See Jane run

Part 3

Culture Watch by Jason Gay

To direct such ambitious strategies, Brustein would like to see a pit bull installed as Alexander's NEA successor, someone to jump on tables and make a stir. "I hope we'll get a fighter," he says.

There's a mild barb in Brustein's comment: though he praises Alexander's "indefatigable" leadership, it's no secret that he had some trouble with her polite brand of populism. But he's right that the NEA needs a fighter down in Washington. Federal arts funding is at a crossroads -- it will either regenerate itself or fade entirely from the scene.

Jane Alexander recognized those stakes.

"Make no mistake about it, this debate over public funding is a question of values," she told a Detroit audience a couple years ago. "On one level, it's a question of what kind of government the people want. On another, it's a question of what kind of culture we want to leave our children. But the loss of any of these programs diminishes us all."

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Jason Gay can be reached at jgay[a]phx.com.