“Art is as important to us as eating, breathing, sleeping, shelter, and health care. When you talk about a fully engaged human being, you’re also talking about an aesthetic element, a sense of the quality of your life. Art is central to that.”
Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts Rocco Landesman’s career has been a hybrid of commercial and artistic endeavors. At the NEA, he has sought to increase collaboration among the arts and other government agencies. He is interested in the intersection of the arts and the “real world.”