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National Endowment for the Arts Announces New
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July 25, 2007
Washington, DC — The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced today the appointment of Jon Parrish Peede as the agency’s Director of Literature, Grants Programs. In this position, he manages applications, panels, and grant awards for literature fellowships, as well as grant awards for literary presses, magazine, and organizations. He assumed the role earlier this month.
“Jon Peede’s broad professional experience as a scholar, writer, editor, and publisher make him ideally suited to guide the literature fellowships and grants,” said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia. “We are delighted to have him join the Literature Division.”
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Jon Parrish Peede |
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Previously, Peede served as Counselor to the Chairman. Peede also continues to direct the NEA National Initiative, Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, a unique program that preserves the stories of U.S. military personnel who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, and their families. This groundbreaking program has resulted in 55 writing workshops, an award-winning anthology from Random House, two documentary films, and a historic literary archive. Additionally he managed the NEA’s Poetry Pavilion at the National Book Festival, wrote educational articles for the Shakespeare in American Communities and Big Read publications, and represented the agency at numerous literary conferences and governmental meetings.
“The NEA’s support of individual writers and literary organizations and events has enriched American culture for decades,” Peede said. “For example, 43 NEA Literature Fellows have gone on to receive the Pulitzer Prize later in their careers. One cannot overestimate the importance of discerning and supporting artistic excellence, especially during the formative years for writers and organizations. I am honored to work with Chairman Gioia and our talented Literature staff to build upon this rich legacy.”
He has held editorial and writing positions as publisher of Parrish House Books, founding editor of Millsaps Magazine, editor in the areas of literature and history at Mercer University Press, and director of the Georgia Poetry Circuit. In addition, he worked as Director of Communications at Millsaps College where he managed the college’s marketing, publications, and Web communications staff. He has published nearly 100 articles, essays, and creative works. Most recently he co-edited Inside the Church of Flannery O’Connor: Sacrament, Sacramental, and the Sacred in Her Fiction.
Peede graduated from Vanderbilt University with a B.S. in English and from the University of Mississippi with an M.A. in Southern Studies.
Peede joins an expanding NEA Literature Division. David Kipen, who joined the NEA in September 2005 as the Director of Literature, was recently appointed Director of Literature, National Reading Initiatives. Kipen manages the Big Read, the Arts Endowment’s largest literary initiative and the largest federal literature program since the W.P.A.’s Federal Writers Project. Nearly 200 communities nationwide are hosting Big Read programs in 2007, double that number are expected to participate in 2008. In addition to supervising the Big Read grants portfolio, Kipen represents Chairman Gioia and the Arts Endowment in his travels to Big Read communities across the country.
About the National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Arts Endowment is the largest national funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases.
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National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency
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Washington, DC 20506