Free Republic

Rocco Landesman is the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Boy, does he know how to spin the official line on offensive art. In a recent interview in Cincinnati, he was asked vaguely about controversy. "The best art taps into deep feelings, sometimes to comfort and sometimes to confront. Art can be very uncomfortable," Landesman said. "That can lead to strong reactions. For some of us, it draws us into the arts over our lifetimes and careers. For others, it creates strong negative feelings." Landesman wasn't being asked specifically about negative feelings over the Loveland Museum Gallery in...

Obama 'Most Powerful Writer Since Julius Caesar,' Says NEA Chief Rocco Landesman, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, declared in a speech to art philanthropists in Brooklyn last week that President Obama is the world's most powerful writer since the days of Caesar. By Joseph Abrams FOXNews.com Wednesday, October 28, 2009 Et tu, Rocco? Maybe President Obama will win the Nobel Prize for Literature, too, now that the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts has declared that "Barack Obama is the most powerful writer since Julius Caesar." Rocco Landesman rendered unto Obama that considerable compliment in...

ABC News' Yunji de Nies reports: This evening, National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman released a statement on the controversial August 10 conference call, led by then-NEA communications director Yossi Sergant. On that call Sergant seemed to encourage artists to help support President Obama's agenda, which has now prompted the White House to issue new guidelines to prevent such a call from ever happening again. At the time Sergant himself seemed to sense he was on shaky ground, telling the group, "This is the first telephone call of a brand new conversation. We are just now learning how...

National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman responded to the August 10 NEA, White House, and United We Serve conference call in a statement sent to the Washington Times. : STATEMENT FROM NEA CHAIRMAN ROCCO LANDESMAN September 22, 2009 As chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, I would like to clarify the issues concerning an August conference call in which an NEA employee participated.