Art, Community, Social Justice, National Recovery

On Tuesday a group of community artists and organizers met at the White House for a historic first. The meeting was facilitated by Community Arts leaders Arlene Goldbard, Caron Atlas from the Pratt Center, Claudine Brown of the Nathan Cummings Foundation and arts organizer Billy Wimsatt. White House "hippster in chief" Yosi Sergant was instrumental in arranging this meeting. This was an opportunity to begin a conversation with the White House on how community artist organizers can contribute to the economic recovery of our nation. We left the meeting excited to start organizing, moving directly to Busboys and Poets.

I will be posting more details of our meeting and ways YOU can get involved. Its going to take all of us to transform our economy, and this meeting is an indicator that we all have a seat a the table. Check out the newly formed Office of Public Engagement. You can read more about this historic meeting in the Washington Post.

On Wednesday several of us headed to "the hill" to lobby. After a number of exciting meetings we are more confident than ever that cultural recovery is just around the corner.