
Mary Anne Carter. Photo courtesy of National Endowment for the Arts.
In Thursday’s (5/8) New York Times, Zachary Small writes, “Mary Anne Carter, who oversaw the National Endowment of the Arts during President Trump’s first term, was nominated Tuesday to lead the embattled agency once again, according to Senate records. Her nomination came just days after Mr. Trump proposed eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts and the agency began withdrawing current grants from arts organizations … The endowment was thrown into further turmoil earlier this week when a group of senior officials there announced their resignations. Ms. Carter was seen as a stabilizing leader of the endowment by many in the arts world during Mr. Trump’s first term. Although Mr. Trump also proposed eliminating the agency back then, it survived thanks to bipartisan support in Congress, and its budget even grew…. Before joining the federal government, Ms. Carter worked as chief policy adviser in the Florida governor’s office when Senator Rick Scott, a Republican, was the state’s governor. She was also the founder and president of MAC Research, a consulting firm that specializes in political and public affairs. She has been serving as a senior adviser at the endowment during the current Trump administration.”