Yosi Sergant, who had recently assumed the post of communications director at the National Endowment for the Arts, has resigned his position following news that Sergant organized an August conference call with the White House Office of Public Engagement and United We Serve for the purpose of recruiting artists to create works supporting the socialist agenda of Obama.
Patrick Courrielche, one of roughly 75 artists, musicians, writers, poets and others on the hour-long call, said Sergant was among those who encouraged the artists to create works in their respective fields that would show support for Obama’s radical domestic agenda in areas such as health care, energy and the environment.
Obama received a letter from Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, calling for congressional hearings into the NEA’s role in the call.
“I urge you to make clear that your administration will never allocate taxpayer dollars to artists based on their support for administration policy initiatives,” Cornyn wrote. “Further, I respectfully request that you take the necessary steps to ensure that the NEA — and the American arts community it supports — remain independent from political manipulation by the White House.”
During the call, Courrielche said the ubiquitous Obama “Hope” poster by artist Shepard Fairey and musician will.i.am’s “Yes We Can” song and music video were offered as “shining examples” of the artist group’s clear impact on Obama’s landslide election.
“What I heard was a well thought-out pitch to encourage artists to create art on these issues,” Courrielche told FOXNews.com last month. “We were told we were consulted for a reason, and they specifically stated those issues as the issues we should focus on, to plant the seed. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see what they’re attempting to do.”
Courrielche, who first wrote about the experience on the blog Big Hollywood, said unidentified members of the press were also on the call.
“I felt like I needed to say something about it,” he said last month. “Now I think if [a piece of art] comes out, you have to question it, did it come from this meeting? This is the exact argument for why an agency like this shouldn’t exist.”
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