CULTURE CZAR? NAY

Comments by Lee Rosenbaum’s Blog on Arts Journal:

“I’ve got nothing against better coordination among government programs involving the arts and humanities. Regular meetings of representatives from the relevant offices and agencies could foment creative synergies. Perhaps a White House official with advisory, not managerial, responsibilities could help facilitate this without inserting what we emphatically DON’T need—an extra layer of bureaucratic control over our nation’s cultural activity.

The notion of a cabinet-level Secretary of Culture, advocated in a petition (167,533 signatories, at this writing) promoted by Quincy Jones, music producer and Friend of Barack, runs contrary to the pluralistic, appropriately disorderly nature of creative life in this country. As we saw during the culture wars of the 1990s, which imposed decency standards on federal arts grants, anything that potentially makes the arts into more of a political football is fraught with peril.” Read More.