by senior contributor Brendan Kownacki
Photo credit: Brendan Kownacki
Everyone loves art……. the paint on the canvas, the actors on the screen and the words on the page, but we often take for granted the incredible journey it took to get those mediums in motion.
This week, First Lady Michelle Obama fiercely addressed the power of the arts by hosting the first-ever White House Turnaround Arts Talent Show in the East Room of the White House.
First Lady Michelle Obama
So what is Turnaround Arts? It’s a program created and implemented by the President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities (PCAH) to help build and stimulate and create arts education programs in some of the lowest performing elementary and middle schools around the US.
President Barack Obama
The concept is simple: Investing in the arts can help to improve the overall performance of the students affected. Studies show that when the students can learn to focus on the arts, it helps to improve attendance and graduation rates, it helps to foster academic achievement and lower disciplinary incidents. The program also matches high profile artists, actors and musicians to ‘adopt’ schools and personally mentor the students. “As of spring 2014, Turnaround Arts will be working in over 35 schools in 19 school districts and 11 states across the country.”
On hand at 1600 Penn for the talent show were Sex and the City’s Sarah Jessica Parker; crooner and star of the upcoming Jersey Boys film John Lloyd Young; actor turned White House staffer Kal Penn; the acclaimed actress Alfre Woodard and a host of other stars. The afternoon was a true showcase and celebration of why arts education cuts to the core with kids—the students in attendance took to the stage and rocked the room with music, dancing, poetry, spoken word performance and an abundance of positive energy for the First Lady and all in attendance.
Sarah Jessica Parker
Just as the afternoon was coming to a festive and dance-filled end, a surprise visitor popped in—none other than the President of the United States, Barack Obama, himself. Not scheduled to be there, he joked that it was Michelle’s event and he wasn’t invited, but he had to pop by to remind people that investing in the arts is critical and that he hopes the talent show on a whole will serve as that reminder to the principals, school boards, governors and all other decision makers that the arts are not optional.
Guests mingled in the White House following the event and then many gradually moved across town to the historic Library of Congress to continue the arts advocacy program. The evening event was dubbed, “Celebrating Music Education” and featured a reception and dinner, sponsored by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation. NAMM’s mission looks to “strengthen the music products industry and promote the pleasures and benefits of making music.” The evening featured several of the PCAH artists who were in attendance at the White House Talent Show and they were eager to talk about upcoming projects and why they felt strongly about advocating for the arts.
Chad Smith
Chad Smith, drummer for the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, expressed that his whole band is passionate about passing on their craft to a new generation, and personally mentioned he looked forward to an upcoming drum-off with actor Will Ferrell on The Tonight Show. Bernie Williams was on hand and was happy to talk about his reinvention as a musical artist after a flourishing career in baseball with the New York Yankees. Alfre Woodard talked up her new show and standing up for the disenfranchised youth, all of whom were geared up as well for the next day’s descent on Capitol Hill to take the advocacy fight to Congress.
John Lloyd Young (second left)
Perhaps it was most eloquently summed up by John Lloyd Young. Young has taken his talents from the stage, winning the Best Actor TONY Award for his portrayal of Frankie Valli in the Broadway smash Jersey Boys, and now on to the silver screen as he adapts the role for film in the upcoming production directed by Clint Eastwood. Young points out, “It’s not about putting kids in the arts so they go into the arts as a profession, it’s about using the arts as a tool so that we build leaders in every profession. If you’re a mathematician and you have the best idea of everyone in your field but you can’t get up at a podium and communicate your idea, then your idea is lost to the world.”
Alfre Woodard
When you look at it that way, we better get these kids turned around with the arts.
Michelle Obama headlines the White House Talent Show:
Music and Arts Advocacy from the stars:
