Lady Gaga has been named co-chair of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, the board disbanded during the Trump administration that President Biden restored last year. The newly revived committee also includes creatives like Jon Batiste, Shonda Rhimes, Jennifer Garner, and Anna Deavere Smith in the list of names added to the committee.
Created by Ronald Reagan in 1982, the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities advises the president on cultural policy and provides recommendations to the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The 24-member group includes the aforementioned entertainment figures as well as scholarly figures like the historian Philip J. Deloria and the biographer Arnold Rampersad. Gaga will co-chair the committee alongside producer Bruce Cohen, while Tsione Wolde-Michael serves as executive director.
In 2017, the then-members of the committee presented a resignation letter following the Charlottesville riots, denouncing Trump’s “support of the hate groups and terrorists who killed and injured fellow Americans.” Trump subsequently threatened to disband the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities after arguing that the group was “not a responsible way to spend American tax dollars,” though both funds continued to receive millions of dollars in federal support. The newly restored committee will be funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and also raise money for its activities.
Lady Gaga has long had a friendly relationship with President Biden. The singer performed at a drive-in rally during his 2020 campaign, then sang the National Anthem at his inauguration — wearing a bulletproof dress, at that.
