Dana Gioia - NEA Chairman

NEA Chairman

Gioia was President George W. Bush's second choice to lead the NEA. The first, composer Michael P. Hammond, died only a week after taking office as the NEA's eighth chairman in January 2002. Gioia said, "I found an agency that was demoralized, defensive, and unconfident. It had been under constant assault for about fifteen years and it was suffering from the institutional version of battered child syndrome", said Gioia. "I don't think the NEA has done a very good job of serving America," he declared. By bringing a new visibility to the agency and wooing Congressional Republicans, Gioia gained a sizable increase in his agency's budget. "Dana is a superb politician. He knows how to talk to Congress and to the arts community, and to state and federal agencies and to the complex, gigantic, fire-breathing beast called the White House," said David Gelernter of Yale University. Bill Kauffman called Gioia "the best poet in government service since President Tyler sent John Howard "Home Sweet Home" Payne to Tunis."

At the NEA, Gioia created new programs such as Shakespeare in American Communities, bringing the Bard to small towns; and NEA Jazz Masters, promoting jazz music. The NEA presents an annual award for jazz which Gioia hopes will be the jazz equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize. "We have a generation of Americans growing up who have never been to the theater, the symphony, opera, dance, who have never heard fine jazz, and who increasingly don't read," said Gioia in justifying his efforts.

Gioia is not without critics, however. Some in the U.S. Congress, believe the NEA should be abolished because it exceeds their view of the Constitutional functions of government. Some in the arts community fault the NEA for abandoning grants to individual artists, which were terminated after controversy over Robert Mapplethorpe, Andres Serrano, and others, to which Gioia responded, "Fellowships in prose (fiction and creative nonfiction) or poetry are available to published creative writers of exceptional talent." Gioia's new NEA programs, for which NEA has sought corporate and foundation support, worry other arts organizations because the NEA is competing with them for funding.

In July 2004 the NEA released "Reading at Risk" a study showing how little time Americans were dedicating to literature. In 2005 Gioia initiated the "Big Read" program, seeking to get Americans to read serious literature, akin to the city-wide reading programs undertaken by several American cities such as Seattle, Cincinnati and Chicago. The Big Read eventually became the largest literary program in the history of the federal government, reaching nearly 500 cities across all 50 states. Over 25,000 local organizations, including libraries, museums, newspapers, mayor's offices, and private businesses became partners in the program. It also became a vehicle for international cultural exchange with Big Read programs in Russia, Egypt, and Mexico.

In 2007, Gioia was named the 2007 commencement speaker for his alma mater, Stanford University. His selection was a source of controversy between the class of 2007 and the administration. In his commencement address, he lamented the fallout from the dominance of celebrity and fame as societal values: "...we live in a culture that barely acknowledges and rarely celebrates the arts or artists ... When virtually all of a culture's celebrated figures are in sports or entertainment, how few possible role models we offer the young ... There are so many other ways to lead a successful and meaningful life that are not denominated by money or fame. Adult life begins in a child's imagination, and we've relinquished that imagination to the marketplace." Gioia has also written or co-written a number of texts used in college courses, including the anthology (edited with Dan Stone) 100 Great Poets of the English Language (2004). He has authored many essays and reviews.

On November 17, 2008, Gioia was presented with the Presidential Citizens Medal by President George W. Bush.