Producer Rocco Landesman on Tap to Head National Endowment for the Arts

President Barack Obama has cast Broadway impresario Rocco Landesman in the coveted role of chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. An official announcement is expected from the White House on May 13. If confirmed by Congress, Landesman would become the 10th leader of the 44-year-old independent federal agency, which has a current budget of $155 million and provides funding and support for arts groups around the country.

The 61-year-old Landesman currently serves as the president of Jujamcyn Theaters, which owns five Broadway houses: the St. James current home to Desire Under the Elms, the Al Hirschfeld Hair, the August Wilson Jersey Boys, the Eugene O’Neill 33 Variations and the Walter Kerr Irena’s Vow. As a producer, he put his weight behind The Producers, Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, Jelly’s Last Jam, six August Wilson premieres every Pittsburgh Play from The Piano Lesson through Radio Golf and the current hit Broadway revival of Hair.

Landesman got his start as one of the original members of the producing team known as the Dodgers along with Des McAnuff, Michael David, Doug Johnson, Ed Strong and Sherman Warner, which debuted on Broadway in 1982 with Pump Boys and Dinettes and won the Best Musical Tony Award three years later for Big River. He also spent a few years as an assistant professor at Yale School of Drama, where he earned his doctorate in dramatic literature. 

Known around the Rialto for his candor, Landesman is a passionate fan of horseracing and baseball: He once made a bid to buy the Cincinnati Reds, and later reportedly considered purchasing the Chicago Cubs.