A Contrast In Arts

Bill Ivey, director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, has been selected by President-elect Barack Obama to head his transition team for arts and culture.

Ivey was a chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts from 1998 through 2001. Ivey, a folklorist and musicologist, was the director of the Country Music Foundation from 1971 to 1998. He was also active in the Grammy Awards and wrote the book “Arts Inc.: How Greed and Neglect Have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights.”

In another appointment, current President George Bush has appointed Lee Greenwood to the National Arts Council for a six-year term. Greenwood penned the patriotic country anthem “God Bless the U.S.A.” and will be sworn in Nov. 17.

Council members advise the NEA chairman, and their portfolio includes reviewing and making recommendations on applications for grants from the $145 million per federal agency.