press room

For Immediate Release

Alec Baldwin Lends His Voice

291 Arts Organizations In All 50 States Will Join In Promoting The Campaign

New York, NY — Americans for the Arts and The Advertising Council announced today the launch of a new public service advertisement (PSA) campaign—"Art. Ask for More."—designed to promote arts education. This is the first national PSA campaign to promote education in all forms of the arts, and it will encourage public participation in championing arts education both in and out of schools. It will offer parents a wealth of practical information on how to involve the arts in their children's lives, directing them to the newly expanded Americans for the Arts website: www.AmericansForTheArts.org, which provides a toolkit on arts education including access to arts resources in their own communities.

The campaign—which consists of television, radio, print, web, and outdoor advertisements—begins airing in prime time on Bravo, the Film and Arts Network, this week. VH1 has also made a national television commitment to air the campaign. Commitments from other broadcast and cable networks are expected soon. The ads will air throughout 2002. The radio and print ads will be released for use starting in February. Advance commitments to run print ads have already been received from The New York Times, Stagebill, and IFCRant The Magazine. In local media markets, the ads will also reference local arts partners. All facets of the ad campaign will be available for viewing on the websites of both organizations: www.AmericansForTheArts.org and www.adcouncil.org.

The advertisements, created pro bono by Austin-based GSD&M, offer humorous portrayals of what children miss when they lack an arts education. They end with the tag line: "The less art kids get, the more it shows. Are yours getting enough? Art. Ask for more." The campaign, its production, and outreach have been made possible by a $1 million grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, which helped to leverage additional needed resources. The television and radio ads feature the voice of actor Alec Baldwin. Actor Grant Rosenmeyer is featured as the young boy in the PSA television ads and can be seen in the current hit movie, The Royal Tenenbaums, which is coincidentally also narrated by Alec Baldwin.

More than 290 arts organizations in all 50 states will help promote this campaign to their local media. The names and locations of these official arts partners are attached.

"The vast majority of Americans believe that arts education is important enough to be taught in schools, but parents may be unaware that their children are offered few and uneven opportunities to learn dance, music, theater and the visual arts," said Robert L. Lynch, President and CEO of Americans for the Arts. "As a result of cuts in arts education funding in schools over many decades, far too many schools offer little, if any, arts education. We hope that this campaign will encourage parents and civic leaders to insist on more arts education opportunities both in school and in their communities."

"This campaign addresses a pressing educational need for our nation's children," said Peggy Conlon, President and CEO of the Ad Council. "I am confident that a broad range of national and local media will support this effort and that parents and others will be moved to champion arts education with renewed vigor in their own communities."

According to John Perry, Vice President, Group Account Director at GSD&M, "No one questions that art is important to the development of well-rounded children. But we're concerned that most children are only exposed to a token amount of art in school. We'd like to change that."

GSD&M is based in Austin, Texas, with more than 600 employees and estimated 2001 billings of more than $1 billion. They are the consumer voice and have helped build brand cultures for some of the country's most respected companies, including Wal-Mart, MasterCard, Krispy Kreme, Chili's Grill & Bar, the U. S. Air Force, Land Rover, Fannie Mae, Dial, Land Rover NA, and SBC Communications. For more information, visit www.gsdm.com.

The Advertising Council is a private, nonprofit organization, which has been the leading producer of public service communications programs in the United States since its founding as The War Advertising Council in 1942. For sixty years, The Council has supported campaigns that benefit all Americans. The Ad Council marshals volunteer talents from the advertising and communications industries to create awareness, foster understanding, and motivate action. Ad Council campaigns, such as "Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk," "Take A Bite Out of Crime," and "A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste," have helped save lives and educate the public about issues and concerns of the day, making America a healthier country in which to live. Last year, Ad Council campaigns received more than $1.7 billion in donated media time and space. To learn more about the Ad Council and its campaigns, visit its website, www.adcouncil.org.

Americans for the Arts is the leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts in America. This PSA campaign adds to its diverse roster of programs that support its mission to increase private and public resources for, and involvement with, the arts and arts education for all Americans. With offices in Washington, DC, and New York City, Americans for the Arts has a 40-year record of objective arts industry research. It is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. For more information on this campaign, and tips for parents who want to take action on behalf of the arts and arts education, visit www.AmericansForTheArts.org.

List of official arts partners (PDF, 125kb)