Thank you for your support of Connecticut Arts Day! We thought you would enjoy reading the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County’s recap of the day. This was taken from their current newsletter which you can sign up to receive here:http://www.fcbuzz.org/newsletter/
A crowd of more than 350 arts workers, arts advocates, high-school students, performers, legislators and government officials celebrated the power of the arts to transform individual lives and stimulate the state’s economy at the first CT Arts Day in 20 years. Kudos to Kristina Newman-Scott, our new Head of Culture for the State of CT, for pushing the concept of this gathering and the indefatigable team at the Office of the Arts for making it happen with the polish and pizzazz that this event had in spadefuls. One of the outstanding and unforgettable aspects of this day-long gathering was hearing passionate testimony from our elected representatives about the transformative power of the arts. From DECD Commissioner Catherine Smith to LT. Governor Nancy Wyman (both pictured above), who declared March 2 CT Arts Day permanently, to Senators Beth Bye, Bob Duff, Tony Hwang, Rep. Robyn Porter and Rep. Matt Ritter – all testified to the power of the arts in their lives, to its key instrumentality in the state’s economy and the critical importance of intensifying the presence of the arts in our schools. Lt. Gov. Wyman in particular strongly endorsed the concept of STEAM (adding the arts to STEM curriculum). For a compelling account, in pictures and words, of the day, see our compiled Storified version of participants’ Tweets here.