AMP and AAD12

A group of 11 Eastern Michigan University students were transformed into political advocates this April. Student Organization, AMPlifying the Arts, is a group of Arts Management students who are dedicated to providing opportunities for the university's artists and arts leaders. This year, AMP sent 11 of us to Washington D.C. to advocate with Americans for the Arts at Arts Advocacy Day.

Chairman Rocco Landesman of the National Endowment of the Arts and EMU Student Org, AMPlifying the Arts.

Every year A4A rallies arts advocates from across the nation to address congress on the importance of the arts and arts funding.

AMP and Hansen Clarke, a HUGE supporter of the arts in Michigan

Asking your representatives for $155 million for the National Endowments of the Arts and $30 million for arts education is not an easy task. However, AMP Students were pretty fearless. We're a group of passionate young professionals. And many of us recently completed a course in which we studied techniques in addressing congress to support the arts.

Alec Baldwin delivered a speech at the Kennedy Performing Arts Center to inspire the advocates. He mentioned his love for gangster dancing after watching West Side Story and convinced us it was an integral part of his early days of inspiration. That's right kids, you can thank Jerome Robbins for those giggles you get on 30 Rock.

If you're not an arts advocate, you may be asking yourself...Why would we invest almost $200 million in the arts? After Arts Advocacy Day, we're able to answer that question very easily. 

• Keeping the arts as a part of Core curriculum in public schools is a small investment to substantial outcomes. Students who participated in 3+ years of arts activities as opposed to students who spent less than a half year, on average scored 100 points higher on SAT exams.
• Hospitals that include the arts in their programming (i.e. art galleries in the lobbies, bedside performances, art classes, improv classes, etc.) consistently have shorter patient stays and happier employees. A portion of the National Endowment for the Arts supports Arts in Healthcare.
• The arts creates job opportunities. Ten percent of the estimated total of arts and culture organizations accounts for over 15 thousand jobs within the state of Michigan.
• For more facts click here!

AMP with ArtServe

Thanks to speaking skills from years of theatre, I was able to speak my mind and convey an idea to my representatives. AMP came back to EMU feeling we had really made a difference. SO CAN YOU! Click here to learn more about ArtServe and advocate everyday! 

Leave comments about a piece of art that changed you. Was it a piece of literature? A scene in a movie? A set of lyrics from a Disney movie?

...Mine was when I saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, Michigan. I was six years old and I still do theatre!