NEA Chairman to the Arts: Talk to the Invisible Hand

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There's just too much artsy stuff out there and not enough time. It's a problem we face here in New York City. NEA chairman Rocco Landesman wants to solve it for us.

"You can either increase demand or decrease supply," says Landesman, as reported in the Washington Post
this past weekend. "Demand is not going to increase. So it is time to think about decreasing supply."

Michael Kaiser, who recently criticized arts organizations for timidity in programming, stood up for the little guy in his response: "My biggest problem with thinning out the field is that what people typically mean is: Thin out the smallest, weakest, least developed."

Landesman's comments came before Obama on Monday proposed cutting NEA funding, but the Washington Post article does note that Landesman may have been preparing people for the tough times ahead.

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