Agnes Gund, while sitting opposite Marina Abramović at the Museum of Modern Art
Photo: Marco Anelli
With President Obama‘s announcement today that he is nominating Agnes Gund to the National Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts will have at least one member on its advisory body with substantial visual arts creds. Gund is president emeritus of the Museum of Modern Art, as well as a major art collector and philanthropist. (Phoenix Art Museum director James Ballinger‘s term on the council expires this year. Gund’s, if approved by the Senate, would expire in 2016.)
But what we all want to know is: Why has NEA’s chairman, Rocco Landesman waited this long to orchestrate the return of fellowships for individual artists—one of his stated goals? With the possible return of the Culture Wars and the definite return of a more conservative Congress, good luck with getting grants for individual artists reinstated now.