Chairman of National Endowment for the Arts to speak Oct. 14

Author: Erik Runyon

Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), will deliver a presentation titled ?Can the NEA Matter? Arts Funding in the U.S.? at 4 p.m. Oct. 14 (Tuesday) in the Carey Auditorium of the Hesburgh Library at the University of Notre Dame.p. Earlier in the day, Gioia will offer a workshop on funding opportunities for local arts organizations from 10:30 a.m. to noon at Notre Dame’s soon-to-open community relations office in the former Robertson’s building, 217 S. Michigan St., South Bend. Both presentations are free and open to the public.p. An internationally acclaimed poet, critic and educator, Gioia was nominated last fall by President Bush to lead the NEA and confirmed by the Senate on Jan. 29 as the organization’s ninth chair. He is best known for his 1991 book “Can Poetry Matter?” about the role of poetry in contemporary culture. His collection of poems, “Interrogations at Noon,” won the 2002 American Book Award, and his anthology, co-edited with X.J. Kennedy, titled “Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama,” is a best-selling college textbook.p. The NEA was established by Congress in 1965 to foster, preserve and promote excellence in the arts, to bring art to all Americans, and to provide leadership in arts education. It has an annual budget of some $115 million (about 40 cents per American per year) and has awarded more than 119,000 grants.p. Gioia’s visit is sponsored by Notre Dame’s Creative Writing Program. More information is available at http://www.nd.edu/~isla/ISLA/webpages/thearts/gioia

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