From Broadway to the Beltway

When Broadway producer Rocco Landesman was appointed chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) a year ago, culture mavens had good reason to assume he would lavish attention on theater initiatives.

Besides having earned a doctorate from the Yale School of Drama, Landesman was for more than 20 years president of Jujamcyn Theaters, the Broadway production company founded by Minneapolis businessman Jim Binger. After Binger's death, Landesman bought Jujamcyn, although he is not actively involved while serving in Washington. His Broadway successes include "Angels in America" and "The Producers."

His first year at the NEA confounded expectations, however. Taking a broad view of the arts, he has reached out to other government agencies to develop cross-disciplinary partnerships. The first program hatched on his watch was the Mayors' Institute on City Design, which in July awarded 21 grants totaling $3 million to urban development projects centered on the arts. In May he lent the NEA's imprimatur to Blue Star Museums, a program through which 800 museums nationwide gave free admission to military personnel and their families this summer.

Recently Landesman, 63, visited the Twin Cities at the request of U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., who serves on the committee that oversees NEA appropriations. We caught up with him by phone last week.

Q Why did you come to the Twin Cities and what did you do here?

A The two main reasons are Betty McCollum and the folks at McKnight Foundation. Betty is a passionate advocate for the arts in Congress and we got to look at St. Paul, starting in Lowertown, which is Exhibit No. 1 in how arts can be a force for revitalization of neighborhoods. We started with a roundtable at the Black Dog Cafe, then had lunch at the University Club followed by a discussion at SteppingStone Theatre. Then we crossed into Minneapolis to a reception at Walker Art Center and saw the Sculpture Garden and how that's connected the museum to the city and the community.

The next day began at the McKnight Foundation, which is deeply personal to me because of the Binger family, which started the foundation. ... Then we toured the Guthrie where [director] Joe Dowling is an old friend, and went to the MacPhail Center for Music, where [C.E.O.] David O'Fallon is doing work of national significance with children, adult learners and different communities. Next we put on hard hats and went to the Cowles Center for Dance at the old Shubert Theater, a very exciting project.

Q Wow. Sounds like you encountered more culture here in two days than many Minnesotans do in a year.

A Yeah, all this confirmed for me that Minneapolis and St. Paul are leaders in how the arts are affecting and transforming communities.

Q Some people were expecting you to focus more on theater as NEA chairman.

A Of course I love theater, but a lot of our initiatives have to do with design, because we're talking about the rebuilding and reconception of cities.

Q Minneapolis designers and planners are thinking again about better ways to link the city to the Mississippi River with parks, roads and other developments. Have you any advice for them?

Q How is the NEA thriving in these times of tight budgets? [Its fiscal year 2010 appropriation was $167.5 million; it cut its request for next year to $161.3 million but included a new "Our Town" program that will, if approved, allocate $5 million for arts-related programming in 35 communities.]

A I think we're doing pretty well. The funding is stable and reliable. The president and Congress are committed to it and I'm feeling pretty good.

Q In recent years the NEA's priority has been to shift federal money to the states and let them distribute it in a grass-roots democratic way. Do you plan to continue that pattern, or do you have some new national programs in mind that will centralize arts policy?

A Forty percent of our funding goes to the states, but to the extent we can coordinate our goals and not have 50 states going off in 50 directions, we're attempting to do that.

Q How does being a Washington political operative compare with producing a Broadway play?

Q I understand that you're a baseball enthusiast. Did you visit the new Twins stadium?

A Alas, the Twins were in Texas when I was there. The stadium is quite artful in its setting, though. You just turn a corner downtown and there it is, tucked into the city. That's going to be my next trip.