Minnesota meeting is very pleased to present today speaker Jane Alexander chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts today at the Minneapolis Convention Center are many teachers students artists Arts administrators and local political leaders since Miss Alexander's Minnesota meeting address is also serving as the keynote speech for a day-long conference on Arts education entitled The Power of the Arts collaborating for kids join me on stage. This morning is Minneapolis. Mayor Sharon sayles Belton who will be participating with Ms. Alexander and several local officials for the afternoon session of this conference mirror Sales Belton will introduce Miss Alexander in a moment. I will now turn the podium over to the mayor of Minneapolis The Honorable Sharon sayles Belton.Thank you. Larry and I are to 1 to welcome everyone to Minneapolis. One of the cultural capitals of the United States home to more than 11,000 professional artist dozens of thriving Arts organization and tens of thousands of appreciative lovers of the Arts. Thank you to all of you one reason. I'm pleased to introduce the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts today is that I can think her publicly for substantial help that she provides our Minneapolis Arts Community nearly 7 million dollars in the last two years alone. I think that's worthy of an Applause.Another reason I am pleased to introduce her is that she is a woman who I admire greatly and actress a rider a film producer in her own right? She is also the winner of an Emmy Award a Tony Award and for Academy Award nominations. I'm sure that it is in her artist soul that she breathes so much life and passion into her work as the chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts. Finally. I'm pleased to introduce her because that she shares my belief that aren't really provides a context for people to understand each other and that it is a unique power to discipline our minds while it also liberates the spirits of our children. It is my honor to present to you Jane Alexander chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.Thanks so much. Thank you. Thanks. As an actress. I always appreciate a standing ovation before the performance. Thank you mayor for that kind introduction. I'm delighted to be here in Minnesota. And the Heart of one of America's great homes for culture the Twin Cities. This city is surely one of the country's major cultural capitals a jewel in the crown. I often refer to it in my speeches across the country a jewel in the crown for our country and culture and we are proud at the endowment. Of our partnership with the Minnesota state Arts board together with support a great variety of excellent Arts organizations all across the state here in the Twin Cities. We have a long have long supported a core of great institutions that make this city such a dynamic force in the Arts and I'm talking about the Guthrie Theater in the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Slater performing and Visual Arts at the Walker Art Center and the University of Minnesota and the Arts on television through Twin Cities public television, and on the airwaves through Minnesota Public Radio. We support the Saint Paul chamber orchestra film in the cities Children's Theater Company and school the Minnesota dance Alliance Minnesota Opera the Plymouth music series The Society of Fine Arts and literary Publishers, like milkweed editions graywolf Press Coffee House Press and the Loft I could go on and on and on last year. We awarded a total of 105 grants totaling nearly 4.5 million dollars across the state. And since 1966 the National Endowment for the Arts has invested over 90 million dollars for Minnesota artists and arts organizations. In fact the third largest of all the money that we give out and then dumb And there's good reason for that because the Arts make the Twin Cities a great place to live to grow up to participate in the local culture. What makes our cities livable is the strength of those core institutions along with universities and hospitals libraries and parks and what distinguishes the Twin Cities from other cities is a broad and forward-looking vision and that Vision begins with citizens with you. Support of our public institutions is part of a democratic process that relies on the individual taxpayers and is based on the belief that it will represent broadly the community. That's why there is such a great diversity of our here in Minnesota. Although many of your ancestors immigrated from Europe and brought their traditions and arts with them. Minnesota has moved forward in support of the broadest spectrum of Contemporary Arts tolerance is Paramount tolerance of diverse Lifestyles races religions and krytos even the smallest segment of society is supported in, Minnesota. This willingness to try to understand and appreciate one another makes this city a home for real democracy at its best this openness to growth. Let's your Rich culture resonate throughout the Midwest and indeed throughout the country. I wish more cities were like Minneapolis and st. Paul and I wish more legislators were like our senator Paul wellstone here who supports our mission totally. On my first eight months on this job. I've had the opportunity to see a great deal of America. I visited 33 States and I've met with thousands of people in town hall meetings and Gatherings such as this the thread that runs through everything that I've been hearing is the need to renew the connection between the Arts and the life of the community today. I'd like to talk about three waves of the future and the not-so-distant future that have as much impact on Minnesota as they do on the rest of the country. President Clinton has put forth a call for an American renewal in our schools in our economy in our communities. The Arts can lead the way in that renewal here in Minneapolis and across the country. Let's first address the issue of Education reform. What are the goals of our schools to implant the knowledge and facts to assist our children and their growth to adulthood facts have a certain resilience and usefulness. They stick in the memory the side of a right triangle opposite. The right angle is called a hypotenuse water is made of molecules two parts hydrogen one part oxygen the word misspelled is often misspelled. Minnesota became a state in 1858 the Vinci painted the Mona Lisa. That's knowledge information. I know these bits of data they're stored away in my brain bites on the hard disk. But educational institutions have a responsibility not only for giving us the fact but for developing skills competence and expanding our tastes and vision more important than what you know is how you know, how you think more important than your knowledge or information is a free imagination. It's imagination that enabled Einstein to develop his theory of relativity and some Wonder in fact, if as a young boy, he would have developed it at all had he not been given a violin at the age of 9 and realize that he could succeed at something when he was failing or doing poorly in school imagination enabled on Edison to record the human voice and Rachel Carson to warn us all about poisoning the environment in the Silent Spring. It's imagination that builds our bridges are skyscrapers and reclaims are wetlands. It's imagination that makes possible progress Innovation and Discovery knowledge without imagination is like a row boat without oars. It will get you where you wanted to go. Only if the wind is blowing, right? But we've often neglected imagination in some cases. We've even stifled it school districts consider the Arts of frill or relegate them to a half hour of drawing every other Friday. Rachel Carson did not believe in separating biology from the Arts. Her scientific writings are pure poetry Einstein likewise new of the need for both when he wrote the most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious it is the source of all true Art and Science. Yet somehow we think we're giving our children a complete education without the Arts. Ernest Boyer president of the Carnegie Foundation advocates for a revolution in our thinking about education and a breaking through the confines. He tells the story of a young college graduate who was home during a spring break with her five-year-old niece and they sat down to color together the nice took the Crayolas and the coloring book and she quickly Leaf past 30 pages until she came to a blank page on the back and when the student asked the little girl her niece why she chose to color where there was no picture the little girl replied outside the lines you can do anything you want. spell we have educated our children within the lines as if every brain were similarly shaped and as if every mind were in fact identical educator Howard Gardner at Harvard with his project zero has identified seven discreet ways of learning that people learn and they create themselves. They are language math and logic music spatial reasoning movement interpersonal intelligence, which is how we know others and intrapersonal intelligence how we know ourselves. Well schools most often structure curricula to work with students linguistic mathematical and logical strength and artspace structure would include all seven ways of learning and thinking studies show that the Arts in the curriculum can provide made greater motivation to learn increase attendance for students and for teachers raise test scores and Gage students more fully in the learning process give teachers a sense of renewal and challenge, especially when the Arts are integrated with the other subjects develop higher order thinking and problem-solving skills. Myself as an example. I was a good student and I did enjoy School enormously doing well in most subjects and particularly in mathematics, but it was through theater that I learned discipline collaboration concentration Reading Writing and even history. I certainly learned more about Egypt and Rome when I played Cleopatra and Antony and Cleopatra than any history course I had ever taken And when I played Eleanor Roosevelt in 7 hours of a miniseries back in the 70s, I had two years to prepare and I surely could have gotten a PhD on the Roosevelt. I don't know where I might have ended up had I not had the opportunity to learn about theater. But I do know that I'm grateful that I had that opportunity in school and I think it benefits all children to have similar opportunities. I don't expect that the world would be overrun with actors. God forbid that thought but or even overrun with artist, but what I would expect is that we could better educate our children and prepare them for the rest of their lives. If we Taylor the way we teach to take advantage of the way that they learn short of setting up multiple curricula for multiple intelligences. The only way to teach a diverse group of students is through a structure that is open to our human intelligence has and that structure in my mind would be informed by the Arts. I don't have to tell you that a civilization is measured by their Arts. Only if we invest resources in values in spirit and creativity. And in imagination will we build the better schools that are outlined in goals 2000 educate America Act which Congress recently passed and which has the Arts as part of the core subjects along with math and science the Arts. In fact were the first discipline to publish standards for our schools and dance music theater and visual arts. They are rigorous objectives for our children, but we set High aspirations for them all the time out of love out of care. We asked them to become the best people in all sense of the word that they can be. Similarly, we can use the Arts and education to give the disadvantaged and the disenchanted a reason to hope to Lonnie Davis the novelist and librettist of the Opera Malcolm X set it on National Arts Council held in Chicago in April. She had this to say we study are despairing endangered and unschooled youth noting the lack of structures for socialization and the teaching of Ethics self-esteem and crisis management and yet we refuse them the tools of art tools which teach self-discipline on wonder which encourage the liberty of the spirit and the right to self definition. Let's give them art as at least one tool with which to challenge their Exile from us. Well, perhaps in the future our children will return from Exile. But only if we give them reason to hope to dream and to DARE and the fight begins at the local level. You need to convince one's fellow taxpayers that this is money. Well spent. That the Arts are not an extracurricular activity but a necessity for the spiritual life of our children. We need artist to find ways into the classroom. Our teacher should be given the training and the tools to teach there's nothing more important to our future then to teach your children. Well parents teachers students and the general public share that responsibility and I think we must work together to make arts education a reality in the schools in this community and in every school district in Minnesota. Concomitant with an investment in education must be a policy for dealing with the technological Revolution and the Arts and Diamond has from its beginning been aware of a need to be masters of technology and not its unthinking servant that very phrase appears in our authorizing legislation from 1965. And I'm sure that the framers of that bill hadn't even imagined things like digitalization and internet. But they knew then as we know now that creativity is essential for our economic survival and stability out of the technological revolution in these last years of the twentieth century emerge the big seven in the industry's Telecommunications software entertainment cable broadcasting publishing and consumer electronics. Implications of the technological Revolution are complex, but one idea that emerges is that the content providers the people who are going to put the information on this information Highway will need to be imaginative creative and perceptive and artist will play a big role because of course the Arts are about imagination and creativity. The Arts are a training ground and a crucible for those big 7 and business is already looking to the Arts to provide leadership. We must begin teaching our children not only about technology but how to be creative when we teach your children to draw after all we're teaching that child to see when we teach a child a song or a musical instrument. We're teaching that child how to listen. If we equip our children today with the tools at our fingertips, they will be empowered to find the answers that they need in the World of Tomorrow. And it has become a brave new Arts world the entire collection of London's National Gallery for example is on one CD ROM disk. A computerized music to tutor that you sing into will tell you if you're off key. The global jukebox tracks the origins of Music and Dance forms with the push of a button and lets you see and hear on your video scream at screen the drum beat from an African village that evolve later into a Gene Krupa riff for example and much much more recently at the suggestion of mrs. Mondale and Japan. I held a 2-hour conference with Japanese Arts administrators and I was in Washington DC and they were in Tokyo and we were connected by fiber optics by telephone cables under the ocean and I saw them clearly on my TV screen and they saw me clearly on theirs and there was no lag time except that of the man translating their language to English in mind to Japanese. And Japanese it appears is twice as long to say as English. The world is shrinking indeed artist another creative thinkers are taking advantage not just of interactive TV the internet and the exchange of ideas and information. But if the power of the computer to help us to think and perceive some people have complained that computers will replace the live experience of art. Well, if a virtual reality helmet and gloves will give you the tools to visit the National Gallery Gallery of Art in London without leaving Minneapolis. Then why should you make that long flight across the Atlantic or if a keyboard and speakers will allow you to access thousands of books musical performances or theater in hologram. Why leave your house? Well, they did say that movies would replace theater that television would replace movies that cable would replace television in the radio is dead and we know Garrison Keillor is alive and well But theater is still very much alive with 430 not-for-profit theaters across this country as opposed to a handful in 1965 and we go to performances and then we listen to them on taper on CD and we still do read that old archive. The book virtual reality will never replace the live experience of standing in front of these paintings are Jacob Lawrence migration series are America set. The beauty of technology is not that it would replace the Arts but that it will augment them and the reality of Arts and Technology at the is that this connection is an economic one and fulfills the human desire to communicate no matter what the circumstances in tomorrow's world. We must even have more tools open and accessible to all to think about and make connections to the Arts and more education to appreciate them. And that of Technology must be available to all to all people to all children. So that power will not be in the hands of a few. The Arts contribute directly to our economy as well. The NES budget is 170.2 million, but the not-for-profit Arts industry generates 3.4 billion dollars back to Federal treasury in taxes paid by artists and other businesses who profit from the Arts presence in our communities one Auntie a dollar Leverage is 11 to $20 from other sources and investment record that other agencies can't match but we have lost 40 / 6% of our purchasing power since 1979. And what is threatened is the tremendous growth in the number and quality of Arts organizations in every state since the NBA was founded in 65 chances are that you have right now in your pocket the $0.65 that each of you pay in taxes each year for the National Endowment for the Arts. Small change you can buy a donut with it. In addition to renewing our schools and investing in our future the art can help renew our communities Across America and the first step toward renewal is to come to some definition of community. Perhaps art provides the metaphor. More than 5,000 years ago at Newgrange in Ireland some megalithic designer carved in rock a try spiral that is three interconnected spirals. No one knows the precise significance of these three spirals by that image sticks in my mind when we try to consider the spirals of our community life. I choose spirals instead of circles for I believe that communities should be open and Like the double helix, they are progressive and vertical our first the first Community is our family from which we spiral out in a number of directions. We are members of communities based on religious social ethnic political beliefs and connections. unprofessional ties like the Arts Community or an education community Our neighborhood city-state region country in the world are all separate yet interconnected communities and in each of these Circles of community the Arts play a significant role for art is the very core of our spiritual life and what makes us human our capacity for imagination expression and communication. And yet there is a general unease in our life. What is e l doctorow calls a semi estranged mood. It cuts across racial tensions gender Politics the generation gap the haves and haves Nots between artist and audience the disengage than the disenchanted in this postmodern world. We run the risk of atomization spinning off into our own world home to the suburbs shut the door in this type of living condition. What is it risk in this diminished sense of community is not just our happiness our neighborhoods our City's but any hope any hope for social racial and economic Harmony I recently heard some people discussing the fact that they felt some of the disenchantment that was experienced across the country came about because there had been a reduction in the building of Stoops and porches. In our housing and that's something secretary Cisneros took to heart began to is thinking about for economic development and Housing Development. And it's why the president asks us to make a renewed commitment to our values and our communities President Clinton asked us all to give our children a future. He said let us take away their guns and give them books. Let us overcome their Despair and replace it with hope let us by our example teach them to obey the law respect our neighbors and cherish our values. Let us we'd be sturdy threads into a new American Community. How do we use the Arts to renew communities? First I think my listening trying to understand what the artists are saying what they have to say. Artist of this generation have reinforced our society's awareness and obligation to the environment taught us compassion to those with AIDS and to the disenchanted promoted peace, understanding and advanced civil rights to expanding our definition of Tolerance the artist in society though have always had a tentative relationship. Sometimes wary of one another for the artist is often The Sentinel on the precipice heralding change. Is it Peaks Over the Horizon? Artist challenge, they ask difficult questions sometimes and they rattle our cages. They can make our skin itch in our souls bristle, but they can also touches to our heart's deepest core and they will continue to do so whether we listen or not, but I would hope in the future that we could all learn the value of good listening and supportive climate of inquiry and tolerance. I know that minnesotans Pride themselves on tolerance and rightly so for this state is a Bastion of progressive thinking and a willingness to hear the other fellow out. Secondly, we use the Arts informing partnership for the common good of the Community Partnerships of always been Central to the work of the endowment and part of my time at the Nea has been spent meeting with other federal agencies to see how we can solidify these alliances. I've met with the secretary of Commerce attorney general Reno at Justice the secretary Riley of Education Housing and Urban Development Health and Human Services and the director of the national service to integrate the Arts as a positive force in all walks of American Life. Our Partnerships at the federal level and with the state and local Arts agencies can serve as models for this community as well. We've been told that funding probably won't increase unless and until the Arts are seen as an essential component of society. The Arts Community has Through The Years suffered from this isolation Arts organizations off to integrate themselves fully into local communities by creating Partnerships with non arts and tuti's and cooperate on common goals help with organization other organizations with their goals and ask for their support for the Arts and finally keep in mind the long-term goals for the Arts not compromising your Artistic integrity, but realizing that the Arts are part of the solution. I'd like to share just one story of interaction between an Arts organization and the community. And another Federal agency, in fact that benefits both at all in in in the community at our art 21 conference in April, Dr. Harvey Milkman of project self-discovery in Denver described his Early Intervention Program providing at risk youth with artistic recreational and health-oriented training as an alternative to substance abuse and the worst kind of peer pressure and some of these children were already caught in the judicial system. Through a collaboration with Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Theater project self-discovery applied for and received a 1.2 million dollar Grant from the center for substance abuse and prevention partially funded by Health and Human Services to develop after school programs using movement and dance and other Arts to redirect the negative energy of at-risk kids with these conduct disorder substance abuse and family problems. And dr. Milkman said that the Arts provide positive venues to Healing dysfunction project self-discovery, encourages creative risk-taking through the Arts through a series of 12 week sessions. It gives these children opportunities to develop artistic skills and perform for each other and then come back for another 12 weeks to develop programs for the community as well as Mentor other kids coming into the program in so doing they help young people build self-esteem that they provide Frame of reference for Success they give them a skill and an ongoing involvement. His collaborator Cleo Parker Robinson Jose choreographer in a dancer says Community is such an important part of the underpinning of my work Community feeds my work. It does not mean it should be the rule for all groups in all communities. But this is what I have to do. My artists need to know that more exists beyond our studio. She went on to say that even a couple dollars for her program where to go away she believed that the community which is strongly committed to her programs will find a way to continue support. I believe and I know that you're strongly committed to the Arts here in the Twin Cities. You have such a rich culture that every Community connect with can connect with the Arts at some point. All of the Arts weidenaar circles are spirals. They bind us together through shared experience. What better way do we have of communicating and connecting with one another than through the Arts? They demonstrate most clearly are connectedness are common human nature, even when we're singing hymns in church that that's Arts oriented the Arts speak to what unites us all under the skin. They speak to the human spirit and all our pain and Joy are disenchantment and our beguilement are anger and our celebration renewing our communities and our schools. Our economic future through the Arts is the best gift that we can give to the Next Generation the children of all of our communities who will come of age in the new century who would live And work and walk toward the next Horizon the poet Maya Angelou said at the president's inauguration The Horizon leans forward. There's a connection between this moment and the idealism of the New Horizon and the Nea is part of the connection part of a reinvented government that can serve. Well the people who put it there. Let us all made that New Horizon together. Thank you for asking me here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Miss Alexander for a radio audience. You're listening to Jane Alexander the chair of the National Endowment for the Arts speaking to the Minnesota meeting on the stations in Minnesota Public Radio. I wish that our radio audience could take a look at this festive room in which were listening to you. I'm a couple of weeks ago. We went to a number of Minneapolis Public School teachers and said, could you perhaps get one or two pieces of Student Art so that we could show Miss Alexander how much we appreciate her coming and for those of you on the radio and those of you in the room we have over 200 pieces of original Student Art from kids as young as eight all the way up to 18. So, please take a look at it as you go to the first question hear from Tom Trail. Yes here in the Twin Cities and nonprofit organization called United Arts has just announced the creation of the school Arts fund which will give grants to support relationships between local Arts organizations and schools. On the national level a new bill that just passed the house called the Community Arts Partnership Act that does pretty much the same thing on the federal level was 75 million dollars of support proposed for the school that bill is now on its way through the Senate and I wonder if you could comment on your prediction of how it's likely to do and say something about how the Nea would work with the Department of Education to broaden the impact of the Arts. We've already been working with the Department of Education on that bill because as you probably know secretary Riley feel strongly about having the Arts as part of the Core Curriculum and part of that bill would would bring about more teacher training an artist training in the classroom, which we feel is a very important component over the past 20 years ago with not only lost a lot of Arts in the schools. We lost a lot of teachers who are capable and interested in teaching the Arts. So we feel that dynamic duo of the artist and the teacher will be reinforced in parts. Community Arts Partnership Act I I certainly hope this bill is going to pass perhaps Senator wellstone knows more than I know about its future, but we are certainly champing at the endowment. Thank you, Miss Alexander. Our next question is from Bill Portland with new place and new and I remember meeting you last two years ago in Oklahoma. My question is essentially for you and perhaps for people to think about in the room at the cricket. We work with new writers. And certainly what you just described about Community. It is very much. I think what Arts organizations strive for the Arts help us to understand how other people think artists are the best I think at Illuminating the way people from different walks of life deal with things and and it helps I think create Community because by understanding it literally and in your heart through the Arts you become better able to feel a part of a community. You mentioned a lot of the major Arts organizations in the Twin Cities and there are many men. Smaller and mid-sized Arts organizations right now. I think I can on mcley the smaller and mid-sized organizations are feeling much more of the strain of the funding cutbacks. And so if you have any thoughts about how the funding structure can in fact be sure to include the smaller and mid-sized organizations that perhaps are more at risk. I think that is what helps create the full fabric of the Arts culture here in the Twin Cities. And and again, I think it's important at all levels that organizations be able to reach into the community at various levels. Yes, thank you. I didn't mean to exclude the small Arts organizations big because in fact fully half of our funding goes to small Arts organizations in one way or another. Across the country and they are exploding at a phenomenal rate. I was in Miami a few weeks ago and just a year ago in 1993. There were 300 small Arts organizations today. There are seven hundred and this is a great concern to us at the Nea how we are going to address serving the small Arts organizations, which if they're not 501 c 3 nonprofit status now, they will be very shortly and they'll certainly qualify what because we do not anticipate great increase in our funding at the endowment and the many states are still struggling and even local areas are struggling with Public Funding for the Arts. What were stressing and advocating is Partnerships and that means that Business Leaders in the smallest Community have to be brought on board somehow for funding and taking responsibility for their own Arts organizations. You struck a responsive chord there. We have a next question here from David Andrea's who's the chairman of National City Bank? Thank you for coming here today. Could you please outline some of the tangible benefits that you see supported the Arts produce and how we can realign our priorities to produce true National Security from support of additional support of the Arts so that you aren't constantly battling reducing or stagnant funding of the Nea another Arts. At the end I'm at right now. We are looking at possible ways to find stabilization for funding which is what you're talking about and not constantly have our hand out begging certainly on all levels of society. The Arts have always been Beggars and artists have been beggars. We don't know exactly which route we're going to recommend for art organization and perhaps it's going to come about that. There will be all different kinds of prototypes that will be valuable for certain communities in rural areas. That will not be valuable for a large urban community. But we are looking at different models and then we will will will Advocate what we feel is the best one thing that I'm hearing a great deal is that that the endowment is looked to as a leader in providing some kind of technical assistance in this Arena and so before the end of 1994. We hope to have a plan that will make sense in this area. Thank you, Miss. Alexander our next quest questions from Mitch pearlstein. Madam chair, let me follow up if I might on questions of community and the fact obviously that art and artists can reach deep in our hearts. I would like to think that better than most artists would understand the deepest sensibilities of of other folks what courses through their veins in the most important ways. But if we think about some of the recent controversies facing the Nea Over The mapplethorpe Works Serranos works the recent episode at the Guthrie, I would argue that to a very significant degree the Arts Community has shown itself to be remarkably oblivious to the deepest sensibilities and values of a great number of people in this country particularly religiously conservative people. Could you respond please? what I said at my confirmation hearing and is that I'll never be able to assure that the Arts will be free of controversy because they are not Stamped Out by a cookie cutter every piece of art is different and we're not going to please all of the people all of the time some of the Arts that you refer to yes were found controversial or offensive by some people by the same token. There are small groups of people who do respond to certain areas of Art and they are also taxpayers as well, but I would like to eat What I'd also like to point out is the endowment has awarded over a hundred thousand grams in 29 years and literally a handful have caused some problems for some people. I think that's a remarkable record. I don't think any other agency in government. Has that kind of success record? Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Alexander have a question here from least erotic who is a dancer. Hi, I know real credentials here. But I'm just one of you had said that Arts funding won't increase until we can convince someone or other I would assume that's the powers-that-be or the ruling class that the Arts are essential component of society. I'm wondering how do you propose we do that in a country whose economic system is based on profit rather than human need. It said it's a very good question. Well, the way you do it is is you say to the big big corporate people. They have to know what's in it for them. Now that there's a lot in it for them and they're learning that you know, the big corporate people are understanding that that they get a lot of a feedback that is positive from supporting and arts organization on Arts group and they are jumping on board more and more. What we want to do is try to keep them there and and not let them fluctuating and disappear so fast at a public level in public funding for the Arts. This is why I feel that we have to make it a community issue which I believe it is. I think that artist can help as well by coming out by not isolating themselves if they feel comfortable and plenty of artists to speak up about your work educate the people around you who might be confused in the visual arts. What's called conceptual art is very difficult for many people ordinary people to understand and but if an artist would take the time with some of these Ordinary People and Jen So, you know why I did this I did this because Duchamp in the 1920s did that and I was following on a on a kind of historical track here. We all build on our predecessors is artist and I think that it would behoove us to speak out a little bit more and become part of the community more. Thank you. Miss. Alexandra. Next question is from Beverly do so. Madam chairman my interest is in the children at risk that you mentioned earlier. I'm the director of Harriet Tubman women's shelter in formerly was in arts organizations myself. I know that the endowment was originally founded in large part to support critical and major Arts institutions. And we all know that in the business of the business. It's very very difficult to reallocate dollars. But if in fact we are to begin a very Central focus on Children at Risk and bringing them through the Arts to some new life, how can we either procure more dollars or reallocate some of the current and very difficult to find dollars? This is a relatively new initiative. To address the Children at Risk and the disenfranchised of our society through the Arts. Not that it hasn't been going on for years. It has it's a relatively new initiative at a federal level to talk about what the Arts do and when you when you you have no arts in the life of a child either at home or at school or post school after school. These children are are subject to all kinds of problems. We know that we also know that the Arts can addressed these kinds of problems. If only by wearing the kids out every day. I've seen that happen and any Educators here probably know that's true. I've heard principal say over and over again boy. We keep those kids and rehearsals all the time. We have been painting for her and they go home exhausted men. They go home so fill than happy to I'm trying to to make leaders in Congress understand the impact of these already existing programs that are all across the United States now some of them have been going on for 20-25 years and empowering those programs there very often community-based at their Community Arts centers and they need to be recognized for what they're doing and they need some funding from all levels. I think once that is understood and once The Department of Justice can see some figures that that's says yes this kept this kid out of jail, then you'll see a bit of a turn around. There's a wonderful program in Arizona called Apple Core that we at the endowment help fund. It's an acronym for Arts private Enterprise prosecutors legal and Educators and they got together the district attorney there. A rick romley got them all together and about three or four years ago and created this program that addressed kids caught in the judicial system in at-risk kids after school primarily to make a long story short. It was such a success in Phoenix. It was expanded to three cities then to 5. It's now in 30 cities in Arizona and they have the facts and figures they are amassing them. That's the kind of backup that we need to support programs like this. Thank you Miss Alexander. We have time for two quick questions into quick answers. This is Glenn Scoville Honeywell. I miss Alexander you've commented that it's unlikely that funding for the endowment world will increase but if you return to the office tomorrow when you found out the $0.65 that you receive per person went to say 70 or 75 cents and you can spend it on some new initiative. What what might be that one or two new things that you like to do. Well, it would be primarily programs. I just spoke up across the country and instituting new ones to give our to give a lot of these kids a chance that that are having problems. Thank you. We have time for one more question. I'm going to ask Catherine Jordan who's the president of United Arts to ask that question. Let me just say one quick thing on the table students made centerpieces and the person at each table whose birthday is closest to today's gift to take it home as a gift. I am. I'm told to say that the the flower pods were created by student Potter's at Minneapolis South High School in the John Canter is their teacher. Thank you. And James Infirmary, you don't have to give the year of your birth. Just the date of your birth, and we are as we talked about the falling off of funding at the state and other levels are focusing on an individual contributions to the Arts, and I just like you to comment on Waze the perhaps you can encourage corporations and businesses to to open their arms to organizations like United arts or other property and fun drives that would allow individuals in the workplace to really embrace the Arts by Natalie learning about them, but giving their dollars to something like United Arts that would help all of us meet our goals. Thank you. Thank you. I understand that Minneapolis is rather extraordinary with regard to Minneapolis-Saint Paul individual giving in the Arts. And I think that's to be applauded. I think perhaps we can learn something from you. What what I'm doing is in my travels, I'm meeting with rotary clubs. with already in place institutions that might be of a national nature such as YMCAs and trying to find the people that wouldn't have given to the Arts before and might see that there's a place for them to give to the Arts. I think that this will be a slow process, but I think if we all work at it together that we can accomplish it because certainly if it if the America does anything well, it's Partnerships and creative Partnerships between the public and private sector and I think we may give a small amount for the Arts right now, but we are still a young country and we have always depended on the private sector. In fact to give to the Arts and we will continue to do so, it's curious because Japan. Germany to other Eastern European countries are now looking to us and and I've been meeting with these people because they want to know how they can tap into the private sector. So I've always had public giving for the Arts. And now that funding is beginning to decline for them. So I think that we are in Poison a very good position to increase our Arts giving individually and Corporate and Foundation giving as well in the years to come. Thank you very much.