Arts Intranet

The Americans for the Arts Action Fund, in partnership with NAMM: National Association of Music Merchants, The Recording Academy (GRAMMYs), and The United States Conference of Mayors partnered together to sponsor programs at both the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention with the help of the respective local arts agencies in Tampa and Charlotte (Arts Council of Hillsborough County and the Arts & Science Council).

It all began with two events in Tampa for the Republican National Convention.

The first was ArtsSPEAK, a policy forum on the future of the arts and arts education. The second was ArtsJAM, an intimate concert performance featuring national recording artists celebrating the arts.

To kick things off, Arts Action Fund President Bob Lynch welcomed RNC delegates to ArtsSPEAK in Tampa:

Later, he was joined by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who moderated the panel of elected officials, advocates and arts leaders. Featured speakers included: Utah Gov. Gary R. Herbert; Mesa (AZ) Mayor Scott Smith; Hillsborough County School Board Member Doretha Edgecomb; Tampa Bay Times Marketing Director Kerry O'Reilly; and Jazz Musician/Former New York Yankee Bernie Williams.

You can listen to the full event via SoundCloud:

Ron Jones

Institutions of higher education and the communities in which they reside must be collaborators, and they must mutually seek beneficial ways to partner.

Nowhere is this more critical than the arts. Put another way, the arts in higher education must be part of and inseparably linked to, and woven into, the fabric of the community in which they exist.

Most everyone will agree with the above. The mayor of virtually every city in this country has probably been quoted as saying something like, “The arts are our heart and soul and must be part of our future.”

I would imagine that at national and regional workshops on “How to be a Two-Term Mayor,” there is an emphasis on how to speak embracingly of the arts, how to create an environment where the arts are central to the vibrancy of a city, and how to energize and focus artists so neighborhoods can be transformed.