(Ben Smith's column ran on Politico, 9/24.)
NEA communications director resigns
The National Endowment for the Arts said Thursday that its communications director, Yosi Sergant, has resigned.
"This afternoon Yosi Sergant submitted his resignation from the National Endowment for the Arts. His resignation has been accepted and is effective immediately," said a spokeswoman, Sally Gifford, in a statement.
Sergant, who helped make artist Shepard Fairey's "Hope" image ubiquitous as an organizer of Obama campaign support from artists, had seemed to mix the NEA's work — essentially non-partisan politics — with the administration's legislative agenda on a conference call reported on by Andrew Breitbart's new conservative site, Big Government.
"I would encourage you to pick something, whether it’s health care, education, the environment, you know, there’s four key areas that the corporation has identified as the areas of service," Sergant told artists on the call, which he reportedly invited some of them to attend. "My ask would be to apply artistic, you know, your artistic creative communities utilities and bring them to the table," he said.
(Read more)
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0909/Another_conservative_target_resigns.html
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