As 2018 gets underway, the arts continue to present themselves as a crucial means of addressing the challenges that face Alaska and the nation. While our national economy is doing quite well from an overall perspective, there are places across the country, often rural and less integrated into their states and regions, where the sound of the booming stock market isn’t audible and unemployment remains high. In these locales, leaders are hard-pressed to think of ways to help people get back to work.
State arts agencies (SAAs) are in a key position to help leverage resources to invigorate economic sectors that might otherwise miss out on a national economy on the upswing. The Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA) provides small but essential grants to arts organizations that help create artistic job opportunities that have a multiplier effect. ASCA is a member of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) the association of SAAs from across the nation. I was elected to serve as NASAA Chairman last October, and I am grateful to be able to help get the word out nationally as well as in Alaska about how much the arts contribute to both the economic and emotional well-being of all Americans.
As we face economic challenges at home, the United States is still helping to make the world a safer, more secure place, while encouraging other countries to help all people have a fair chance at a good life. The brave women and men who serve in our armed forces place themselves in harm’s way every day, and many who make this sacrifice suffer grievous injuries which see them return home in need of compassion and care to enable them to return to life post-service as healthy and happy as possible.
Last month, at the National Press Club in our nation’s capital, NASAA presented about how much the arts can do to transform and re-invigorate a community and also help the injured heal. Representatives of the South Carolina Arts Commission and Colleton County, in the southwest corner of South Carolina, succinctly described how they had repurposed old factory warehouse space and joined in with an adjacent museum to create a facility that is much more than the sum of its parts. The Colleton Museum &Farmers Market and Commercial Kitchen has increased the number of visitors tenfold, and tripled the number of people gainfully employed by the enterprise. This success story also has seen meaningful support for the agricultural sector in this rural area, by providing food processing infrastructure to help manufacture value-added foodstuffs.
At the same National Press Club event, those watching heard from two articulate spokespeople for the power of the arts to help address the tragic consequences of modern warfare. Doctor Sara Kass is the Senior Medical Advisor for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Creative Forces program, which has for many years done amazing work to bring veterans back from the dark places they have gone after valiant service to our nation, and she is helping this initiative expand nationally. Following Dr Kass was an inspiring young American hero, Sebastian Munevar, recipient of the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Purple Heart, and other decorations. Sebastian is a shining example of successful transition from military service, and his words provided a compelling argument for why appropriate public support for artistic activities is as vital as any other kind of public expenditure.
The NASAA proceedings of which I write were livestreamed on Facebook, and can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/NASAA.Arts/videos/2064716180428000/. Alaskans who support the arts know artistic and cultural activity has an essential role to play in getting things done, and solving our most critical problems. We can learn so much from our fellow Americans, and at the same time we have a lot to share as well.
From a two-venue project, Creative Forces has now expanded to 10 more military bases across the nation, including Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Next month ASCA will hold a summit in Anchorage to share with the community the excellent work done by the creative arts music therapist and veterans in her care, and to invite community partners into ways to get all of the greater Anchorage area involved in supporting our military families at all points in time in which they are in Alaska.
Alaskans are fortunate that our congressional delegation are supportive of the NEA, ASCA, and the Alaskans and Americans who benefit from the programs they support. This support is essential to the continued good work of the NEA.
• Ben Brown is a lifelong Alaskan and Juneau resident, and serves as chairman for the Alaska State Council on the Arts. My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire.
