Americans for the Arts

This past Sunday, actors, actresses, musicians, and other celebrity artists turned out to show their support for arts education at  P.S. Arts Express Yourself 2009.  This annual event brings out well-known artists such as Jack Black, Lisa Kudrow, and Steve Carell, among others, in an effort to restore arts education programs to all California public schools and to support P.S. Arts programs for students who don't have access to arts programs in their schools.  While celebrity artists certainly help spotlight the issue of arts education with their advocacy and willingness to speak up for the arts, you don't have to be famous to be an effective arts advocate.

Recently, Maryo Gard Ewell was visiting our Washington, DC offices speaking with the Americans for the Arts staff about the early history of the community arts movement in this country. Maryo shared a quote that I really connected to as I’ve been thinking about the upcoming 50th anniversary of the arts infrastructure in America and Americans for the Arts 50th Anniversary, both being celebrated in 2010. The quote is from singer/songwriter Harry Chapin, who was the keynote speaker at the first National Assembly of Community Arts Agencies (a previous iteration of Americans for the Arts) convention in 1979, and it went something like this,

“You (arts people) can't be the dance band on the Titanic…you must climb to the crow's nest and gaze out into the waters ahead. As the eyes and ears of America, we artists and arts activists and arts organizers must help steer the ship of America through the icebergs… so that all of us journey safely to the future."

The Americans for the Arts Half-Century Summit, our 50th Anniversary Convention, will take place from June 25-27, 2010 in Baltimore, MD. Registration has just opened for this unique convening that will both celebrate past success and envision the future of the arts, while also delivering the training, tools, and professional development that you need and expect from our Annual Convention. Eclectic, fun, and funky, Baltimore is the perfect setting for this distinctive convening that will celebrate the past, engage in the present and strategize for the future.