Text 3978, 177 rader
Skriven 2007-01-22 23:31:12 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0701222) for Mon, 2007 Jan 22
====================================================

===========================================================================
Mrs. Bush's Remarks at the President's Committee on the Arts and the
Humanities Coming Up Taller Awards Ceremony
===========================================================================

For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
January 22, 2007

Mrs. Bush's Remarks at the President's Committee on the Arts and the
Humanities Coming Up Taller Awards Ceremony
The East Room



10:35 A.M. EST

MRS. BUSH: I wanted to recognize, I think, Senator Burr is here, Senator
Stevens is here. Thank you all for joining us. Congressman Jefferson. Each
of these elected representatives, the two senators and the congressman are
here because one of their home towns or someone in their home state is a
winner of the "Coming Up Taller" awards, and so thank you all very much for
joining us this morning.

I also want to welcome Gilberto Palmerin -- sorry, my pronunciation -- the
Executive Director of the U.S.-Mexico Foundation for Culture. Welcome, and
we're really happy you're here.

Adair Margo is the Chairman of the President's Committee on Arts and
Humanities -- also, a really good friend of mine, and it's always great to
have a Adair here. Thank you, Adair, for the great job you're doing.

The Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Anne-Imelda
Radice has joined us; Bruce Cole, from the National Endowment for the
Humanities; Dana Gioia, the Chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts;
Henry Moran, the Chairman of the President's Committee on Arts and
Humanities, and a few members of the President's Committee on Arts and
Humanities. I want to thank each one of you for what you do all the time to
promote arts and humanities in the United States, and especially for the
"Coming Up Taller" awards, which are a great way to recognize the great
community organizations around our country that teach children about the
arts and humanities and give them a reason for success.

Thank you all, each one of you, for joining us today.

The groups that we honor today with the "Coming Up Taller" awards make
extraordinary contributions to arts and culture in their communities.
Orchestras and theater groups entertain. Museums and heritage programs
educate. Art and dance studios delight and inspire. And every single
"Coming Up Taller" program helps young people use their creativity and
their talents so they can succeed.

Helping young people build the knowledge and the self-confidence they need
to lead successful lives is at the heart of President Bush's Helping
America's Youth Initiative. President Bush announced the Helping America's
Youth Initiative at his 2005 State of the Union address, and he asked me to
lead it. So over the last two years, I've been to schools and to
after-school programs. I've visited fatherhood initiatives. I've met with
mentors and Big Brothers and Big Sisters. I've visited gang-intervention
programs, where I've met young people who are leaving gangs and finding
jobs.

And I visited a few "Coming Up Taller" award programs, as well, that use
the arts and humanities to help young people build successful lives. From
Milwaukee to St. Louis, from Los Angeles to Omaha, what all of these
programs have in common is a dedicated adult, eager to make differences in
children's lives.

Dedicated adults are at work in Chicago, Illinois. There, the Snow City
Arts Foundation gives children who are confined to hospitals passage to
wherever their imaginations -- aided by a guitar, a pen, or a paintbrush --
will take them. In California, troubled teens in Fremont Juvenile Hall heal
the wounds of their past through the Alameda Public Library's "Write to
Read" program.

At the Starfish Academy in Charlotte, North Carolina, first- and
second-graders at risk of falling behind in school improve their reading
skills by studying art and music, and 90 percent of them advance to the
next grade on time. In New York City, Columbia University's "Upward Bound"
and "Talent Search" programs turn likely high school dropouts into proud
college graduates.

Eighty-eight percent of the young people who participate in Birmingham
Cultural Alliance Partnership improve their academic performance. B-CAP
programs bring children closer to their parents, and help them discover
their heritage, as they learn about African Americans' struggle for
equality.

In Haines, Alaska, the native community keeps its heritage alive through
the Tlingit Language and Culture program. Did I say it right? Tlingit. Is
that right? Oh, I need the special click. (Laughter.) While weaving
traditional spruce-root baskets, or memorizing the Tlingit "word of the
week," young people learn the arts, language, and history of their elders,
and they develop a sense of pride as stewards of their own culture.

Three "Coming Up Taller" programs promote Hispanic arts and culture. In
Fort Worth, Texas, the Teatro de la Rosa Youth Program stages bilingual
productions that strengthen students' skills in English and Spanish. In
Mexico, at the La Ch cara Children's Cultural Center and the Children's
Cultural Center La Vecindad, more than 100,000 young people study
traditional painting, sculpture, and folkloric dance.

Through Arkansas's "Art at the Heart" and "Intervention Hope" programs,
children paint murals, perform plays, and master Ghanaian djembe drumming.
They build character and communication skills, they improve their school
attendance and academic performance, and they give the whole community
reason for hope. In Newark, New Jersey, young people at the StudioWorks
program receive hands-on training for careers in the arts. Every year, the
brisk sales of StudioWorks' holiday cards cheer the aspiring artists who
design them.

Through "Shakespeare in the Courts" in Lenox, Massachusetts, and the
ShakesPEERS program here in Washington, D.C., teens hone their acting,
public speaking, and critical-thinking skills. As they perform the works of
The Bard, young people who struggled to make themselves heard suddenly find
many people "lending their ears."

Teens find their own voices through Baltimore's Urban Debate League. There,
underperforming students become eager researchers, articulate speakers, and
disciplined competitors. Ninety percent of them go on to college. Look for
these formidable policy debaters in the courtroom, and, someday, at the
White House.

Future White House correspondents may be training at WNYC's Radio Rookies
Program. Radio Rookies produce professional-level documentaries, raising
awareness of the challenges that confront their generation and their
communities. Teens who were once ignored now have an audience: 1.2 million
people in the city of New York.

Audiences are captivated by UC-Berkeley's Young Musicians. These performers
from low-income and minority communities trade low C's on their report
cards for middle C's on the piano, and often earn straight A's as a result.
One in five Berkeley Young Musicians has a 4.0 GPA, and 100 percent of them
go to college. That's quite a record.

Audiences in the Crescent City rave about the Greater New Orleans Youth
Orchestra. The young musicians' enthusiasm for mastering a classical
repertoire often spills over into the classroom, and 99 percent of them
pursue a college education. In the aftermath of the hurricanes, the Greater
New Orleans Youth Orchestra offers children much-needed routine, structure,
and creative expression, and gives them a chance to continue their city's
rich musical traditions.

The benefits of "Coming Up Taller" programs don't just end with the
students who participate. When dedicated adults give to these young people,
these young people are inspired to give back. In Berkeley, a Young Musician
named Kayla used to struggle in a low-performing high school. Today, she
masters Beethoven piano sonatas while maintaining her high GPA at a
demanding private school, and she still finds time to mentor Christobelle,
a shy 11-year-old clarinetist.

In New York, Radio Rookie Jaimita Haskell used her documentary to expose
the unfair "tracking" system holding back many gifted students at the
Staten Island High School. When the piece aired on WNYC, Jaimita's work
emboldened students and parents in her school, throughout the city, and
across the nation to speak out against unequal education policies.
Jaimita's radio segment has earned her public service awards, and national
recognition as an advocate for quality education.

Because of each of these great programs that you all represent today, young
people are discovering humanities and the arts. They're developing the life
skills and the discipline that lead to success. They're building the
confidence to paint, dance, speak, and sing -- and in every one of their
communities, to walk taller. So thank you to each and every one of you, and
congratulations. (Applause.)

Now, I'm delighted to introduce a friend to the arts and to young people
across our country: the Chair of the President's Committee on the Arts and
Humanities, Adair Margo. (Applause.)

END 10:45 A.M. EST
===========================================================================
Return to this article at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/01/20070122-2.html

 * Origin: (1:3634/12)