News in Brief 6/18/04

$10 million increase for NEA

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 241-185 in support of a $10 million increase for the National Endowment for the Arts. The bipartisan Congressional Arts Caucus amendment was co-sponsored by Reps. Slaughter (D-NY), Dicks (D-WA), Shays (R-CT), and Leach (R-IA). The vote marks the widest margin of House support for an NEA increase in recent years, with 48 Republicans voting in support of increased funding.

Rep. Thomas Tancredo (R-CO) offered an amendment to decrease NEA funding by $60 million, which was soundly defeated by a vote of 112 to 313.

JALC Appoints Derek Gordon as Executive Director

Derek Gordon Photo by Carol Pratt

Jazz at Lincoln Center has appointed Derek Gordon as Executive Director, effective August 1, 2004. He will be responsible for the day-to-day administration of the organization and report to President and CEO Hughlyn F. Fierce. Gordon joins the JALC staff after serving as Senior Vice President of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for over 12 years.

Fierce said Gordon’s hiring comes at a significant time in JALC’s history. The 2004-05 season marks the inauguration of JALC’s new home, Frederick P. Rose Hall—the 100,000 square foot integrated performing arts facility specifically designed for the acoustics of jazz. “Derek Gordon is uniquely qualified to further the mission of Jazz at Lincoln Center as well as celebrate this landmark season in our new home,” noted Fierce.

For his part, Gordon said, “I look forward to carrying out Jazz at Lincoln Center’s mission to preserve and advance jazz through the organization’s education, performance and broadcast productions. It’s an honor to utilize my skills in this esteemed organization.”

While at the Kennedy Center, Gordon was responsible for overall planning, management, and supervision of the programs and operations for the education department and jazz programming. Prior to that, Gordon was Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts and before that, he was Executive Director of the Louisiana Division of the Arts.