Americans for the Arts

In the arts, we have a reputation to maintain as outside-of-the box, unique, spontaneous, wild and imaginative people. These blogs are filled with the joy and truth of learning, and of learning creatively. We are filling the internet with optimism and passion.

Parents have advocated for rich curricula, they have spent hundreds (or thousands) of dollars on dance costumes, they have walked around the house for years with cotton in their ears during tuba practice, they have been charmed by indescribable ceramic gifts, they have encouraged this behavior. Their children are thinkers and they are off to college and careers.

But, what are we doing at the other end of the journey?

As noted in the NEA study Artists in the Workforce (June 2008), there are two million trained, entrepreneurial working artists across the country who are assets to their communities. Representing 1.4 percent of the U.S. labor force, artists constitute a sizeable class of workers --only slightly smaller than the total number of active-duty and reserve personnel in the U.S. military (2.2 million).

New, critical support for arts education is mounting from business, government, and education. Wisconsin leaders are capitalizing on these opportunities in unparalleled ways.

By Karin Wolf, Arts Program Administrator, Madison Arts Commission, City of Madison, Wisconsin

On a cool Wisconsin evening in early September, dozens upon dozens of people gathered at the Promega Corporation’s world headquarters in Fitchburg, WI, to honor a distinguished guest on the occasion of his 91st birthday. Promega Corporation has offices in 12 countries and is a worldwide leader in innovative biochemistry and molecular biology technology. Though their special visitor was someone who was carefully selected to be an inspiration to employees, he was not a famous scientist or leader in biotech sales. In fact, his success did rely on a finely tuned understanding of chemistry and a knack for business, but that is not why he was invited.