On Thursday, Lady Gaga and producer Bruce Cohen (American Beauty, Silver Linings Playbook) were named co-chairs of President Joe Biden’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, a board comprised of top names in the arts tasked with advising the president on cultural issues.
The committee is back after a five-year hiatus, when it was disbanded during the Trump administration in protest of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, during which Trump said there were “very fine people on both sides” of the clash that killed one.
At the time, the 17-member committee wrote to then-President Trump, condemning his “hateful rhetoric” and his efforts to eliminate or drastically reduce budgets for the arts and humanities.
“We cannot sit idly by, as your West Wing advisors have, without speaking out against your words and actions,” the letter, signed by committee members including Kal Penn and artist Chuck Close, stated.
The board is making a comeback. President Biden reinstated the committee last October, calling the arts and humanities “essential to the well-being, health, vitality, and democracy of our nation.” Committee members will include Jon Batiste, George Clooney, Jennifer Garner, Troy Kotsur, Shonda Rhimes, and Kerry Washington, in addition to Gaga and Cohen.
See below for the full list of committee members.
- Bruce Cohen, Co-Chair
- Lady Gaga, Co-Chair
- Jon Batiste, Member
- Constance M. Carroll, Member
- George Clooney, Member
- Philip J. Deloria, Member
- M. Angélica Garcia, Member
- Jennifer Garner, Member
- Nora Halpern, Member
- Steve Israel, Member
- Marta Kauffman, Member
- Ricky Kirshner, Member
- Troy Kotsur, Member
- Katie McGrath, Member
- Laura Penn, Member
- Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, Member
- Arnold Rampersad, Member
- Shonda Rhimes, Member
- Kimberly Richter Shirley, Member
- Horacio Sierra, Member
- Anna Deavere Smith, Member
- Joe Walsh, Member
- Kerry Washington, Member
- Pauline Yu, Member
