Julie Richard Remarks

ARTS EDUCATION DAY 2014

These are the remarks that Executive Director of the Maine Arts Commission, Julie Richard presented at Arts Education Day at the State House, Augusta, April 2, 2014.

I have been in Maine for about a year and a half and I feel like I am finally getting settled in. Even though this winter has been endless… Having moved here from Arizona, the transition has been quite something!

Arts education has always been a passion of mine. I am a product of a strong school music program which guided my desire to study voice in college and later arts administration. Without band and chorus every day, I would not have made it through high school. Yes, I had both every day – all through junior high and high school. That is not something most of our schools anywhere in this country can boast.

When I was interviewing for this job, I was asked to provide my vision for the future of the arts in Maine. Providing strong arts education programs in ALL of our schools was at the core of my message. Without the arts in our schools, our students will not have the critical thinking skills, creativity, problem solving abilities or poise to lead the creative economy of the future. Let alone developing musicians that can lead our orchestras, artists that can fill our galleries or dancers that can stretch our imaginations.

When our leaders talk about creating jobs and investing in science and technology – without including the arts – they are leaving out the most critical component – the creativity that drives the ideas and inventions that have built our country.

It is critical that we make STEAM – part of our vernacular. Let’s take STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Math – and add the A for arts – to ensure that our students are developing all parts of their brains so that Maine’s future economy can thrive.

When I hired Argy Nestor – our new Director of Arts Education – from the Department of Education to lead our arts education initiatives, I made a conscious decision that arts education would be a key and critical component of our future and that we would do whatever we can to strengthen arts education in our schools. From providing professional development for arts educators to make them the best they can be to conducting research like the Arts Education Census to know exactly who the haves and the have nots are in our state. We need to make sure that we work together to be successful.

Last summer, the Maine Arts Commission and the Maine Department of Education finalized a Memorandum of Understanding that ensures that our two departments will work together to achieve our goals. We are committed to doing the best we can for our State’s students and our educators. Thanks for coming today and supporting arts education in our state.