Yosi Sergant Resigns from NEA

Source: Washington Post

Yosi Sergant, who became well known during President Obama's presidential campaign for his work with artist Shepard Fairey around the iconic HOPE poster, resigned Thursday from his job at the National Endowment for the Arts.

"His resignation has been accepted and is effective immediately," NEA spokeswoman Victoria Hutter said in an e-mail.

Sergant, a public relations professional from Los Angeles, had come to Washington to work in the Office of Public Engagement at the White House. He moved to the NEA in May and was reassigned from his post as communications director two weeks ago after coming under fire from conservative Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck.

The talk show host accused Sergant of arranging an August conference call with the Office of Public Engagement and United We Serve, a service initiative of the administration, to recruit artists to create works in support of Obama policies.

Read more: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/09/24/yosi_sergant_resigns_from_nea.html?hpid=news-col-blog

an everyday event during the Bush years...

Glenn Beck ran the story on the conference call but he was never Yosi's boss. I listened to the call. I thought it was entirely inappropriate. Art is an extremely subjective medium. It's one thing to apply for and receive money for one's artistic endeavors. It's a horse of a different color to hold conference calls coming up with game plans for promoting the administration's agenda....regardless of which party is in power.

"regardless of which party is in power" - oh bullshit.

We cave, they tell us to fuck off. And by 'we' I suspect I do not mean 'you'.

Glenn Beck is a lunatic. He should not dictate policy. I guess he's entitled to his lunacy, but it should be ignored, not followed.

Just like Jones, they are just out of the spotlight, But this is hardly at the hands of Bekkk , he is told what to say , and what to promote
he is a voice that can be herd , so they put him up to it , Glenn is not that smart, he is a PATSY to the GOP, they are using him just like
Lee Harvey Oswald, what a fool !
<edit for spelling>

Art in service to government? How about religion in service to government? Both are first steps on the road to fascism.

Build a 16-foot fence between them with razor-wire on top.

And keep it that way.

Oh, and one more thing. Fuck Glenn Beck.

What Beck said was irrelevant.

What matters is what was said on the NEA conference call. Getting grantees or potential grantees on a call and telling them to support a governmental policy is bad news. Everyone knows that the subtext is "get with the official program or don't worry about your grant applications."

Guess who got state art funding during Soviet times? Purveyors of the crap known as "Socialist Realism." Meanwhile artists like Anna Akhmatova (a poet, not painter) who did not toe the line were persecuted or worse. Any small steps in that direction must be opposed by all who support liberty.

Again, what Beck said was irrelevant. What got the NEA people in trouble was what THEY SAID AND DID.

Is it not possible for government to enable/employ artistic visions for the benefit of the people?

FDR's WPA put a lot of artists to work. We still have some fantastic subways and murals here in NYC because of that policy.

Of course, there's Hayden, Mozart, Beethoven, etc that could only survive and create from sponsors, many of whom represented the royal purse. Be honest, those royal funds ultimately came from the people.

I'd rather that my portion of the people's money go to employ artists than bailout banksters.

I think you've been snared by the false frame that artists are going to implement Obama mind control. Really? Is there any proof of this other than a provocative/misleading headline?

Maybe the compromise would be for our tax dollars to employ decorators or stylists rather than artists to enhance an agenda, policies or a specific project. No. I'd rather have the artist in any category. Plus, I could use the work.

Maybe I'm too hung up on words, but that's why I asked the initial question. Should the government fund art?

And that leads us to the age old adage... If you like it, it's art. If you don't, it's not.

I guess I answered my question, but it would be informative to hear a perspective beyond that.

Anybody?

What are they supposed to do, rally support for policies from a paragraph on letterhead paper using mono-type font? These hypocritical assholes (aka, republicans) are spinning everything negative they've done into projections onto the democrats, and in particular the Obama administration. Government at its most essential is about selling ideas, getting people's support for campaigns and initiatives. It's only underhanded when what is presented is not at all the intent. And that's what republicans are so good at - saying one thing, doing another (anyone remember this gem: "Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act"). No wonder they are so afraid of democrats and throwing out these nonsensical accusations; they are afraid of their own shadows.

Greek architecture and sculpture? Paid for by the "state." The world's great operas and symphonies... also patronage.

During the 30's artists and photographers supplied messages congruent with what FDR was doing. They helped illuminate the plights of the Dust Bowl and migrants among other themes - and they made a living. So, this is a BAD THING NOW? Cuz Beck says so?

Oh, yeah. Lots of them were 'socialists'.

What was done in the Renaissance or by the WPA does not mean that a modern democratic state subsidizes artists ON THE BASIS OF SUPPORT for the party in power.

I'm not so naive that I don't think it's been done before. But I applaud the Obama administration for weeding out the guy at NEA who (perhaps too openly) promoted the idea that artists should support the administration.

to believe that there are no personal or political criteria for choosing artists that receive grant money. It is naive to believe that this administration can decide policy issues with no consideration of ideology. That is not how power works.

and all the other sordid shit Blue Dogs and DLCers believe in.