President Barack Obama has nominated Jane Chu as the next chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Chu is the president and chief executive of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, Missouri. Chu, who was born in Oklahoma to Chinese immigrant parents, spearheaded a $414 million campaign to build the center, which opened in 2011.
After earning an associate’s degree in visual arts at Nebraska Wesleyan University, Chu focused on piano studies as an undergraduate at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas. She earned a master’s degree in music from Dallas’ Southern Methodist University, a master’s degree in business administration from Rockhurst University in Kansas City, and a doctorate in philanthropic studies from Indiana University.
The NEA, an independent federal agency that funds and promotes artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation, has dropped its funding from $167.5 million in 2010, to $138.4 million in 2013. Chu’s considerable experience in arts funding and administration would greatly benefit the NEA. The agency’s former chairman, Rocco Landesman, retired in 2012. The NEA’s senior deputy director, Joan Shikegawa has been the acting chairman since then.
Chu’s appointment will have to be approved by the Senate.
