Michelle Obama Pushes for Arts in Schools
Submitted by Steve on July 18, 2014
From Randy Lewis, at the Los Angeles Times:
First Lady Michelle Obama took to an entertainment-industry pulpit in Los Angeles to stump for expanding the role of arts in education, saying that 6 million children in the U.S. have no exposure to any form of arts in school. Speaking before an audience of several hundred including L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and California Sen. Holly Mitchell, Mrs. Obama stressed that music and other forms of art often connect with students and enhance their interest in core subjects such as math, science and history.
“For so many young people, arts education is the only reason they get up out of bed in the morning,” she said in her keynote address Wednesday at Club Nokia during a Grammy Museum-sponsored luncheon saluting musician Janelle Monae and Placentia school teacher Sunshine Cavalluzzi.
The event was held to raise money and awareness of the Grammy Museum’s education efforts, which aim to bridge the gap left by cuts that Garcetti said have “decimated” public school arts education in recent years.”