(Still) Lovin’ Rocco (Part 2)

Transgressives like me are always pleased when the political masks drop and the truth spills out, unencumbered by cautious, diplomatic strategery (thank you George Bush for one of my favorite neologisms). But there are cooler and more sagacious heads who point out that candor can be dangerous in worlds where egos have no check. One […]

Lovin’ Rocco

Rocco Landesman (Damon Winter/The New York Times) Straight talk. That’s in shorter supply in the Obama administration than a lot of us had hoped. And by that I mean straight as in right at ya rather than around, over or not at all. But newly-installed head of the National Endowment for the Arts Rocco Landesman […]

Finding Your Audience

An essential tension exists in the making and the marketing of expression—be it books, plays, paintings, music, newspapers or blogs. Finding an audience is an essential step, but it is not as simple as the usual quantifying approach suggests. One of the big ideas in the Internet space over the last five years is Chris […]

Obama Arts Update

I’m still tracking the Obama administration’s pending appointment of an art czar. Robin Pogrebin wrote an excellent overview in the New York Times two days ago that answered many of the questions I have been asking. Here’s the latest on Obama’s old buddy from Chicago who is currently coordinating arts issues for the White House: […]

Public Art Policy

This posting is an addendum to the one below about the closing of the Rose Art Museum. From the New York Times on Monday, Robin Pogrebin’s piece highlights the issues regarding support for the arts on a national level. As the Obama administration tackles the challenge of shoring up the economy through infusions of capital […]