Dana Gioia - National Endowment for the Arts

Dana Gioia is Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts. According to whitehouse.gov: Dana Gioia, an internationally acclaimed poet, critic, educator and former business executive, was appointed by the President and confirmed... [more]

Dana Gioia is Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts. According to whitehouse.gov: Dana Gioia, an internationally acclaimed poet, critic, educator and former business executive, was appointed by the President and confirmed unanimously by the Senate in January 2003. Mr. Gioia has worked most recently as a poet and critic and is best known for his 1991 book Can Poetry Matter? about the role of poetry in contemporary culture. Musically trained, he served the past six years as classical music critic for San Francisco magazine and has been a long time commentator on American culture and literature for BBC Radio. Working to support his writing, Mr. Gioia was an executive for General Foods in New York for fifteen years, eventually becoming their Vice President of Marketing. He received a B.A. and a M.B.A. from Stanford University and a M.A. in Comparative Literature from Harvard University.