The day began at nine when NEA chairman Dana Gioia convened a session of the National Council of the Arts. It was the last meeting on his watch as he is leaving office in January following an extraordinarily successful six year run. It is no secret that the agency was embattled prior to Gioia’s tenure. Gioia was able very quickly to turn things around, changing the face of an agency once associated with acts of provocation and predictable right-wing reaction. In 2004 the NEA issued a report on the crisis in American literacy, with a follow-up three years later. In an effort to address the problems it has identified, providing statistics to counter the complacent view that only anecdotal evidence exists of rampant ignorance and cultural illiteracy, the NEA has sponsored ambitious new initiatives across the board. These include competitions for the memorization and recitation of poems, projects to subsidize productions of Shakespeare’s plays in venues ranging from the conventional to the totally unexpected (army bases), creative writing workshops that help returning veterans make the adjustment to civilian society, new awards and ceremonial evenings celebrating jazz and opera, and cultural exchanges with other countries. The "Big Read" is a coordinated effort to get kids to read and enjoy the classics of American literature.
Gioia spoke for an hour. Three performances by artists ensued. I read ten of my poems, the actors Christina Pamariega and John Lavelle did two scenes from "Much Ado About Nothing" directed by Peter Meineck, and pianist Helen Sung played Ellington ("In a Sentimental Mood"), Monk, and James P. Johnson. Then we were all carted off by bus to the Supreme Court to take part in a luncheon honoring the evening’s recipients of Opera Awards: soprano Leontyne Price, conductor James Levine, composer Carlisle Floyd, and theater director Richard Gaddes .
Three justices were present at the luncheon: Scalia, Kennedy, and Ginsburg. It was Ginsburg who made welcoming remarks — on behalf of the "three Supremes." as she put it. In a quick survey of how prisoners and lawyers figure in operas, she pointed out that the heroine of "Carmen" uses a early form of plea-bargaining to get out of jail. Salads were served with a nice Australian chardonnay, and people talked as volubly and happily as people do under such circumstances. But when the string quartet playing in the background began to play an aria from "Madama Butterfly," Leontyne Price burst into song, and everyone shut up and listened. Anthony Tommasini wrote it up for the New York Times.
— DL
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Justices Greet Diva: It’s Ardor In the Court
New York Times November
1, 2008
Justice Antonin Scalia has a reputation as an intimidating
jurist who poses withering questions during arguments before the Supreme Court.
But on Friday afternoon, when the soprano Leontyne Price entered the West
Conference Room at the Court to attend an honorary luncheon hosted by the
National Endowment for the Arts, Justice Scalia, an avid opera fan, visibly
melted.
face crinkling with warmth and delight. When Ms. Price complimented him on the
elegance of the luncheon’s setting — a paneled salon, its walls lined with
portraits of past chief justices — he replied, ”Yes, these are pretty nice
rooms,” adding, ”And they’re yours today.”
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To read the rest of Anthony Tommasin’s article, click here.