CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The chair of the National Endowment for the Arts says having access to the arts in West Virginia, and across the nation, is vital to transforming communities.
“Communities that may have been stagnant are coming to life because even of a single arts festival that may only happen once a year,” Chairman Jane Chu told MetroNews. “When there’s art, there’s a vitality and a spirit and a quality of life.”
The NEA is an independent federal government agency that supports art programs and individuals nationwide.
Chu was the keynote speaker Tuesday at the Arts in Our Communities 2016 Conference hosted by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History.
During Chu’s speech at the state Culture Center, she said rural communities in West Virginia are challenged when it comes to being exposed to the arts because of the lack of broadband access.
“That’s something very characteristic to the state,” she said.
One of the biggest challenges the NEA faces nationwide is a mindset that “the arts belongs to some people and don’t belong to others,” Chu said.
“It’s ‘oh, I’m not an artist’, when there are so many different ways to enter into participating into the arts,” she said. “That’s the nature of celebrating who we are.”
On Monday, she visited music programs at Cabell Midland High School and Barboursville Middle School.
Chu observed student performances and interacted with teachers and students to learn the important role of arts education.
“To hear them play so well together and the discipline that you have to have when you are working on your own techniques, and at the same time, figuring out how to play together — what a team building opportunity as well as learning how to play your own instrument,” she said.
Also, Chu took a tour of Charleston’s Clay Center Monday. Last year, the NEA awarded the Clay Center a $10,000 grant to support an exhibit and public engagement program.
Chu said they’re always analyzing the grants they hand out to these programs.
“Thirty percent of all the direct NEA grants go to hugely densely populated. A bucket load go to rural and to small communities, especially communities that are under 250,000,” Chu said.
As part of the NEA’s 50th anniversary, the agency launched the leadership initiative Creativity Connects. It’s a grant opportunity that supports partnerships between the arts and non-arts sectors.
“We wanted to help jump start that,” Chu said. “Creativity Connects is about honoring those connecting with the arts and non-arts sectors.”
For more information about the guidelines for Creativity Connects Projects, click here.