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Jazz Alley From Louis Armstrong to Charlie Parker to the new greats of today, this is the place for Jazz! |
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Jazz Alley From Louis Armstrong to Charlie Parker to the new greats of today, this is the place for Jazz! |
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In Reply to: Ironic . . . posted by belyin on October 8, 2020 at 00:08:40:
His wiki is pretty amazing. A sample:
NEA national initiatives
While Chairman, Gioia created several national initiatives each around a specific art. "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,[23] in justifying his efforts to bring large scale national initiatives of artistic excellence to millions of Americans. The late New York Times columnist William Safire referred to Gioia's NEA national initiatives as "A Gioia to Behold".[24]
His program "Shakespeare in American Communities" gave grants to more than 40 American theatre companies to tour small and medium-sized communities.[25] Since the launch of the program in 2003, the tours have visited thousands of communities in all 50 states and more than 4,000 schools, were seen by millions of students, and provided work for hundreds of actors, directors, and crew.
His program The Big Read aimed to increase literacy across America. In June 2004, the NEA released a research publication, Reading At Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America, that detailed a 20-year decline in literary reading among American adults. As a writer, Gioia found this a dangerous trend for a democracy that relies on an informed, engaged citizenry. In response, Gioia created another national initiative, The Big Read. Based on the "one city, one book" concept, The Big Read brought together partner organizations across the country to encourage entire communities to read the same book. It was launched as a pilot program with ten communities in 2006, and went national in 2007, eventually becoming the largest literary program in the history of the federal government. Millions of dollars[26] in NEA grants have supported Big Read programs with more than 25,000 local organizations, including libraries, museums, newspapers, mayors' offices, and private businesses. It also became a vehicle for international cultural exchange with Big Read programs in Russia, Egypt, and Mexico.
In 2006, Gioia created Poetry Out Loud, a national poetry recitation contest for students. Each year, some 375,000 students participate, beginning at the high school classroom level. Classroom winners advance to school-wide recitation competitions, and school champions advance to regional and state competitions, and ultimately to the National Finals in Washington, DC. The winner receives a $20,000 scholarship. In an interview[27] with Poetry Daily, Gioia noted that the competitive aspect of the program inspires both the students and the audience. "We did not predict that aspect of the Poetry Out Loud, but it was apparent from the first time we held a public event. The audience displayed an intensity of attention that is very rare at ordinary poetry readings."
Gioia also expanded re-energized the NEA Jazz Masters, which is the nation's highest honor in jazz music, in order to raise the visibility of artists who he felt were undervalued in their own country. Gioia believed the NEA Jazz Master award should be the jazz equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize. As part of the NEA Jazz Masters initiative, Gioia created NEA Jazz Masters on Tour, to give artists more opportunities to perform live, and NEA Jazz in the Schools, a web-based curriculum produced in partnership with Jazz at Lincoln Center.
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jm
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Follow Ups
- Ted Gioia's brother Dana was the best-ever head of the National Endowment for the Arts - John Marks 19:13:59 10/09/20 (1)
- RE: Ted Gioia's brother Dana was the best-ever head of the National Endowment for the Arts - fantja 07:06:08 10/23/20 (0)
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