright campaign in response to Landesman’s geographic comments. Now we [...]