Ronald Reagan picked Frank Sinatra and Bill Blass. Bill Clinton appointed Quincy Jones, Rita Moreno and violinist Isaac Stern. The Bushes, father and son, chose a whole bunch of people you probably never heard of (except for Pittsburgh's own Bill Strickland).

But when it comes to sheer glitz and celebrity firepower, Barack Obama may have outstripped them all with his recent nominees to the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

They include "Sex and the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, actors Edward Norton and Alfre Woodard, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne and ballet dancer Damian Woetzel.

Oh, and Teresa Heinz, the Pittsburgh philanthropist and senatorial spouse.

The committee's 25 members -- an eclectic list that, besides performing artists, includes business executives, educators, arts organization trustees, lawyers and political supporters -- were sworn in Nov. 3 in Washington, D.C.

Their appointments ensure a higher profile for the committee, which promotes public-private partnerships for arts programs, cultural diplomacy and support for arts in education.

"We don't have a ministry of culture in this country and the arts are very decentralized," said Kimber Craine, a spokesman for the committee, which "creates a bridge between the private and public sector in supporting the arts."

The appointments of Ms. Parker and Ms. Wintour got considerable attention in celebrity blogs and fashion tabloids. "She's not just into fashion and releasing fragrances!" crowed Perez Hilton on his gossip Web site, when he announced Ms. Parker's selection.

Ms. Wintour "has gotten close to the Obama camp through co-hosting a fundraiser to honor Michelle Obama during her husband's presidential campaign and featuring the first lady on the cover of Vogue," Women's Wear Daily reported, adding, "Smooth move, Anna."

Margo Lion, a Broadway producer who co-chairs the committee with George Stevens Jr., executive producer of the Kennedy Center Honors and founder of the American Film Institute, said choosing Ms. Wintour and Ms. Parker made sense.

"Just because Sarah Jessica Parker is an actress doesn't mean she's without substance, or unthinking. She's a very engaged person who was very involved during the [Obama] campaign," and has served as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, noted Ms. Lion, who co-produced Tony Kushner's "Angels in America."

Ms. Wintour, she added, has been very supportive of the arts, not just in the pages of her magazine but in her work for The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum, one of that institution's most popular attractions.

Indeed, the high visibility of a Carrie Bradshaw or a Miranda Priestley -- the character based on Ms. Wintour in "The Devil Wears Prada" -- will be useful during testimony before Congress on Mr. Obama's initiatives, or when members of the committee are called on to promote the committee's top priorities, which include cultural diplomacy and after-school arts programs for disadvantaged children, said Robert Lynch, president of Americans for the Arts.

"The point is not so much their specific artistry but whether they are willing to contribute the time, energy and their high profile to advance the committee's priorities," he said. "If they can deliver the goods and make a difference by talking to Congress or the business community to get more good arts programs for kids, then that's good."

Each president has put a particular stamp on the arts committee since its establishment in 1982. Besides Mr. Sinatra and Mr. Blass, Mr. Reagan's appointees included many Los Angeles business leaders and arts patrons, while Mr. Clinton's committee focused on research projects, Mr. Lynch noted. George H.W. Bush's nominees included many business leaders but virtually no celebrities, while George W. Bush's committee focused on arts patrons and scholars -- and the aforementioned Mr. Strickland, founder of the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild on the North Side, who was appointed by Mr. Bush in 2004.

Besides their appointments to the committee, the Obamas have given the performing arts a high profile with its White House Music Series. Just last week, Pittsburgh CAPA junior Jason Yoder, who had played for Mrs. Obama in September during the G-20 summit, was asked to the White House to accompany cellist Alisa Weilerstein in a performance of Saint-Saens' "The Swan," in an arrangement for cello and marimba. Last week's theme was classical music, while previous sessions in the series have showcased jazz, country and Latin musicians.

The arts committee helped sponsor those performances, but its fundraising efforts reach beyond the performing arts, Mr. Craine noted. There's the Save America's Treasures grant program, aimed at preserving priceless relics -- from restoration of the flag that inspired "The Star-Spangled Banner" in the Smithsonian, to repairing windows at the Old North Church in Boston to markers delineating the Mason-Dixon line.

The committee has also emphasized arts education through its Coming Up Taller awards, which recognize after-school and out-of-school arts programs, "which do not get a lot of attention, that are started by individuals and groups on a shoestring and aimed at those who are poor, in jail and whose future is dark," Mr. Craine said.

Cultural diplomacy, a big focus of the previous administration, will also continue under the current committee, which is partnering with the American Film Institute and other agencies to showcase films in six countries.

And finally, while details haven't been finalized, the committee will focus "arts as an economic engine," Mr. Craine said -- noting that Pittsburgh's own Cultural District "is a poster child for that concept, because of its role in renewing your downtown."

"I think Mr. Obama has created a large, powerful and highly visible group to look at the issues of the arts and humanities in America -- powerful people who want to make a difference," Mr. Lynch said.

Washington correspondent Daniel Malloy writes the "Pittsburgh On The Potomac" blog exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.