Biden puts his paws up, appoints Lady Gaga to presidential arts committee
The President also appointed George Clooney, Jennifer Garner, Troy Kotsur, Shonda Rhimes, Kerry Washington, and more as members
Who knew we had a little-monster-in-chief? The White House announced on Thursday that President Biden plans to appoint none other than Lady Gaga as co-chair of the recently revived President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities (PCAH).
It’s not Gaga’s first time working with Biden (although they’ve tragically yet to collaborate on a Top 40 single). The artist previously traveled with the president to advocate for campus sexual assault survivors as part of the It’s On Us campaign, and raised over $128 million for the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund in 2020 through a televised concert. She will serve as co-chair alongside producer Bruce Cohen, who has both Oscars and Tonys to his name, as well as an Emmy nomination for his work on the 83rd Academy Awards. Cohen produced American Beauty, Silver Linings Playbook, Broadway’s “Big Fish” adaptation, and Pushing Daisies, among a bevy of other projects.
Biden also appointed a number of prominent Hollywood figures as committee members, with George Clooney, Jennifer Garner, Troy Kotsur, Shonda Rhimes, Marta Kauffman, Anna Deavere Smith, and Kerry Washington all making the cut. Other appointees include: musician Jon Batiste; founder and president of the California Community Colleges Baccalaureate Association Constance M. Carroll; Philip J. Deloria, the chair of Harvard’s Committee on Degrees in History and Literature; President of Berkeley City college M. Angélica Garcia; art historian and curator Nora Halpern; former congressman and DNC chairman Steve Israel; producer Ricky Kirshner; Bad Robot co-CEO Katie McGrath; Executive Director of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society Laura Penn; artist and educator Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya; Stanford Professor Emeritus Arnold Rampersad; public accountant and former attorney Kimberly Richter Shirley; singer-songwriter Joe Walsh; President Emerita of the American Council of Learned Societies Pauline Yu; and writer and educator Horacio Sierra.
Disbanded during Donald Trump’s time in office, Biden issued an executive order last September reinstating the PCAH, which was formed in 1982 via an executive order from Reagan to advise the President on cultural policy. In the order, Biden pledged to “strengthen America’s creative and cultural economy, including by enhancing and expanding opportunities for artists, humanities scholars, students, educators, and cultural heritage practitioners, as well as the museums, libraries, archives, historic sites, colleges and universities, and other institutions that support their work.”
Beyond Gaga, many of the newly-minted committee members share prior connections to Biden. Kirshner served as an executive producer of Biden’s 2021 inaugural, while Kauffman previously hosted First Lady Jill Biden as part of a midterm fundraising event in 2022. Batiste performed at the White House in December 2022.
Who’s to say whether it was her thorough investigation of January 6, her dedication to method acting, or a Biden grandchild with a TikTok that ultimately clinched Gaga the well-deserved recognition. Either way, President Biden clearly has his paws up high.