National Arts and Humanities Month, 2010

Proclamation 8571 of October 1, 2010

National Arts and Humanities Month, 2010

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Throughout history, the arts and humanities have helped
men and women around the globe grapple with the most
challenging questions and come to know the most basic
truths. In our increasingly interconnected world, the
arts play an important role in both shaping the
character that defines us and reminding us of our
shared humanity. This month, we celebrate our Nation's
arts and humanities, and we recommit to ensuring all
Americans can access and experience them.

Our strength as a Nation has always come from our
ability to recognize ourselves in each other, and
American artists, historians, and philosophers have
helped enable us to find our common humanity. Through
powerful scenes on pages, canvases, and stages, the
arts have spurred our imaginations, lifted our hearts,
and united us all without regard to belief or
background.

The arts and humanities have also helped fuel our
economy as well as our souls. Across our country, men
and women in the non-profit and for-profit arts
industries bring arts and cultural activities to our
communities, contributing tens of billions of dollars
to our economy each year. Today, arts workers are
revitalizing neighborhoods, attracting new visitors,
and fostering growth in places that have gone too long
without it.

As we work to bring the power of the arts and
humanities to all Americans, my Administration remains
committed to providing our children with an education
that inspires as it informs. Exposing our students to
disciplines in music, dance, drama, design, writing,
and fine art is an important part of that mission. To
promote arts education and pay tribute to America's
vibrant culture, First Lady Michelle Obama and I have
been proud to host a White House Music Series, Dance
Series, and Poetry Jam. We have been honored to bring
students, workshops, and performers to ``the People's
House;'' to highlight jazz, country, Latin, and
classical music; and to invite Americans to listen to
the music of the civil rights movement, hip-hop, and
Broadway.

By supporting the fields that feed our imagination,
strengthen our children's education, and contribute to
our economy, our country will remain a center of
creativity and innovation, and our society will stand
as one where dreams can be realized. As we reflect on
the contributions of America's artists, we look forward
to hearing their tales still untold, their perspectives
still unexplored, and their songs still unwritten. May
they continue to shed light on trials and triumphs of
the human spirit, and may their work help ensure that
our children's horizons are ever brighter.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim October 2010 as
National Arts and Humanities Month. I call upon the
people of the United States to join together in
observing this month with appropriate ceremonies,
activities, and programs to celebrate the arts and the
humanities in America.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
first day of October, in the year of our Lord two
thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and thirty-fifth.