Bravo Rocco

Confirmed by the Senate last week, the new head of the NEA, Broadway producer Rocco Landesman, seems refreshingly outspoken in Robin Pogrebin’s New York Times interview. In reference to remarks made by Mitt Romney against arts money in the stimulus bill, Landesman makes the point that artists have to do stuff like send kids to college, put food on the table and pay medical bills. As for arts in American politics, he says, "The arts are a little bit of a target. The subtext is that it is elitist, left wing, maybe even a little gay."