National Endowment For The Arts

A woman held a BlackBerry over the crowd surrounding Linda Ronstadt to get a shot of the onetime queen of country rock. Someone else thrust an album insert and pen at Josh Groban. "Just one more photo, please," followed jazz musician Wynton Marsalis out of the room. The three musicians were among a group who appeared Tuesday on Capitol Hill to speak in favor of increasing funding for the National Endowment for the Arts to $200 million in the 2010 budget.

Rocco Landesman, a Broadway impresario known for his colorful personality and blunt candor, has reportedly been chosen by the Obama administration to lead the National Endowment for the Arts. According to a report in the New York Times, the White House will nominate Landesman for the position of chairman at the NEA, a post that was previously held by Dana Gioia. The formal announcement is expected to come today.

Ten Republican senators have written to National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman, expressing concern that the Obama administration may have violated federal law by trying to use the agency for political purposes -- something the White House and NEA have denied. The charges stem from an Aug. 10 teleconference in which the NEA's communications director urged members of the arts community to help Obama's efforts to spur volunteer community service. Yosi Sergant was subsequently demoted by Landesman, and he resigned Thursday because he felt he was becoming a distraction for the agency.