Show latest news, more from November 2009.
IMLS Director Anne Radice and First Lady Michelle Obama Honor Arts and Education Programs for Underserved Youth
Anne-Imelda Radice, Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), joined First Lady Michelle Obama in honoring young people from 19 communities in the U.S., China, Egypt, and Mexico who engage in after-school arts and humanities programs. Winners of the 2009 Coming Up Taller Awards, which promote educational achievement and creativity, were honored at a White House ceremony on November 4. Coming Up Taller is an initiative of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) in partnership with IMLS, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
“Each of your programs is using achievement in the arts as a bridge to achievement in life. You affirm that their contributions are valuable, and their success matters to all of us. You help them see beyond the circumstances of their lives to the world of possibility that awaits them,” said Mrs. Obama in her remarks congratulating the award winners.
“Coming Up Taller programs help young people build the foundation of their future successes. While they are having fun and challenging themselves, they are building skills in problem solving, critical thinking, entrepreneurship, and creativity -- experiences that will ensure both a well-rounded perspective and the ability to triumph in a global economy,” said Anne-Imelda M. Radice, Director of IMLS.
The 2009 Coming Up Taller winners include an arts apprentice program, a poetry slam, and an intensive after-school curriculum focusing on literature. Each program will receive $10,000 in honor of its accomplishments in enriching the lives of young people and communities.
Elizabeth Keith, a participant in the New Urban Arts program in Providence, Rhode Island, commented, “I like working with artist mentors. Their way of looking at things can help you view the world differently—kind of like putting on a new pair of glasses.”
More than 400 nominations were received by the program in 2009. Of these, 15 U.S. programs were selected for awards and 35 semifinalists were recognized. In keeping with Coming Up Taller’s spirit of engaging young people in different cultures and the world around them, Coming Up Taller honored programs from Mexico, China, and Egypt.
For more than a decade, Coming Up Taller Awards have recognized and supported outstanding community arts and humanities programs that celebrate the creativity of young people who create new visions of themselves and their futures with the help of scholars, artists, musicians and others. In 2002, Coming Up Taller began honoring international after-school cultural programs.
The international who's who in cultural policy, planning and research >