Robert D. Booker

Transcription

I'm Bob Booker. I'm the director of the Arizona Commission on the Arts, and I'm a resident of Phoenix Arizona. I'm also a painter and an art collector. And I have two great dogs named Doodle and Abraham. The Arizona Commission on the Arts is your state arts agency, dedicated to ensuring that arts industry of Arizona is solid, is prepared for the future, and is moving ahead in service to our citizens and our visitors. We imagine and Arizona where everyone can participate in and experience the arts. The Choice is Art is a statewide campaign managed by the Arizona Commission on the Arts. Our idea is that we want Arizonans to understand the dynamic possibilities of the arts in our state. We want people to understand that the arts have an economic impact across our state, that the arts are part of the education of our young people, that the arts help build civic understanding and cultural pride across our great state. The Choice is Art is a campaign that asks you, Arizonans, to get involved, stand up and make art your choice. Arts education is important because the arts educate the whole child. The arts help kids succeed in school. The arts keep kids in school, they help them with their other academic classes, and they ensure that children understand teamwork, creativity; all the things that businesses are looking for in these modern times. The campaign imagery is intended to be bold. We wanted to use images and develop a campaign that gets above the noise. We know that images of smiling children are great to see, but we wanted images that talked about the reality of the world we're facing right now. We know that the arts can play a role in helping our children become better citizens, keeping them in school, and keeping them out of trouble. We just finished a year-and-a-half in the field, developing our new strategic plan for the Arizona Commission on the Arts. And we heard from people in every community across the state, that they needed help in creating a visibility campaign that would help Arizonans understand the public value of the arts, that would help Arizonans connect with the arts, and that would help build a secure endowment for the future of the arts. These three components are the three components of The Choice is Art campaign. We have some work to do in our schools, and we have some work to do in our communities. Make art your choice.