Friday, January 16, 2009

A Culture Minister for the U.S. - Yes!

Quincy Jones is spearheading an effort to get Obama to appoint a "culture czar" for the United States. Does U.S. Need a Culture Czar? (NPR story); Quincy Jones Lobbies Obama for Secretary of Culture Post (Rolling Stone). You can sign an online petition in support of the position here. I think this is a great idea at a time when public schools are cutting down on music and art classes, cultural institutions are shrinking and groveling for money, and the arts in general are denigrated as a career option. Not to mention that many other countries have a minister for culture. It would highlight the importance of the arts in our lives.

3 comments:

Julia said...

About damn time. And Quincy should BE the culture minister.

Anonymous said...

I heard an NPR story about this. Seems like an interesting idea. I didn't realize a lot of other countries already have a postiion like this.

Anonymous said...

Hear! Hear! Anything that might help us gain back some measure of good will and understanding from the world, horribly trashed during the Bush years, is an Excellent Idea.