National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Visits Paramount Center

During his visit to Boston, National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman toured the Paramount Center and participated in a panel discussion led by the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) at the Paramount Mainstage.

Emerson Performing Arts students and faculty attended the panel discussion, which included arts leaders in Massachusetts, from the Berkshires to Boston.

Along with Chairman Landesman, panelists included Julianne Boyd, artistic director of the Barrington Stage; Jenny Gersten, artistic director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival; Richard Ortner, president of the Boston Conservatory; Tina Packer, founding artistic director of Shakespeare & Co.; and Jonathan Miller, administrative/production director of Emerson College’s Office of the Arts; among others.

“It’s an amazing example of what we’re talking about at the NEA. We believe that the arts can transform a neighborhood and a place, so what’s happening at the Paramount is really a thrilling story.”

–NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman

MCC Executive Director Anita Walker moderated the discussion, in which topics ranged from the challenges theaters face in new neighborhoods, to the need for theaters to go beyond entertainment and become integral parts of their communities. “Emerson College’s Paramount Center is the perfect location for today’s panel,” Walker said. “What Emerson is doing with the Paramount Center fits with everything that the Chairman’s been communicating in his ‘Art Works’ message; it’s providing exciting, diverse, and transformative theater experiences that work for the students and the community.”

“It’s an amazing example of what we’re talking about at the National Endowment for the Arts,” said Chairman Landesman, following his tour of the Paramount Center. “We believe that the arts can transform a neighborhood and a place, so what’s happening at the Paramount is really a thrilling story.”

Picture above from the Paramount Mainstage: Chair of Emerson’s Boston Arts Committee and a Trustee Emeritus Ted Cutler, Office of the Arts Administrative Production Director Jonathan Miller, NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman, Executive Director Anita Walker, and President of Emerson Jackie Liebergott.