At the Kennedy Center last night, Kevin Spacey made a compelling case for the Arts to a packed theater of artists, non-profit administrators, educators and advocates. “Does it matter?” he asked.
Spacey artfully crafted his personal narrative about the role that arts education and community arts programs shaped his career and juxtaposed it with the perspectives of presidents, renowned artists and thinkers on the importance of arts and culture in society.
It DOES matter. Every day WALA volunteers work to ensure that arts programs and artists get the legal support needed to operate their businesses through lawyer referrals, legal clinics and educational programming. WALA helps our arts community to create the building blocks needed to offer arts education and affordable arts programs within the neighborhoods where people work and live. We have connected motivated artists with inspirational ideas and lawyers passionate about the arts for three decades. Our role in filling this need has had a major impact on the cultural landscape of our city and the metropolitan area.
On May 5, we will celebrate our Arts Patriots with a reception at the Atlas on H Street. We invite you to support our mission and enjoy the evening in a community transformed by the presence of creative entrepreneurs. As we countdown to our event, we invite you to link to us on Facebook and Twitter to learn about just a few of the great organizations that came to WALA and have made a difference.
If my words do not inspire you to action, I leave you with an account from Spacey’s speech last night:
In the midst of World War II, Winston Churchill’s ministers came to him and proposed cutting arts spending to cover the mounting costs to fight the war. Churchill’s response:
“Then what are we fighting for?”
I welcome your comments and your perspectives on whether or not YOU think it matters.
No comments:
Post a Comment