NEA's Chairman Rocco Landesman Featured In New York Times

Since his appointment as Chairman for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Broadway theatre producer Rocco Landesman has stirred up the status quo in the federal agency with his assertive style and outspoken nature.

A feature story in the New York times taks a look at Landesman's tenure thus far, including his stance against a bureaucratic status quo, and his push to extend funding options for artistic programs. 

The piece also delves into Mr. Landesman's newest project, "Our Town" a "$5 million pilot project aimed at helping 35 communities plan and develop arts districts and projects that emphasize design."

The NY Times adds that "Mr. Landesman will formally unveil the plan on Tuesday on Capitol Hill; if it is successful, he hopes to expand it. The arts field is eager. “For too long the arts have been siloed as something that is kind of separate from life, separate from the economy,” said Gary Steuer, chief cultural officer for the City of Philadelphia. “Rocco is really eager to blow that out and take it to another level, to really look at the role of arts in economic development.”"

To read the rest of the story in the Times, click here.

Landesman grew up in St. Louis, where his father and uncle owned the Crystal Palace cabaret, giving young Rocco an early intro to stars like Barbra Streisand, Mike Nichols and Lenny Bruce. With a doctorate from the Yale School of Drama in hand, Landesman taught at the school for a spell, owned a handful of racehorses, and ran a small hedge fund before teaming up with the Production Company Dodger Theatricals. With Dodger, Landesman co-produced the retro musical Pump Boys and Dinettes in 1982 and the Tony-winning Big River in 1985. In 1987, he became president at Jujamcyn Theaters, the owner of five Broadway venues (the ST. James, the Eugene O'Neill, the Al Hirschfeld, the Walter Kerr and the August Wilson) and the third-biggest Broadway theater owner behind the Shubert and Nederlander Organizations.

The play that established Jujamcyn as a force to be reckoned with was David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly, which took home the Tony for Best Play in 1988. Over the next decade and a half, Landesman produced dozens of plays and musicals under the Jujamcyn banner, including hits like 42nd Street, City of Angels, Angels in America, Grease, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Kiss Me, Kate, Proof, Urinetown, and Tony Kushner's Caroline, or Change.
Following the death of Jujamcyn's chairman Jim Binger in 2005, Landesman bought the chain for a reported $30 million. Today, fellow Broadway producers Tom Viertel and Paul Libin also own a small stake in the company, and creative decisions are handled by Jujamcyn's artistic director, Jack Viertel, Tom's brother. Since the acquisition, Landesman has managed an extremely favorable hit/flop ratio, putting on successes like John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, Sweet Charity, Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, Jersey Boys, Grey Gardens, and Curtains. Jujamcyn's Eugene O'Neill Theater hosted the mega-hit Spring Awakening, which swept the Tonys in 2007, winning the Tony for Best Musical and six other statuettes.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is a United States federally funded and donation assisted program that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current chairman is the poet and former CEO Dana Gioia and it has its offices in the Old Post Office building, in Washington, D.C.

Photo Credit: BWW-Staff