The White House Celebrates American Poetry

The President and First Lady welcomed accomplished poets, musicians, artists and students from across the country to the White House yesterday for a celebration of American poetry and prose. Mrs. Obama kicked off the White House Music Series in 2009 with a Jazz Studio, and has since hosted events to promote music and arts education through the celebration of Country, Classical, Motown, a Fiesta Latina, a salute to Broadway, Music of the Civil Rights Movement and a dance tribute to Judith Jamison.

Yesterday afternoon, Mrs. Obama hosted a workshop for students from California to New York. Designed to educate and inspire talented young people, students will work with the evening’s performers. They also heard from the First Lady and Melody Barnes, the Director of Domestic Policy Council, who highlighedt a new study on the importance of arts education. See yesterday's live event which was posted on www.whitehouse.gov at 2:25 PM EDT.    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVIOKLXK9uY

Yesterday evening, artists showcased the impact of poetry on American culture, with performances by Elizabeth Alexander, Billy Collins, Common, Rita Dove, Kenneth Goldsmith, Alison Knowles, Aimee Mann, Jill Scott and Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers.

Read the original white house blog post here:http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/05/11/celebration-american-poetry-white-house
Obama hails White House poetry night with prose | Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times

“When young people are involved with the arts, something

changes in their lives.” 

Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning, 1999, arts education Partnership and the President’s Committee on the arts and the Humanities

About the PCAH:

The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH), founded in 1982 by Executive Order under President Reagan, advises the White House on cultural policy and collaborates with the three primary cultural agencies, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). PCAH also works with other federal agencies and the private sector to initiate and support projects in the arts and humanities. The First Lady serves as Honorary Chair of the Committee, which is composed of both private and public members. Private members appointed by the President include prominent artists, philanthropists, entrepreneurs, and state public officials who have a demonstrated commitment to the arts and humanities. Its federal public members include the Chairman of NEA, the Chairman of NEH, the Director of the IMLS, the Librarian of Congress, the Secretaries of the U.S. Departments of Interior, State, and Education, and the heads of other federal cultural institutions, such as the National Gallery of Art, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the

Smithsonian Institution

http://www.pcah.gov/sites/default/files/photos/PCAH_Reinvesting_4web.pdf