Dana Gioia Confirmed for Second Term as Chairman of National Endowment for the Arts

		Contact: Sally Gifford 202-682-5606 giffords@arts.gov

December 11, 2006

Washington, DC -- National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Dana Gioia received unanimous confirmation from the Senate today for his reappointment as leader of the NEA, marking the beginning of the chairman's second, four-year term. President George W. Bush sent his reappointment of Mr. Gioia to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on September 30, 2006 where it was also approved unanimously.

Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Dana Gioia is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning poet. A native Californian of Italian and Mexican descent, Gioia received a B.A. and a M.B.A. from Stanford University and an M.A. in Comparative Literature from Harvard University.

Gioia has published three full-length collections of poetry, as well as eight chapbooks. His poetry collection, Interrogations at Noon, won the 2002 American Book Award. An influential critic as well, Gioia's 1991 book Can Poetry Matter?, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award. He is also a prolific literary anthologist. His anthology, Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, co-edited with X.J. Kennedy, is the best-selling college literary textbook in America.

Gioia was also a long-time commentator on American culture and literature for BBC Radio. His poems, translations, essays, and reviews have appeared in many magazines including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Washington Post Book World, The New York Times Book Review, Slate and The Hudson Review. He has also written two opera libretti, including Nosferatu (2001), with composer Alva Henderson. The libretto was published by Graywolf Press and the opera performed by Opera Idaho and recorded by Rimrock Opera Company.

Chairman Gioia's tenure at the NEA has been defined by a significant expansion in vision and programming for the agency. He inaugurated the agency's national initiatives, a series of programs in different disciplines that provide excellent and varied arts experiences for audiences across the country.

• The first national initiative was Shakespeare in American Communities. Now in its third year, this program, the largest theatrical tour of Shakespeare in history, has sponsored more than 1,200 communities in all 50 states and more than 12 million students through its educational materials.

• Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience brought distinguished writers to 44 domestic and overseas military installations. An open call for writing submissions resulted in more than 1,200 submissions from troops and their families. Random House published an anthology of select writings edited by Andrew Carroll.

• Each year since 1982, the NEA Jazz Masters program has honored a select group of jazz artists who have made lifelong and exceptional contributions to jazz music and the jazz field. Beginning in 2004, the NEA significantly enhanced this program to include not only the award and award ceremony and concert, but also touring opportunities for NEA Jazz Masters, recordings, publications, and radio and TV programming.

• The Big Read is designed to revitalize the role of literature in American popular culture and bring the transformative power of literature into the lives of its citizens. For 2007, the NEA will award grants to more than 100 communities to conduct month-long community-wide programs based on one of eight modern American classics.

Chairman Gioia has placed great emphasis on NEA-sponsored research, which has helped shape public dialogue on the arts. The 2004 report "Reading at Risk" sounded a warning bell on the decline of literary reading in America and has inspired a nationwide conversation about this vital topic. That report was a major impetus for the creation of The Big Read.

During Chairman Gioia’s tenure, the agency’s budget has increased each year. For FY06, the budget is $124.4 million, up $9 million from 2002 when he took office.The chairman has earned the respect of many members of Congress resulting in strong bipartisan support of the agency’s work. In addition, he has developed strong public/private partnerships that have brought added financial resources to the agency’s national initiatives.

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