The following is from an editorial in The New York Times:
More than eight months ago, the high-wattage Broadway producer Rocco Landesman announced his departure as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Landesman, who took the job in 2009, will be hard to replace, but not impossible.
The White House has taken too long to nominate a successor. It also needs to find a new head for the National Endowment for the Humanities, which has been missing a permanent chair since May.
Both of these small but vital endowments have able acting chairs.
But almost by definition, interim bosses do not have the influence permanent leaders do. A strong voice at the top — nominated by the president and approved by Congress — would be particularly helpful, now that congressional Republicans are threatening major budget cuts that neither agency can easily absorb.
The House Appropriations Committee has proposed cutting each budget by half. Present funding levels are about $155 million each, a mite in a the federal government's overall $3.5 trillion budget. Even at these modest levels the endowments are essential to art and enlightenment all across the country, and help local economies in the bargain.
Landesman has spent much of his time stressing art's contribution to local economies — $26 in local economic activity, he said, for every $1 spent by the endowment.
House Republicans have not been listening. Rep. Hal Rogers of Kentucky has belittled endowment funds as "nice to have" programs.
The White House's job is to find persuasive leaders for both agencies to explain why culture is central to a civilized society, not merely "nice to have."