by senior contributor Brendan Kownacki
Photo credit: Brendan Kownacki
Downtown DC’s newest steakhouse STK has been sizzling with star power since day one and truly proving that it can bring its Hollywood appeal right down the street from the White House.
This weekend during the festivities of the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, it proved it could truly bridge the two worlds by bringing together a whole brigade of celebrity advocates from The Creative Coalition, fresh off a day of lobbying on Capitol Hill for funding support for the arts.
The event, dubbed the ‘Supper Suite by STK,’ was a perfect addition to nerd prom weekend with film and television stars all with one mission—supporting creativity.
“This definitely is not our parents problem……….this is something that can get kids interested in school again. Get kids interested in just thinking, be more social.” said Drake Bell, who knows how the power of the arts influences kids – he broke onto the scene as a child on the Nickelodeon show “Drake & Josh.”
Drake Bell from “Drake & Josh”
“You don’t need to want to be an actor or a singer or a dancer, this is to promote thinking. Thinking outside the box. Companies like Google and Yahoo, all these people are hiring based on how creative are you, not your SAT scores.” added Bell, hammering home the mission.
“Arrested Development” star Jeffrey Tambor was close behind to emphasize that as long as people and companies are looking for innovation, it spurs from creativity.
Jeffrey Tambor from “Arrested Development”
The Creative Coalition (TCC) has become a mainstay in DC during big events bringing big names to town to make sure that legislators pay attention to the issues surrounding arts, film, education and everything that connects them.
Creative Coalition President, Tim Daly, from shows like “Wings” and “Private Practice” said he feels positive about the work the group has done year by year to keep these issues in the legislative agenda.
Tim Daly (right)
Joining Daily and TCC for the first time this year was Wendi McClendon-Covey from ABC’s new hit show “The Goldbergs”—and she mentioned being “very interested in the staffers since they are the ones who really hold the power.” Wendy did express though that she doesn’t like the word ‘arts’ because she thinks people get wrapped up in generalizations. Maybe it should be called the creative sciences.
Wendi McClendon-Covey from “The Goldbergs”
In the end, whatever it takes to get the job done.
Her pint-sized co-star, Sean Giambrone was also on the scene and even though he is younger than everyone else he was ready to do his part as he stormed the halls of Capitol Hill, but he knew how to put it simply—the whole experience is “Awesome and neat.”
Sean Giambrone from “The Goldbergs”
Listen to what all the actor advocates had to say about their time in DC:
