Arts Intranet

Today when I think about back-to-school time, I worry. Will the teachers be prepared to reach every student—and reach them in the poorer corners of cities as well as rural areas? Are the schools welcoming and enticing to students and parents? Will creativity be a daily activity in the lives of our country’s next generation of thinkers, leaders, and artists?

In 2009, my family formed the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts and as Executive Director I was tasked with trying to make sure the arts were kept in schools in a meaningful way. We believe that the arts are not just fluff, but that they are critical for student development in the 21st century.

The power of music cannot nor should not be underestimated. It helped my ancestors communicate through the Underground Railroad for freedom; it is a healing agent to the body, mind, and soul. The beauty of art is that it speaks to different people in different ways. Art—more specifically, music—intertwines with every part of my life.

To me, an education in the arts is about the freedom to fail and the recognition that we are all human, with human limitations and vulnerable hearts. Through this vulnerability lies connection. I continue to take larger risks in my own work—ever trying to trust that the floor will still be there after I turn myself upside-down.