WASHINGTON, D.C.—Last July, President Barack Obama raised eyebrows when he hired actor Kal Penn, best known for his role in the stoner-humor Harald and Kumar movies, as a liaison to the arts and Asian-American and Pacific Island communities in the Office of Public Engagement. Now, a year after his election, he's announced a star-studded lineup for the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, a largely ceremonial group, chaired by First Lady Michelle Obama, that advises the president on cultural issues.

Put simply, the committee is made up of politically engaged arts personalities and culturally engaged politicians and businesspeople. Among the 25 new appointees are several actors, including Edward Norton, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kerry Washington, Forest Whitaker, and Alfre Woodard. From the cultural community he also selected cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who played at his inauguration, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, theater director George C. Wolfe, ballet dancer Damian Woetzel, film producer Liz Manne, and Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne. There is no creative representative from the world of visual art, though several of the new appointees have worked closely with or served on the boards of arts organizations.

Filling out the committee are a cast of private-sector businesspeople as well as government officials such as Minnesota State Senator Richard J. Cohen and Washington insiders such as philanthropist Teresa Heinz, wife of Massachusetts Senator John Kerry.