Dear Mr. President

Dear Mr. President,

As your administration approaches the many challenges facing our country, I hope you will consider a bold program of cultural diplomacy as one answer to the problem of improving and maintaining international relations. In particular, I urge your administration to implement a widespread and fully sponsored international touring and residency campaign along with a variety of cultural exchange programs, all of which would involve a comprehensive collection of professional American orchestras.

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Will Michael Dorf Lead The NEA?

According to the 1/16/2009 edition of the Los Angeles Times in an article by Allan M. Jalon, it appears that Michael Dorf, founding partner of Chicago law firm Adducci Dorf Lehner Mitchell & Blankenship has emerged as a frontrunner to lead the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA). According to his professional profile, Mr. Dorf is a specialist in arts law and is a nationally recognized authority on political strategy and cultural planning at the national and local levels. By all accounts, Mr. Dorf would be a welcome figure inside the Federal arts policymaking machine…

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Expanding The National Arts Office Discussion

There has been some intriguing discussion throughout the blogosphere following the article from earlier this week about the possibility of a White House based Office of the Arts. Ian Wilhelm picked up on the conversation via an article he posted at the Chronicle of Philanthropy and reader response to the idea has been surprising (at least, to me). In general, most of those leaving comments seem to be leery of the idea of a new arts office and/or increased possibilities for redundant spending…

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A White House Office Of The Arts?

As we stand at the precipice of a fundamental shift in the way the Federal government functions (and quite likely life as we know it), recent gossip has focused on the possibility of a new White House level arts office that would be responsible for what Artnet News reports as “overseeing all things having to do with the arts and arts education.” I’m going to propose something that might seem like heresy but read the rest of the article before heading out for effigy supplies: perhaps we don’t need a White House level arts office with that much authority…

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