THE NEED.
The arts are integral to our cultural identity and sense of self. Yet they are under siege. Recent studies show the facts: A report from the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities showed that sixty percent of schools have cut arts education in the last 10 years, and a summary from the U.S. Department of Education shows that only 3% of elementary schools offer dance and only 4% offer theatre as part of their curriculum.
THE SOLUTION.
The Aspen Institute sees the arts as vital to our future as leaders, learners, and citizens. Under the leadership of Damian Woetzel, our Arts Program brings together artists, advocates, educators, managers, foundations, and government officials to exchange ideas and develop policies that strengthen the reciprocal relationship between arts and society. Another important program under the Institute's arts umbrella is the Aspen Writers Foundation. Among many other initiatives and activities, the Foundation is home to the Aspen Summer Words Writing Retreat and Literary Festival, which attracts world-renowned authors such as Amy Tan, John Irving, Colum McCann, and Salman Rushdie.
SUCCESS STORIES.
In 2013, the Aspen Institute Arts Program continued its series of programming in conjunction with Hunter College's Roosevelt House for Public Policy, aiming at engaging young people in important dialogues on innovation in the arts. Students met with Charles Best, founder of DonorsChoose.org, and Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler, for a discussion on social causes in the arts, and gained valuable advice on pursuing their ideas and developing them in a productive and impactful way.
 | “Art has a responsibility for authenticity. One of the great themes of Western culture is the liberation narrative, and that’s where you find authenticity, whether it’s cultural struggle, gender struggle, or racial struggle.” – Eric Fischl, painter, sculptor and 2011 Harman-Eisner Artist in Residence |
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Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, at the Institute’s 2010 Aspen Cultural Diplomacy Forum. |
 | Elizabeth Alexander, Yale professor and President Obama’s inaugural poet, joins the Institute’s Washington Ideas Roundtable Series for a discussion about the power of language in the public space. |
