Ivey Selection Cheers Country Fans

Tue., Dec. 23, 1997

The Orange County Register

In the “this can only be good news for country music” category comes the announcement that President Clinton on Friday nominated Bill Ivey, who has headed the Country Music Foundation for more than a quarter-century, to take over the National Endowment for the Arts.

For one thing, a lot of people in the congressional leadership, who incidentally wanted to deep-six this organization, consider themselves friends of country music, so that could help get Ivey through the confirmation mill to run the controversial arts organization. And, of course, it certainly can’t hurt to have a Nashville veteran in the key arts funding post, now can it?

Ivey, 53, an amateur guitarist and songwriter, is the first nominee for NEA chairman who is an arts organization professional and who has developed and run a cultural nonprofit organization, according to the White House. He is a national trustee of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

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