Advocating for the arts: County representatives stress importance of art in education

by Elias Funez, The Union

Arts advocates from up and down the state of California gathered on the steps of the Capitol Tuesday morning to take part in a rally and use the opportunity to meet with legislators about the importance of art in our communities.

The event, hosted by Californians for the Arts Executive Director and Nevada City resident Julie Baker, included speakers from the state’s elected representatives as well as performances and talks from various artists in celebration of Arts, Culture, and Creativity month.

Also making the trip from Nevada County were six Nevada Union High School drama students and their instructor Rob Metcalfe, as well as poet laureate Molly Fisk.

Lauren Yantis and Toby Farwell used the opportunity to perform monologues from William Shakespeare plays while others used the opportunity to speak about why arts in education is needed in California.

Fisk read her poem “Particulate Matter” touching on the dangers and perils of living in wildfire prone parts of the state.

“… all the wild parts and all the tame, their bark and leaves and hooves and hair and bones, their final cries,” Fisk read to the crowd.

“And our neighbors, so many particular precious irreplaceable lives that despite ourselves we are inhaling.”

After reading the poem, Fisk announced that she had receieved a $30,000 grant to travel to different schools in the state to spread the power of poetry.

Following the performances, delegates from across the state then met with their legislators offices to share their arts impact stories and to advocate to ensure all students have access to arts education, as well as to support legislation that favorably impacts artists and arts organizations and to pass Governor Newsom’s proposed budget which includes $10 million in increased permanent funding for the California Arts Council.