Arts and Humanities - Obama Presidency Oral History

The Obama Presidency Oral History project provides detailed coverage of the Obama Administration’s approach to arts policy, and features wide-ranging discussion of artistic and humanistic production in the United States during the Obama years. 

In oral history interviews in the project archive, narrators discuss congressional debates about federal funding for the arts and humanities; programs and activities undertaken by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH); and collaborations between the national endowments, non-governmental funders, and local arts organizations. They reflect on the impact of Obama’s election and presidency on artistic and intellectual production in America, the administration’s use of the White House as a stage for the arts at state dinners and official events, Obama’s ability to recognize and elevate artists and intellectuals through presidential medals and awards, efforts to include historically-marginalized communities and artistic traditions in state functions, Barack and Michelle Obama’s personal connections and relationships with American artists, and much more.

These themes, events, and issues are brought to life by White House staff, government officials, authors, musicians, intellectuals, visual artists, and scholars. Among other voices in the collection, hear from national endowment chairs Jane Chu and William “Bro” Adams; White House social secretaries Samantha Tubman and Jeremy Bernard; and artists and writers including Richard Blanco, Marilynne Robinson, Claudia Rankine, Bill T. Jones, Anna Deavere Smith, Amy Sherald, and Bill Ivey.

The Obama Presidency Oral History project’s coverage of the arts and humanities overlaps and intersects with several other topic areas in the collection, including Black Politics, Education, The People’s House, the East Wing, and Veterans.