National Endowment for the Arts

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Stallone Turns Down Trump Arts Role
Stallone
Turns Down
Trump Arts Role

Stallone Turns Down Trump Arts Role

But he's open to taking position helping veterans

(Newser) - Donald Trump has chosen a wrestling exec to head the Small Business Administration, but he's not getting Rocky to head the National Endowment for the Arts. Sylvester Stallone announced late Sunday that he isn't interested in taking the arts leadership role in the Trump administration, though he might...

Romney: Slap Ads on Freeloading Sesame Street

Candidate says he'd stop subsidizing PBS

(Newser) - America is too broke to subsidize ad-free TV for toddlers, Mitt Romney says. The candidate, while campaigning in Iowa yesterday, promised to balance the budget by cutting certain programs, and by requiring PBS to carry ads, forcing Bert and Ernie and the rest of the Sesame Street gang to start...

NEA Is Playing Politics, Filmmaker Charges
NEA Is Playing Politics, Filmmaker Charges
OPINION

NEA Is Playing Politics, Filmmaker Charges

(Newser) - The National Endowment for the Arts recently encouraged artists to create works that focus on “health care, energy and environment, safety and security, education, community renewal”—a disturbing step away from the its actual mandate, filmmaker Patrick Courrielche writes for Big Hollywood. “Artists shouldn’t be used...

Obama's Inclusive Message Extends to White House Walls

Call for art includes minority painters, abstract works

(Newser) - More change is coming to Washington, and this time it’s aesthetic. President Obama’s request for works from African-American, Hispanic, and female artists to adorn the White House walls stems from a desire to “round out the permanent collection” and “give new voices” to non-traditional or low-profile...

First Lady Praises Arts on NYC Visit

Michelle attends ballet gala, reopening of Met's American wing

(Newser) - Michelle Obama emphasized the administration's support for the arts on a visit to New York City yesterday, the New York Times reports. Speaking at the ribbon-cutting for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's partially reopened American wing and at the star-studded opening night of the American Ballet Theater, the first lady...

NEA Official to Eat Book if Ohio Island Doesn't Read It

(Newser) - Though the National Endowment for the Arts is encouraging communities to get together and devour the same book, literature director David Kipen has gone a bit further with tiny Kelleys Island, Ohio, the Sandusky Register reports. If the island’s 128 inhabitants don’t all read To Kill a Mockingbird,...

More Americans Reading Fiction: NEA

Study indicates literary decline might be reversing

(Newser) - The percentage of Americans reading fiction has increased for the first time in years, a new study by the National Endowment for the Arts indicates. The reported 50.2% of the population who picked up a book for pleasure marks a turnaround from a statistical decline in literary culture over...

Recession, Losing Bush as Muse Will Hurt US Artists

Economic woes will put creativity in the red

(Newser) - The end of the Bush era could mean tough times for the arts, the Morgan Falconer writes in the Times of London. Not only will artists, filmmakers, and writers lose the muse who has inspired critical works, but the economic crisis will drain financial support. John McCain already implied he...

An Outsider Becomes Poet Laureate
An Outsider Becomes Poet Laureate

An Outsider Becomes Poet Laureate

Kay Ryan, master of introverted verse, takes the national stage

(Newser) - Kay Ryan, a poet from Fairfax, Calif., with a reputation as an individualist, has been chosen as the nation's new poet laureate. The 62-year-old writer is known for her sly, concise verse that incorporates plays on words and uses intricate rhyme structures. Despite receiving many of the field's highest accolades,...

Census Paints Picture of America's Artists

2M work in the arts, outnumbering doctors and lawyers

(Newser) - America has an army of artists that rivals the military in size, the New York Times reports. The National Endowment of the Arts has used census figures to paint a portrait of the almost 2 million Americans making their living from artistic professions—more, the Times notes, than the number...

Is Our Children Reading?
Is Our Children Reading?

Is Our Children Reading?

No, and neither are teenagers and adults, new study finds

(Newser) - As far as young people are concerned, books are so 20th century. Reading's popularity has fallen as gadgets have taken over modern life, according to a new National Endowment for the Arts report. Only a third of high school seniors read at a proficient level. “And proficiency is not...

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