<p>here are some of Pres. Obama’s remarks:
…Now, all of us are here to share a recognition of the importance of the arts and the humanities - pursuits and professions that enrich the mind, and nourish the soul, and strengthen the character of this country. They bring us joy. They bring us understanding and insight. They bring us comfort in good times and, perhaps especially, in difficult times in our own lives and in the life of our nation.</p>
<p>This recognition is what led to the founding of the Committee on the Arts and Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Each of these institutions plays a vital role in preserving and enhancing Americas cultural legacy. They promote works of the past. They cultivate the talent of the future. They deserve our thanks.</p>
<p>It is one of the special privileges of this office that I have an opportunity, from time to time, to take part in award ceremonies like this; to honor individuals and institutions that are important to me, personally, and important to all of our citizens; to celebrate triumphs of the arts and the humanities that bring us closer to an understanding of what makes us American, but also what makes us human.</p>
<p>And one of the most extraordinary features of Americas cultural inheritance is its dynamism and its diversity. Its a culture that produced Mark Twain and Toni Morrison, John Philip Sousa and Louis Armstrong, Marian Anderson and Alvin Ailey. Its a culture in which all of us can find a place, in which all of us can take great pride.</p>
<p>The men and women that we honor today are a part of this unique American tradition. In a cultural moment that too often prizes the sensational over the enduring, the trivial over the profound, its worth recalling the contributions of the honorees in this room - contributions that at once reflect and rise above the particular moments in which theyre made.</p>
<p>With us are actors and authors, singers and sculptors, conductors, curators, collectors, civic leaders, champions of the arts and the humanities. Each has taken a different path to get here. Each has made the most of different gifts. But all of them have reached the peaks of cultural achievement. And all of them are a testament to the breadth and depth of the human spirit.</p>
<p>Its through contributions like theirs, as much as anything else, that a nations legacy is forged. Ancient Greece and Rome are remembered for the rulers who conquered the known world, but also for the Odyssey and the Iliad, for a forum and a coliseum. Europe - from the Renaissance through the Enlightenment - is remembered for wars of religion and the stirrings of revolution, but also for the Sistine Chapel and the encyclopedia. The China that invented gunpowder and paper is also known for its poetry.</p>
<p>That is the legacy of these civilizations. Thats how they are remembered. And we will be remembered, I hope, for what we do in our time to deliver progress for our people and to advance the dreams of all people. But I hope we will be remembered for something else, as well. I hope we will be remembered for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for the School of American Ballet, for all that you, the honorees here today, have done to enrich and enhance Americas legacy.</p>
<p>…Accepting for the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, David Stahl. (Applause.) The 2009 National Medal of Arts to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, for preparing young musicians to become great cultural contributors. As a model of music education, Americas oldest continuously operating conservatory proves that exceptional training enriches artists, our communities, and our nation.</p>
<p>Nice! I’m copying this to the Music Major forum as well.</p>
<p>Very exciting for Oberlin, plus I think the President’s remarks apply to every musician studying at a high level.</p>
<p>Not to take anything away from Oberlin, and please, know that I am not doing that, but I now wish that the politicians would restore all of the cuts in the grant/loan programs to college students that were just made. Of course, none of us were privy to this information until the new financial aid awards came out. If the arts are so important to the country, let the government support the students who are studying to bring music/art/dance/drama to life. Perhaps the drastic cuts could have been made in salaries to the three branches of our ever-ready-with words government.</p>
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<p>What federal aid was cut?</p>
<p>I am sharing parts of this speech with a parent committee we are forming in our town, to fight cuts to music, art, drama, graphic design, and reading classes and programs.</p>
<p>There are no state standardized tests for the arts, and they are the first to go when the budget is tight. Our school faces elimination entirely of the choral, chamber music and orchestra programs in Elementary, Middle and High schools, art and drama electives in Middle and High school, and so on.</p>
<p>Here is a concept that might work for your school district. [Fine</a> Arts Center, Greenville, SC](<a href=“http://www.fineartscenter.net%5DFine”>http://www.fineartscenter.net) In order to elevate teaching to youth who have a real passion for the arts, our school district created the Fine Arts Center. You have to audition for the program (there are numerous disciplines) and during the school year, you either spend your morning or your afternoon at the Fine Arts Center while spending the other half of your day at your “home school” taking academics. Buses run between the home school and the Fine Arts Center to get students back and forth. The Fine Arts Center has students now at Juilliard, Eastman, Curtis, Oberlin, etc. In order to maximize the staff and the awesome facility, after 3 pm, middle school students come in and take classes in dance, visual arts, strings, percussion, etc. The Youth Symphony is also run out of this facility. They have summer school here for elementary kids in the arts. It’s a great concept and seems to work well. Because it’s a public school and part of the school district, there’s more incentive for the academic schools to “play nice.” However because each high school still has a “music program” they are a little protective when the best talent moves to the arts school. We also have the Governors School for the Arts in our city but it is a residential HS program, not a day program. There is definitely some competition between the two programs.</p>