TIDINGS OF COMFORT AND GIOIA:

Senate Confirms NEA Chief, Panelists (Andrew Salomon, December 11, 2006, Backstage.com)

The U.S. Senate approved a second four-year term for the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts on Monday, and also confirmed President Bush's nominees to the National Council on the Arts, the advisory panel for the NEA.

Dana Gioia, a poet, author, and critic, was reappointed by President Bush on Sept. 30 and unanimously approved by the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee before winning unanimous approval from the full chamber.

During his first term, Gioia initiated the Shakespeare in American Communities program, the largest theatrical tour of Shakespeare in history. He also enhanced the NEA Jazz Masters program and started the Big Read, an initiative to revitalize the role of literature in American popular culture.