EXPLOSIVE NEW AUDIO Reveals White House Using NEA to Push Partisan Agenda (latest -Breitbart)

Big Government ^ | Patrick Courrielche

[thouworm]

Report on White House Briefing On Art, Community,
Social Justice, National Recovery
12 May 2009, Eisenhower Executive Office Building

Introduction
On May 12th, more than 60 artists and creative organizers engaged in civic participation,
community development, education, social justice activism, and philanthropy came together for
a White House briefing on Art, Community, Social Justice, National Recovery.
This meeting combined the interests of several groups addressing intersecting issues. All are
interested in the power of the arts to build communities and create change. Arlene Goldbard
requested a meeting with community cultural development practitioners and thinkers to talk
about how the remarkable mobilizing power of community arts can be used by the Obama
administration as a tool and a pathway for national recovery.

Claudine Brown of the Nathan Cummings Foundation, arts organizer Billy Wimsatt and Caron
Atlas working with the Pratt Center for Community Development and State Voices, requested a
meeting with policy makers, artists and organizers. Their intent was to identify existing efforts
within the cultural and social justice movements that are in alignment with the national agenda
and to discuss our common pursuits and possibilities. This diverse group includes Hip Hop
organizers, green designers, creative communicators, social networkers, and other visual,
performing, and media artists committed to social justice from both the non-profit and for-profit
sectors who are working on such issues as green jobs, health care and economic justice.

Each of the sponsors of this meeting had been in contact with Yosi Sergant who was then an
Associate with the White House Office of Public Liaison (and is now Communications Director of
the National Endowment for the Arts.) Once we understood that a larger meeting would enable
us to access more advisors and policymakers, it made sense to combine forces and invitation lists.
The Washington DC meeting had three parts:

1) a meeting at the Kaiser Family Foundation to
prepare for the briefing,

2) the two-hour White House briefing at the Eisenhower Executive Office
Building, and

3) a post-briefing meeting at Bus Boys & Poets to interpret and respond to what we
had learned and to engage in small-group strategy sessions including: cultural policy, green jobs,
immigration, public/private space, healthcare reform, organizing power on behalf of community
artists, and a department of alternative thinking.

Table of Contents
Introduction........................................................................................................................................................................................................1
White House Briefing ......................................................................................................................................................................................3
Mike Strautmanis, Chief of Staff for the Office of Public Liaison.............................................................................................3
Buffy Wicks, Deputy Director, Office of Public Liaison................................................................................................................5
Joseph Reinstein, Deputy Social Secretary ......................................................................................................................................5
Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President ...........................................................................................................................7
Trooper Sanders, Deputy Director of Policy and Projects, Office of the First Lady.........................................................7
Mario Garcia Durham, Director of Presenting, National Endowment for the Arts..........................................................8
Tina Tchen, Director of Public Liaison................................................................................................................................................9
Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President .........................................................................................................................10
Post-Briefing Meeting...................................................................................................................................................................................11
Toward a Cultural Policy Framework................................................................................................................................................11
Department of Alternative Thinking.................................................................................................................................................11
How to Organize Political Power on Behalf of Community Artists?....................................................................................12
Green Jobs....................................................................................................................................................................................................13
Healthcare Reform....................................................................................................................................................................................13
Immigration Reform.................................................................................................................................................................................14
Public/Private Space................................................................................................................................................................................14
Resources ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................15
Participants........................................................................................................................................................................................................15
Appendix: Pre-Briefing One-Page Summary

http://www.giarts.org/usr_doc/WH_Briefing_Report_6-4-09.pdf

(to be continued)

[thouworm]

Mike Strautmanis, Chief of Staff for the Office of Public Liaison Mike Strautmanis welcomed us warmly, declaring that we have many friends at the Office of Public Liaison (formerly the Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs). He explained that the office is the “front door to the White House,” fulfilling and realizing the essence of President Obama’s career, his philosophy of political change, and his presidency. He declared the administration’s willingness to bring in stakeholders, receiving input and advice to ensure that decisions are relevant, effective and based in lives lived as they are today. He explained that the Social Secretary’s work, the First Lady’s efforts and other White House initiatives demonstrate that the administration wants the arts to affect the whole person. People are motivated, lifted and moved to do important and world-changing things by science, he explained, which is being restored to its rightful place. Others are motivated by issues and by expressing themselves through the arts.

Mike Strautmanis directed our attention to key people with whom to foster relationships:

Kareem Dale, who was appointed to deal with the arts specifically; and Valerie Jarrett, a close confidante and advisor to the First Family, who connects directly to the Oval Office. He also introduced Yosi Sergant, who was instrumental in arranging the briefing. Yosi had just lef the Office of Public Engagement to serve as Communications Director at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), noting that he represents the commitment to bring in people not traditionally part of the political process to share their talents and skills. He recognized that Yosi’s efforts had made the campaign soar with arts work beyond what could have happened with traditional political consultants. With Yosi and Anita Decker (Director of Government Affairs at the NEA) in place, he explained, people very close to the President are involved in the effort.

Questions to Mike Strautmanis:

Q: William Cleveland, Center for the Study of Art & Community, noted that he appreciated Strautmanis’s words about seeking advice, input and connections. He suggested the people in the room equaled a think tank to serve the administration’s aims, and asked how in practical terms we could connect to the administration’s policy work.

A: Mike Strautmanis described two paths. First, there are formal, set pieces of work such as the healthcare debate, efforts to reduce energy costs and the commitment to community service. In these areas, the administration wants to bring people in informally to advise and offer perspectives and to receive updates on impact. The administration wants to know what’s missing or doesn’t make sense, and will reach out periodically as issues come up.

Second, through Kareem Dale, there is a conduit to the White House and the Obama Administration, to initiate contact and stay in touch via email and phone. The administration has an agenda, but there are things activists know and are involved in that the administration can’t know directly, such as ways to communicate with people and how to motivate them culturally.

[thouworm]

Questions for Joseph Reinstein [Deputy Social Secretary]:

Q: James Kass, Youth Speaks, asked whether there a direct link between arts policy and the Department of Education.

A: Joseph Reinstein said yes, noting that President Obama has asked for greater cohesion and collaboration between agency work and departments, such as the Department of State, Department of Education, the White House and man others. He explained that a group dedicated to working on creating cohesion is just now taking shape.

A: Joseph Reinstein noted that the Office of Legal Affairs has sometimes been annoyed at the Social Secretary’s office restricting the number of politicos who can come to events to make room for others. Music students and faculty from Berkeley, Julliard and Oberlin attended the Stevie Wonder tribute, for instance. Part of delivering on the promise to be the people’s house, he told us, is to be responsive to the community and public, so inclusion is a major objective and criterion for every event. The guest list is no longer just VIP and white.

[thouworm]

Q: Dee Davis, Center for Rural Strategies, described the challenge of constant threats to net neutrality, of threats to introduce licensing charges that block access. What assurances do we have from the White House that community and local voices that are locked out can find a foothold?

A: Mike Strautmanis noted that net neutrality is a hot issue, and that Professor (Lawrence) Lessig a colleague from the University of Chicago, has been talking to President Obama about his perspective on this. He stated that briefing participants should be at the table with the FCC (Julius Genachowski, President Obama’s choice to run the agency, is an advocate of net neutrality), Phil Schiliro (Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs) and Congressional relations, all of whom need this perspective.

The issue of media consolidation, he said, is the next question affecting the entire media industry as we remake many parts of society, including media.

He shared the administration’s openness to creative solutions and new ways of thinking, noting that the Department of Justice is reenergizing its anti-monopoly division, which is especially important now, during an economic downturn.

[STARWISE]

And lest we forget, the National Endowment for the Humanities

http://www.neh.gov

[thouworm]

As our White House hosts repeated throughout the briefing, this is the beginning of a conversation. We hope that this report extends the conversation throughout the field and that it continues and expands wherever people care about art, community, social justice and national recovery.

This is encouraging, and as we understood going in, the opening exchange in a continuing conversation. After the briefing, we recognized there was ample room for mutual education, fo artists and creative organizers to learn more about public policy and program development.

Overall, we came away feeling that there would be room at the table for artists and creative organizers to take part in conversations about relevant policies and programs; and that we were being challenged to come up with promising and attractive ideas about how artists can work for the administration’s agenda and how artists’ work can be integral to national recovery.

A: Mike Strautmanis:

Ground rules for trust are also needed: don’t slam each other in the media from private conversations.

..........

Remember this?

“”And if you think that my fear regarding the arts becoming a tool of the state is still unfounded, I leave you with a few statements made by the NEA to the art community participants on the conference call. “This is just the beginning. This is the first telephone call of a brand new conversation. We are just now learning how to really bring this community together to speak with the government. What that looks like legally?…bare with us as we learn the language so that we can speak to each other safely… “

Is the hair on your arms standing up yet?””

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/pcourrielche/2009/08/25/the-national-endowment-for-the-art-of-persuasion-patrick-courrielche/

[Brett66]

What makes me mad, is that this cr*p should have been defunded in 1994, along with PBS, NPR etc. etc.

[thouworm]

Online Only, posted 8.10.09

Theatre producer and former professor Rocco Landesman was confirmed by the Senate on Friday as the new chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Landesman will take over from deputy chairman Patrice Walker Powell, who has served as acting head since poet Dana Gioia left the position in January.

Also confirmed by the Senate last week was former congressman Jim Leach, tapped to head up the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Both men are expected to be sworn in within a few days.

Leach, a former Republican who crossed party lines to endorse Obama in 2008, is currently a visiting professor at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

“At a time when deeper understanding of other cultures and greater perspective on American values have never been more relevant,” Leach told the Los Angeles Times, “financial support throughout higher education has been gravitating toward job oriented disciplines. In this setting my goal is to emphasize support for programs that help bridge cultural divides at home as well as abroad. Culture and its diversity should ennoble rather than serve as a threat to the human experience.”

http://www.pw.org/content/senate_confirms_new_nea_neh_heads

[thouworm]

“financial support throughout higher education has been gravitating toward job oriented disciplines. In this setting my goal is to emphasize support for programs that help bridge cultural divides at home as well as abroad."

............

Who needs jobs anyway in this jobs-saturated market? I'm glad to see they are at least targeting that well-deserved, under-utilized specialty niche: the propaganda artist.

..............

Post from 444Flyer:

Along the lines of "those who forget history are bound to repeat it". Propaganda is bad enough, but paid for with our tax dollars is corrupt to the core. And others used propaganda wings to accomplish much more...

From the above picture at MindReign:

"In 1944 US soldiers received a copy of 'What is Propaganda?' before entering Germany. It explained the impact Nazi propaganda had on the German people. The information was designed to assist the US soldier in dealing with a brainwashed and morally bankrupt people. This pamphlet gives a snapshot of life in Germany at the end of WW2.

Most propaganda in Germany was produced by the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. Joseph Goebbels was placed in charge of this ministry shortly after Hitler took power in 1933.

All journalists, writers, and artists were required to register with one of the Ministry's subordinate chambers for the press, fine arts, music, theater, film, literature, or radio. The reprint of this rare book will be welcomed by scholars of the period as an indispensable primary source offering a valuable perspective on the formation and development of Nazi ideology."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2344795/posts?page=26#26

[thouworm]

Mike Strautmanis = Valerie Jarrett

...........

Repost of STARWISE's Post #30

Valerie Jarrett’s shop renamed; more focus on bridge building, civic engagement By Lynn Sweet on May 11, 2009 WASHINGTON - President Obama is reshaping a White House office run by Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett to emphasize a mission heavy on the civic engagement side.

Chicagoans still run the operation: The Office of Public Liaison is now the Office of Public Engagement. Valerie Jarrett, Senior Adviser to the President, Christina M. Tchen, Director of OPE; and Michael Strautmanis Chief of Staff to the Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Relations and Public Engagement.

Person to watch in the operation: Obama presidential campaign grassroots and field organizer Buffy Wicks is tapped to be Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/05/valerie_jarretts_shop_renamed.html

............

Mike Strautmanis = Valerie Jarrett

Mike Strautmanis directed our attention to key people with whom to foster relationships: Kareem Dale, who was appointed to deal with the arts specifically; and Valerie Jarrett

http://www.giarts.org/usr_doc/WH_Briefing_Report_6-4-09.pdf

[thouworm]

National Endowment for the Partisan Arts

By Nancy Matthis | Friday, September 11th, 2009 at 7:00 am

When Barack Obama issued a call to national service, being a Chicago-style pol, he meant HIS service. (We saw this reflected in his original lesson plans for the nation’s school children — “Write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president.”)

As health care legislation foundered, the Obama forces saw an opportunity to use the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to recruit artists to the national service of promoting the president’s agenda — “to help lay a new foundation for growth, focusing on core areas of the recovery agenda – health care, energy and environment, safety and security, education, community renewal.”

Despite the fact that this would be using public funds to advance partisan goals, three agencies went forward with plans for a conference call among about 75 leading artists on Monday, August 10th. These were the National Endowment for the Arts, the White House Office of Public Engagement overseen by Valerie Jarrett, and United We Serve. All three are government agencies.

The specific personnel involved in this endeavor were Yosi Sergant, [has since been "reassigned"] the Director of Communications for the National Endowment for the Arts; Buffy Wicks, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement; Nell Abernathy, Director of Outreach for United We Serve; Thomas Bates, Vice President of Civic Engagement for Rock the Vote; and filmmaker Michael Skolnik representing hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons.

The blatant political nature of this recruitment is betrayed by the inclusion of Rock the Vote. Although they pose as a non-partisan group with a mission to encourage young citizens to register to vote, they are currently engaged in a vigorous partisan campaign — “We demand health care NOW!”

So the inescapable bottom line is that the White House planned to use public resources to promote the Democratic health care agenda, with the full knowledge of close Obama confidant Valerie “we love Van Jones” Jarrett, and therefore undoubtedly with the full knowledge of Barack Hussein Obama.

[444Flyer]

BTTT

[thouworm]

Alarm!!

From same doc mentioned in Post #61

Department of Alternative Thinking

Contact: Kim Hastreiter

kimh@papermag.com

Summary: There is a huge role for creativity in the White House. Artists think differently (and with a different side of their brain) about problem solving than the typical person working for the government (whether politicians, lawyers, lobbyists or policy experts). Creativity and innovation—in all aspects of the public and private sectors—are what gives our country an edge. This group was inspired to further develop an idea that struck them during the briefing: the establishment of a new “Department of Alternative Thinking.”

The DoAT would be a volunteer brain trust/think tank made up of the country’s most creative and maverick minds (thinkers, artists, innovators, and inventors). It would be set up as a free, public service to the White House and other government departments. The purpose of the DoAT is to integrate creative brain consultation (sideways thinking) into every aspect of governmental decision-making (whether it is the arts, the economy, healthcare, energy and environmental policy, international policy, national security, infrastructure, NASA, education, etc). 

Modeled loosely after the Armed Forces Reserve and jury duty, the DoAT “fellows” would volunteer for service on a revolving but continuous panel. Fellows would be selected by the White House and a body of peers and enlisted for periodic, short tours of duty in Washington, DC in order to ensure a healthy turnover of ideas while allowing participants to continue their own work. The DoAT fellows would help government insiders see things from a different perspective, helping to foster innovative solutions to government issues and policy…all of which would be incredibly valuable in keeping America one step ahead.

=========

Department of Alternative Thinking has a logo already:

Kim Hastreiter, contact person for the DoAT, is Editor of Papermag.com.

Kim writes about the genesis and creators of the DoAT here:

Following our lunch break, we were asked to gather into small groups and ideate about what we had just heard and how art could integrate with and help promote the Obama agenda.

Five of us -- myself, Aaron, Duffy, Anne Pasternak (Creative Time), Jonathan Wells (Flux/RESFEST) and Liz Manne (Work in Progress) --

decided to develop the idea of establishing a Department of Alternative Thinking: a think-tank and brain trust made up of the most creative minds in the country, including artists, inventors and visionaries.

The DoAT would formally integrate creative brain consultation (performed gratis as a national service) as a required aspect into every detail of governmental decision-making, whether about arts education, the economy, health care, energy and environmental policy, national security, the country's infrastructure or international policy.

We all agreed that creativity could serve an enormous role in the White House -- much more than hanging paintings or performing poetry slams in the Blue Room.

[mojitojoe]

OMG! They really think they are going to take over without a drop of bloodshed. They are begging for a war.

[thouworm]

Blogger Linlee Allen writes of Kim Hastreiter efforts to "rebrand America":

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

all hail kim hastreiter

paper magazine's kim hastreiter is one of the craftiest women in the publishing business. not only is her ear to the ground, her ideas command respect with every turn they take. such is the case concerning her latest quest: an open call to select artists to rebrand america.

the results are featured within the may issue of paper magazine, which is where i found a quote from stephen 'espo' powers which i thought quite, um, interesting let's say.

"america needs no rebranding - we just need to remind people that we're a nation of 300 million that all know how to say,

'f[***] you, pay me.'"

http://linleeloves.blogspot.com/2009/05/all-hail-kim-hastreiter.html

[penelopesire]

OMG! That reads like something from Scrappleface or The Onion...LOL! That outfit she has on is very ‘creative’. It looks like she just escaped from the nut house...lol.

[444Flyer]

I rebuke that!

Excellent research Thouworm.

[thouworm]

Doesn’t it! The Obam-wellian Administration would prefer we never again be able to separate fact from fiction.

[mojitojoe]

Then we have Buffy Wicks — former Obama campaign activist, now White House enabler:

We won and that’s exciting and now we have to take all that energy and make it really meaningful. I’m in the White House now and what I’ve learned is that … change doesn’t come easy, but now that I’m actually in the White House and working towards furthering this agenda, this very aggressive agenda, I’m really realizing that
… we’re going to need your help, and we’re going to come at you with some specific asks here.

[444Flyer]

Flipping idiots. They think they wrote the book on creativity because their raving mad liberal radicals. Their minds are not all ‘Present’.