| Yosi Sergant | |
|---|---|
Yosi Sergant speaking at the opening of Manifest Hope, Washington, DC art show |
|
| Born | August 14, 1976 |
| Occupation | Publicist |
| Known for | Marketing for 2008 Obama presidential campaign, specifically "Hope" poster |
Yosi Sergant (born 1976) is an American publicist[1] He is known for his commissioning and management of the "Hope" poster created during the 2008 presidential election by Shepard Fairey.
Sergant holds a degree in World Arts and Culture from UCLA. Early in his career he worked for Yitzhak Rabin and Larry Clark.[1] After the 2008 campaign, Sergant joined the White House's Office of Public Liaison and on May 11, 2009, Sergant was appointed Director of Communications for the National Endowment for the Arts.[2]
On August 10, 2009, Sergant participated in a conference call about United We Serve, a government program which encouraged community service in four areas chosen by the Corporation for National Service.
On August 25, 2009, Sergant's former employer Patrick Courrielche blogged about the call on a website run by conservative activist Andrew Breitbart calling it "a gross overreach of the National Endowment for the Arts."[3] This initial report included only brief excerpts from the call, which Courrielche secretly recorded, but alleged that the NEA was attempting to use its influence to have artists create work in support of the Obama Administration's domestic policy.
On August 27, The Washington Times reported that Sergant stated that the NEA did not organize the call. Courrielche produced an invite forwarded by Sergant, which he said contradicted the communications director's claim.[4] On September 1, 2009, Alex Beam referenced Courrielche's report in his Boston Globe column[5] and Courrielche appeared on Fox News with host Glenn Beck.[6] Lynne Munson, former deputy chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities under George W. Bush, stated in National Review Online that during her tenure at the NEA's sister agency, "any action resembling this call would have triggered immediate dismissal.[7]" Sergant was eventually reassigned to the title of New Media and Special Projects Advisor.[8][9]
Courrielche did not release the full audio and transcript of the call until September 21, 2009.[10] Reacting to the full transcript, arts journalist Ben Davis, of ArtNet, argued that the full text exonerated Sergant, and called the attack "politically motivated and built on mostly fabricated information".[11] Jeff Chang, noted hip-hop journalist, called the episode the beginning of the "new face of the Culture Wars".[12] Mainstream media sources did not evaluate whether the full context of the transcript impacted the allegations.
While arguing that Courrielche "misconstrued the purpose of the call",[5] the White House later issued new guidelines to help staffers avoid any appearance of impropriety.[13] On the same day, Chairman Landesman issued a statement stating that the call was not a means to promote any legislative agenda but rather to inform members of the arts community of an opportunity to become involved in volunteerism through the United We Serve program, and also that some of Sergant's language may have been inappropriate. His statement also noted that the call had nothing to do with grantmaking.[14] On September 23, 2009, ten Republican Senators issued an inquiry to the Chairman of the NEA, Rocco Landesman, questioning the possibility of "taxpayer dollars to engage in lobbying activities to promote the President's health care legislative agenda and other legislative priorities."[15] On September 24, 2009, the NEA announced that "effective immediately", Sergant had resigned from the organization.[16] Sergant later stated "They targeted me,"[17].
Since leaving his job with the National Endowment, Sergant produced Manifest Equality [18] and Reform School [19].