Thanks for this post, and I'll take the occasion to again plug Jane Alexander's book -- Command Performance: An Actress in the Theater of Politics -- which covers her time as head of the NEA.
It's funny, part of why I like the book is that I picked it up almost at random; I recognized her name and was curious, and it ended up being one of the best books I've read about the day-to-day process of running a small government agency. It has really interesting details about both her work with members of congress to try to preserve funding (for example, one surprising detail, conservative Senator Nancy Kassabaum of Kansas ends up being a supporter, but also warns her to be careful about controversy) and how how she thought about and managed the funding and grant-making processes.
Thanks for this post, and I'll take the occasion to again plug Jane Alexander's book -- Command Performance: An Actress in the Theater of Politics -- which covers her time as head of the NEA.
It's funny, part of why I like the book is that I picked it up almost at random; I recognized her name and was curious, and it ended up being one of the best books I've read about the day-to-day process of running a small government agency. It has really interesting details about both her work with members of congress to try to preserve funding (for example, one surprising detail, conservative Senator Nancy Kassabaum of Kansas ends up being a supporter, but also warns her to be careful about controversy) and how how she thought about and managed the funding and grant-making processes.