[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 140 (Friday, September 30, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 30, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
        THE PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE ON THE ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES

  Mr. PELL. Mr. President, on September 20, 1994, President Clinton 
announced his appointments to the President's Committee on the Arts and 
the Humanities and named Dr. John Brademas to chair the Committee. The 
President also announced that First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton will 
serve as Honorary Chair.


             the importance of the arts and the humanities

  In making these appointments, President Clinton said,

       The Federal, state and local governments together provide 
     only a small percentage of the support essential to our 
     cultural life. These appointments underscore the vital 
     partnership between the government and the private citizens 
     who do so much to enrich and preserve the arts and humanities 
     in our country. I am pleased that John Brademas, who has been 
     a vigorous champion of learning and culture both in Congress 
     and as a university president, has agreed to chair the 
     Committee. At a time when our society faces new and profound 
     challenges, when we are losing so many of our children, and 
     when so many people feel insecure in the face of change, the 
     arts and the humanities are fundamental to our lives as 
     individuals and as a nation.

  The President's Committee, created by Executive order in 1982, is 
charged with advancing public understanding of the arts and the 
humanities and establishing new partnerships between the private sector 
and Federal agencies to address critical issues in cultural life.


                    john brademas appointed chairman

  Mr. President, I am pleased that President Clinton has appointed as 
Chairman of the Committee, our distinguished former colleague and 
former Majority Whip of the House of Representatives, John Brademas.
  John Brademas, now president emeritus of New York University, was 
Representative in Congress of Indiana's Third Congressional District. 
While Dr. Brademas was serving in the House of Representatives, he and 
I coauthored the Arts and Artifacts Indemnity Act and the Museum 
Services Act, which created the Institute of Museum Services.
  Dr. Brademas was an original cosponsor of the National Arts and 
Humanities Act of 1965, the legislation that created the National 
Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, 
and for ten years chaired the House subcommittee with jurisdiction over 
the Endowments.
  He also, in 1990, cochaired, with Leonard Garment, the Independent 
Commission, mandated by Congress to study the grantmaking procedures of 
the National Endowment for the Arts.
  In ceremonies at the White House on September 21, President Clinton 
and the First Lady charged the members of the President's Committee on 
the Arts and the Humanities to expand private philanthropic assistance 
for the humanities and the arts, develop new private sector resources 
to aid cultural organizations, support cultural programs that reach at-
risk youth and encourage international cultural exchanges.


                           three vice chairs

  President Clinton also named three vice chairs for the Committee:
  Peggy Cooper Cafritz of Washington, D.C.: Ms. Cafritz is a long-time 
advocate of the arts in Washington, a past chair of the D.C. Commission 
on the Arts and Humanities, and she currently heads the Ellington Fund, 
the fundraising arm of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in 
Washington, D.C. Cynthia Perrin Schneider of Sandy Spring, Maryland: 
Ms. Schneider is Associate Professor of Fine Arts at Georgetown 
University and author of Rembrandt's Landscapes: Prints and Designs and 
numerous other studies in art history. Terry Semel of Los Angeles, 
California: Mr. Semel is Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of 
Warner Brothers.
  Ellen McCulloch-Lovell, a former director of the Vermont Arts 
Council, was named Executive Director of the President's Committee by 
President Clinton in February. Before her appointment to the Committee, 
she previously served as Chief of Staff for the distinguished senior 
Senator from Vermont, The Honorable Patrick Leahy, for ten years.
  Mr. President, at this point in the Record, I insert the remarks by 
President Clinton, the First Lady and Dr. Brademas at the White House 
ceremonies of September 21 as well as Chairman Brademas' opening 
statement at the first formal meeting of the Committee on that same 
day.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                         Mrs. Clinton's Remarks

       Mrs. Clinton: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you and 
     please be seated.
       It is a great pleasure for the President and me to welcome 
     all of you to the White House. We are very pleased and proud 
     of this committee and are grateful to all who agreed to 
     serve, and are particularly grateful to Dr. Brademas for 
     taking on the job of being the chair; the distinguished vice-
     chairs; and everyone who has been willing to take time for 
     this commitment.
       We believe this is an important day for those of us who 
     care deeply about American culture. It's important because 
     this committee has so much potential not only to do good in 
     ways that will affect the lives of Americans, but also to 
     focus particularly on providing hopeful and productive 
     outlets for our children.
       We want to support and nurture our artists and humanists 
     and the traditions that they represent. And we want also to 
     bring those traditions alive for literally millions and 
     millions of children who too often grow up without 
     opportunities for creative expression; without opportunities 
     for intellectual stimulation; without exposure to the diverse 
     cultural traditions that contribute to our identity as 
     Americans.
       Too often today, instead of children discovering the joyful 
     rewards of painting, or music, or sculpting, or writing, or 
     testing a new idea, they express themselves through acts of 
     frustration, helplessness, hopelessness and even violence.
       We see too clearly how an erosion and breakdown of our most 
     cherished institutions have resulted in a fraying of the 
     whole social fabric. We see it most tragically in children 
     killing children.
       We know that the arts have the potential for obliterating 
     the limits that are too often imposed on our lives. We know 
     that they can take anyone, but particularly a child, and 
     transport that child beyond the bounds the circumstance has 
     prescribed.
       We hope that among the many contributions this committee 
     makes, it will be thinking and offering ideas about how we 
     can provide children with safe havens to develop and explore 
     their own creative and intellectual potential.
       The arts and humanities have the potential for being such 
     safe havens. In communities where programs already exist, 
     they are providing soul-saving and life-enhancing 
     opportunities for young people. And I am delighted that as 
     one of its major endeavors, this committee will be 
     considering ways of expanding those opportunities to all of 
     our children.
       Doing what we can here in the White House and throughout 
     this administration to promote and nurture the arts and 
     humanities is one of the great pleasures that has been ours 
     in the last 20 months. The President believes so strongly in 
     the role that the arts and humanities have played in 
     individual lives and in our collective life as a nation. As a 
     child, he found so much joy and challenge in music and in the 
     other art forms. And together, we have tried in our own lives 
     and with our own daughter to provide that kind of exposure 
     and opportunity.
       So it is with great pleasure and particular joy, in front 
     of this group on this day, for me to introduce the President 
     of the United States. (Applause.)
                                  ____


                      President Clinton's Remarks

       The President. Thank you very much, the First Lady and my 
     old friend John Brademas, and to all of you who have agreed 
     to serve, and your friends and supporters who are here.
       [Here the President speaks of the situation in Haiti.]

                           *   *   *   *   *

       Now, let me thank you all again, all of you who've agreed 
     to serve on the President's Committee on the Arts and the 
     Humanities, to underscore the vital partnership that must 
     exist between your government and the private citizens who do 
     the work of the arts and humanities in our nation. I want to 
     thank the First Lady for agreeing to be the honorary chair, 
     although this is a job she wanted, unlike some of those I've 
     asked her to take on. (Laughter.) You couldn't have a much 
     more appreciative or informed friend.


                   john brademas to serve as chairman

       I am also very, very pleased that John Brademas has agreed 
     to serve as the chairman. I have known him for many years 
     since his distinguished career in the United States Congress 
     and through his brilliant presidency of New York University. 
     I think he is one of our nation's most outstanding citizens 
     and will certainly be one of the most eloquent advocates 
     imaginable for the cause you are here to further. (Applause.)
       He also happens to have been an original cosponsor of the 
     bill that created the National Endowment for the Arts and the 
     Humanities, and he wrote the bill that established the 
     Institute of Museum Services. He also promised to give me 
     free congressional lobbying advice on the side in return for 
     his appointment. (Laughter.)


       the president's committee for the arts and the humanities

       I have charged the President's Committee with advancing 
     public understanding of the arts and humanities, which is so 
     important to our democracy, and to establish new partnerships 
     between the federal agencies and the private sector.
       As a sign of our commitment to the arts and humanities 
     today, we have here with us members of the Cabinet and the 
     administration, including Secretary Riley, Sheldon Hackney, 
     Jane Alexander, Joe Duffey, and a number of other government 
     officials.


                  an extraordinary group of americans

       I appointed, as all of you can see, an extraordinary group 
     of Americans to this committee--artists, scholars, writers, 
     thinkers, leaders in the corporate world and the 
     philanthropic community, committed citizens, activists 
     recognized in their communities--people who represent 
     outstanding achievement and a commitment to the cultural life 
     of our nation--a commitment to keep it alive and to make it 
     more accessible.


                    a report on the state of culture

       By this time next year, I want you to deliver to me a 
     report on the progress we're making in furthering America's 
     cultural life. For 200 years the arts and humanities have 
     helped to bridge American differences, learned to appreciate 
     differences that helped Americans to learn to appreciate 
     differences, one from another, and to build strong and 
     vibrant institutions across our country. You must help us 
     explore ways to do this better.
       The most disturbing thing to me about American life today 
     is not the problems we have, although we have problems a-
     plenty, it is the lack of unity among Americans and the lack 
     of optimism we feel in dealing with those problems.


                          reasons for optimism

       Just a couple of weeks ago, a distinguished international 
     panel of economists said that the United States was the most 
     productive country in the world. They said that for the first 
     time in almost a decade because of the remarkable resurgence 
     of our economy, because of the number of jobs we're creating, 
     because we accounted for almost all the job growth and three-
     quarters of the economic growth in the seven great industrial 
     nations of the world in the last year and a half, and because 
     we are taking on a lot of our biggest challenges--bringing 
     our government deficit down three years in a row for the 
     first time since Mr. Truman was president--the only country 
     of all the advanced economies to do that. And yet, so many 
     Americans still feel that we're kind of adrift and falling 
     apart from one another.


               america's leadership role in world affairs

       Maybe even more important, as you look toward the 21st 
     century, isn't it interesting that in the last year and a 
     half the South Africans wanted us to spend $35 million and 
     send our best people to South Africa to work on making that 
     election a success? The Irish and the English have been 
     fighting for eight centuries now. They wanted the United 
     States to be involved in the process of reconciliation that 
     is now taking hold in Northern Ireland. After decades of 
     brutal struggle, the Israelis and the Arabs working together 
     to make peace in the Middle East want the Americans to be 
     centrally involved.
       Even in the moment of our greatest tension a few days ago 
     in Haiti, one of the military leaders said, well, if the 
     President is determined to do this, and the world community 
     is absolutely determined to go ahead, we want the Americans 
     here. Why is that? We have Haitian Americans, Jewish 
     Americans, Arab Americans, Irish Americans, English 
     Americans. You think of it--this diversity we have which cuts 
     across racial and religious and philosophical and regional 
     and income lines--it is the source of our great strength 
     today in a world that is ever more interdependent.
       And people look at us and say, you know, with all their 
     problems--yes, their crime rate's too high; and, yes, they're 
     too violent; yes, too many of their kids drop out of school; 
     and yes, there's too much income inequality, especially 
     for working people--but you know, they get along pretty 
     well. And people from all different kinds of backgrounds 
     wind up pursuing their chosen path in life and living up 
     to their God-given potential. And they're adaptable--they 
     work their way through the changes that time and 
     circumstance are imposing on them. That's what others 
     think about us.


                the role of the arts and the humanities

       We somehow have to begin to think that about ourselves 
     again. And I cannot help but believe that the arts and 
     humanities must play a central role in that task. How we 
     imagine our own lives and our own future and how we imagine 
     ourselves as a country will have as big an impact on what it 
     is we ultimately become as anything in the world.
       I said the other day, I will just say again, a lot of you 
     have been involved in various enterprises, great business 
     enterprises, great arts enterprises, great entertainment 
     enterprises. Just imagine how you would function if everyday 
     in all the important years of your life you showed up for 
     work and two-thirds of the people you were working with 
     thought that your outfit was going in the wrong direction and 
     nothing good could happen. (Laughter.) Imagine what would 
     happen if the National Gallery of Art were given the most 
     priceless collection of impressionist paintings uncovered 
     after having been thought destroyed for 50 years, and two-
     thirds of the people said, I don't believe they're 
     Impressionist paintings. (Laughter.) I know Monet--he was a 
     friend of mine. That's not him. (Laughter.) Don't bother me 
     with the facts. (Laughter.) You're laughing because you know 
     that it's true, don't you? (Laughter.) There is a grain of 
     truth in this. Somehow we have to not sweep our problems 
     under the rug and not sweep our differences under the rug, 
     for that is also what makes America great.


                       appreciating where we are

       But we only find energy for dealing with our problems and 
     the heart and the hearing to deal with our differences when 
     at least we have a realistic appreciation of where we are, 
     what we're doing and where we're going. And I feel so good 
     about the work we've done to move America forward in the last 
     20 months, but we'd all have to admit we've still got a lot 
     of work to do in bringing America together, in giving our 
     people a realistic feeling about where we are in the world 
     and where we're going. You can do that. You can make a huge 
     difference. The arts and humanities have always helped to do 
     that work.


                an agenda for the president's committee

       So I urge you to continue in this work. I urge you to make 
     your progress report to me. I urge you to remember what we 
     are trying to do in our schools in helping to improve our 
     children's education with the arts and humanities. I urge you 
     to work to expand private philanthropy. We all know that the 
     government in this country provides a crucial measure, but 
     only a tiny measure of the support that the arts and 
     humanities need.
       I urge you to promote international cultural exchange and 
     understanding, not only because we need desperately to know 
     more about others throughout the world, but because I believe 
     that we'll learn a lot more about ourselves if we just come 
     in contact with people from other walks of life and other 
     paths of the world.
       Thanks to phones, faxes, internet, E-mail, CNN, we can see 
     the power of our cultural traditions as they are exported 
     around the world. And sometimes they come back to us. We had 
     the only--we're the first White house to communicate with 
     huge numbers of people from all over by E-mail. And I'm 
     trying to do a sociological analysis now of whether there's a 
     difference between the E-mail communication and the mail 
     communication--or the female communication. (Laughter.)
       I am very hopeful that you will make a remarkable 
     contribution to this country. I went over this list of people 
     with great care. I tried to get a very different group of 
     people. I tried to imagine all the different things that I 
     hope that this committee could deal with and all the 
     different challenges I hope you could assume. If I haven't 
     done a good job, it's not your fault, it's mine in picking 
     you, but I think you're pretty special.


             making the arts and the humanities accessible

       Let me say in closing that I hope that in addition to the 
     schools, you can think about how we can increase access to 
     the arts and humanities all across America for people who 
     might otherwise be isolated from them--people who are 
     homebound, people who live in very isolated ares, people who 
     now don't even know how to speak the language that would be 
     necessary to ask for something that might change their lives 
     forever. I ask you also to think of that.
       We've faced a lot of challenges as a country, but I'm 
     actually pretty optimistic about it based on the objective 
     evidence. What remains is whether we can develop a vision 
     that will sustain us as a people as we move through a period 
     of change without a known big enemy into an uncertain future. 
     It requires courage, but courage comes from having something 
     inside that you can connect with what you see outside.
       You can help us as we work our way through this in this 
     remarkable time in our country's history. I hope you enjoy 
     it. I thank you for serving. And I thank you for being here 
     today. Thank you. (Applause.)
                                  ____


                      Remarks of Dr. John Brademas

       Mr. President, Mrs. Clinton, at the outset, let me put you 
     both at ease. I am a child of the United States House of 
     Representatives and not the Senate and, therefore, I shall be 
     very brief (laughter).
       Mr. President, you do great honor to all of us whom you 
     have asked to serve as members of the President's Committee 
     on the Arts and the Humanities, and I am grateful to you for 
     having done me the honor of asking me to chair the Committee.


                   an extraordinary group of citizens

       You have chosen an extraordinary group of private citizens 
     to serve on the Committee even as the public members are 
     outstanding leaders of government, most of whom are friends 
     and former colleagues of mine.
       I am also glad that the able executive director of the 
     President's Committee is someone who for several years led 
     the Vermont State Arts Council and was for ten years chief of 
     staff to the distinguished senior Senator from Vermont, 
     Senator Patrick Leahy--Ellen McCulloch-Lovell.
       Mr. President, that with all the other issues, foreign and 
     domestic, on your mind, you should have taken time to meet 
     with us today to charge us with the mission of encouraging 
     greater support, private and public, of the arts and the 
     humanities in American life, is a powerful demonstration of 
     the commitment you and the First Lady bring to our purpose.
       And, Mr. President, that you have asked the First Lady to 
     serve as Honorary Chair of the President's Committee 
     reinforces that commitment.


                     report on the state of culture

       You have asked us, Mr. President, to give you a report on 
     the state of the culture in our country, to consider the 
     implications for the arts and the humanities of the 
     information infrastructure, to encourage greater access for 
     the American people to the arts and the humanities and to 
     look at international cultural exchanges.
       So, Mr. President, you have given us a tall order. I am 
     confident, however, that with this superb group of Americans 
     and the support of the President of the United States and the 
     First Lady, we will respond constructively and effectively to 
     your challenge.
       Thank you again, Mr. President, for the honor that you do 
     us.
                                  ____


Opening Statement of Dr. John Brademas, Chairman, President's Committee 
                     on the Arts and the Humanities

       I want to extend a warm welcome to all of you whom 
     President Clinton has selected to serve on the President's 
     Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.
       You are an outstanding group of men and women about to 
     embark on an exciting day and an important mission.
       I am greatly honored that the President asked me to chair 
     this committee, and that he has named to it such an 
     extraordinary group of people.
       With your help and active participation, I'm confident that 
     the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities will 
     fulfill its promise.
       Of course, we are all delighted that the First Lady, 
     Hillary Rodham Clinton, has graciously agreed to serve as 
     Honorary Chair of the Committee.
       The prestige of our Committee and the backing of the White 
     House can, I feel sure, influence private philanthropy in our 
     country and encourage greater support for the cultural life 
     of the nation.


                          a vital partnership

       As President Clinton said in naming all of you to the 
     Committee, ``The Federal, state and local governments 
     together provide only a small percentage of the support 
     essential to our cultural life. These appointments underscore 
     the vital partnership between the government and the private 
     citizens who do so much to enrich and preserve the arts and 
     humanities in our country.
       At a time when our society faces new and profound 
     challenges, when we are losing so many of our children, and 
     when so many people feel insecure in the face of change, the 
     arts and the humanities are fundamental to our lives as 
     individuals and as a nation.''
       Our Committee can create partnerships with other Federal 
     departments and agencies, as we are already doing with the 
     Department of Commerce, to promote cultural tourism, and with 
     the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services and 
     Housing and Urban Development--the last three in order that 
     arts and humanities organizations will have access to the new 
     prevention programs in the Crime Bill the President has just 
     signed into law.
       Please remember that with so many senior members of the 
     government on our Committee, we also function as an 
     interagency task force on the arts and the humanities. 
     Indeed, I'm very pleased that so many of the government 
     members of our Committee are with us today and I'm delighted 
     that Secretary of the Interior Babbitt has asked Roger 
     Kennedy, Director of the Park Service, to serve; that 
     Secretary of the Treasury Bentsen has asked his Assistant 
     Secretary for Tax Policy, Leslie Samuels, to join us; and 
     that Secretary of State Christopher has designated my former 
     colleague in the House, the Undersecretary of State for 
     Global Affairs, Tim Wirth, to be a member of the Committee.
       Let me say that we are here to assist--and not to 
     duplicae--the mission of the National Endowment for the Arts, 
     the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute 
     of Museum Services.


                  mission of the president's committee

       Now the mission of the President's Committee is to advance 
     public understanding of the arts and the humanities, and to 
     establish new partnerships between the private sector and 
     Federal agencies to address critical issues facing cultural 
     life in the United States.
       The arts and the humanities and their power to inform and 
     uplift our lives and help the country's diverse population 
     understand and communicate with one another should be at the 
     center of everyday life, not at the margins.
       In the next two--I believe, six--years, our Committee has 
     an opportunity to take on some compelling issues and exciting 
     projects, ones that can contribute both to enriching the 
     nation's cultural life and society at large.


                         the committee's agenda

       Working with the White House, we have developed an 
     ambitious agenda for the Committee. We can succeed with this 
     agenda only if all of you are committed and active.
       I think it important here to note that whatever projects we 
     decide to undertake will need to be privately funded. So as 
     you go through this exciting day, please think about what you 
     can do to advance our work.
       Today we'll be talking about how the Committee can help 
     reverse the downward trends in private funding for the arts 
     and the humanities.
       This Administration will do everything it can to support 
     cultural life, through the personal advocacy of the President 
     and the First Lady, through events at the White House, 
     through support from other departments of the government and 
     by maintaining adequate requests in the Federal budget.
       I think it safe to say, however, that with continuing 
     efforts to reduce the deficit, and in light of the 
     controversies in Congress, our arts and humanities agencies 
     are not likely to win a big increase in their budgets.
       In my judgment, we should be able to build the groundwork 
     for increasing those budgets.


                      valuing artists and scholars

       All of us know that artists and scholars are not valued 
     enough, nurtured enough. All of us know that many cultural 
     institutions, whether large and established or small and 
     community-based, are in economic crisis and that that 
     condition affects the access of people to their offerings. 
     Indeed, the economic situation of the arts and the humanities 
     is in many respects so fragile that the loss of even a modest 
     government grant or support from a private donor can mean a 
     crisis. So we must take seriously our mission to stimulate 
     private sector giving.
       Private contributions have been especially difficult, 
     outside higher education, to attract to the humanities. We 
     are exploring with the NEH and the Federation of State 
     Humanities Councils a challenge grant to help state 
     humanities councils increase their fundraising for annual 
     operating support.


                 putting the arts back in the classroom

       You will also hear today about the efforts of the 
     government to improve educational standards and to put the 
     arts back into the classroom. The National Endowment for the 
     Arts and the Department of Education have forged a 
     partnership to demonstrate how the arts fit into the National 
     Education Goals approved in the Goals 2000 legislation 
     Congress passed this year, and to get national standards--
     voluntary standards--in the arts adopted by every state. We 
     endorse this effort as a necessary foundation for all other 
     efforts to reach children.
       President Clinton will also ask our Committee to pay 
     particular attention to what happens to young people when 
     they are not in school: to use the power of the arts and, 
     through the humanities, of ideas, to offer young people 
     creative alternatives to destructive urges . . . To give them 
     ``safe havens''; places to go where there are caring adults 
     and where they can experience the joy, discipline and 
     positive self-expression that training in the arts and the 
     humanities offers.
       You will hear as well about government partnerships, some 
     of which the President's Committee has already initiated.
       For example, the Committee staff was asked by the 
     Department of Commerce to write one of the eight new policy 
     papers about the National Information Infrastructure--better 
     known as the Information Superhighway. Our staff worked 
     together with the NEA, NEH and IMS to produce a report, 
     ``Arts, Humanities, Culture on the NII,'' which was released 
     by Secretary Ron Brown on September 7. And there are many 
     significant projects that can come out of that policy review.
       I personally hope that our committee will also give 
     attention to how we can encourage more international exchange 
     among artists and humanists. What we may call ``cultural 
     diplomacy'' often precedes economic exchange and improves the 
     political climate in foreign affairs. I believe that if we 
     imaginatively address cultural diplomacy, we can help this 
     Administration and our country in other parts of the world.
       The Department of Commerce has also encouraged a 
     partnership for cultural tourism, to publicize cultural 
     events in the United States in markets abroad. The Department 
     is encouraging cultural organizations to take part in the 50 
     state conferences on tourism that will lead up to the 
     November 1995 White House Conference on Tourism. And our 
     Committee is urging the organizers of the conference to 
     include a session on cultural tourism.
       Much of what we do, of course, and what we seek to 
     encourage, can be advanced by an effective media plan.


                       enhancing public awareness

       There are several ways we can work with radio, television 
     and publications to enhance public awareness of the arts and 
     the humanities. For example, we've already been working with 
     National Public Radio to develop a national book club on the 
     air. We'll discuss more ideas later at our meeting where I 
     hope to draw on the considerable expertise of this Committee.
       During the course of the day, our Executive Director, Ellen 
     McCulloch-Lovell, will report to you about some other 
     activities that she and the staff began by way of developing 
     an agenda for the next couple of years.
       Before we plunge into the agenda, let me say a word about 
     the Committee. The President has named a Chairman and three 
     Vice-Chairmen--Peggy Cooper-Cafritz, Cynthia Perrin Schneider 
     and Terry Semel--who comprise a small executive committee. 
     The authority for our Committee comes, of course, from the 
     President--and our agenda is shaped by his and the First 
     Lady's mandates, which you will hear this afternoon.


         ellen mcculloch-lovell to serve as executive director

       Now I should like to introduce the Executive Director of 
     our Committee. She has, in my view a superb background for 
     her important responsibility--nine years as Director of the 
     Vermont State Arts Council and then ten years as Chief of 
     Staff to the distinguished Senior Senator from Vermont, 
     Patrick Leahy.
       I have myself, in the relatively short time we have been 
     working together, been impressed by her energy, her 
     intelligence, her judgment and her dedication to the purpose 
     that brings us together today.
       Now all of you bring tremendous experience to the 
     Committee, and there is always room for new ideas. By the end 
     of today, I hope to be able to create working groups to deal 
     with the items on our agenda as well as working group to 
     develop any ideas that emerge from this meeting.
       I will ask each working group to articulate the objectives 
     of the project it recommends; identify those government, 
     corporate or non-profit partners with which we will work to 
     carry out the project; and indicate how it will be financed.
       We will move ahead on those projects to which the White 
     House has agreed. When new ideas are developed, I will review 
     them for approval with our Honorary Chair, Hillary Clinton.
       We should have a great day together. More important, I 
     believe that working together, we can accomplish something of 
     significance for the President of the United States and for 
     the people of our country, for what we do in the arts and the 
     humanities tells who we are as a people. Our educational and 
     cultural institutions are indispensable to the quality of our 
     lives, the strength of our communities and the vitality of 
     our democracy. For the arts and the humanities to thrive now 
     and into the next century, we must have the support of both 
     the government and the private sector.


              private members of the president's committee

       Mr. President, here follows a list of the private citizens 
     appointed by President Clinton to the President's Committee 
     on the Arts and the Humanities:
       Susan Barnes-Gelt of Denver, Colorado. Ms. Barnes-Gelt is 
     Deputy Director of the International Center at the University 
     of Colorado at Denver and a member of the Colorado Council on 
     the Arts.
       Lerone Bennett, Jr. of Chicago, Illinois. Ms. Bennett is 
     the Executive Editor of Ebony magazine and the author of 
     several popular works of African-American history and 
     culture.
       Madeleine Harris Berman of Franklin, Michigan. Ms. Berman 
     currently serves as Vice Chairman of the American Council on 
     the Arts and its Chairman of the National Clearing House and 
     Archive for Arts Policy Research.
       Curt Bradbury of Little Rock, Arkansas. Mr. Bradbury is the 
     President and Chief Executive Officer of the Worthen Banking 
     Corporation and serves as the Chairman of the Arkansas State 
     Board of Higher Education.
       John H. Bryan of Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Bryan is Chairman 
     of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Sara Lee 
     Corporation. He is a past Chairman of the Business Committee 
     for the Arts and serves on the Trustees Council of the 
     National Gallery of Art and the board of directors for the 
     Art Institute of Chicago.
       Hilario Candela of Coral Gables Florida. Mr. Candela is 
     President of Spillis, Candela and Partners, the largest 
     minority-owned architectural, engineering and interior design 
     firm in the United States.
       Anne Cox Chambers of Atlanta, Georgia. Ms. Chambers was 
     formerly U.S. ambassador to Belgium and is Chairman of 
     Atlanta Newspapers, Inc., which owns and operates the Atlanta 
     Journal-Constitution.
       Margaret Corbett Daley of Chicago, Illinois. Mrs Daley is 
     the First Lady of the city of Chicago and the Chair of the 
     Chicago Cultural Center Foundation. She created and serves as 
     Chair of Gallery 37, a summer program which offers employment 
     in the arts to Chicago-area youth.
       Everett Fly of San Antonio, Texas. Mr. Fly is President of 
     E.L. Fly and Associates, a landscape design firm. He 
     currently serves on the board of the Texas Committee for the 
     humanities and has directed a national project to document 
     the evaluation of historic African-American settlements in 
     the United States.
       David P. Gardner of Menlo Park, California. Mr. Gardner is 
     the President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. He 
     was formerly the President of the nine-campus University of 
     California system and President of the University of Utah.
       Harvey Golub of Saddle River, New Jersey. Mr. Golub is 
     Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the American Express. 
     Company and serves on the board of Carnegie Hall.
       Richard S. Gurin of Easton, Pennsylvania. Mr. Gurin is 
     President and Chief Executive Officer of Binney & Smith, the 
     manufactures of Crayola products. Mr. Gurin has served on 
     national advisory panels in arts education, including the 
     National Committee for Standards in the Arts and the 
     Coalition for Goals 2000.
       Irene Y. Hirano of Los Angeles, California. Ms. Hirano is 
     Executive Director and President of the Japanses American 
     National Museum which opened in April 1992.
       David Henry Hwang of Marina del Ray, California. Mr. Hwang, 
     a playwright and screenwriter, is the author of M. Butterfly 
     and other acclaimed works for the stage and screen.
       William Ivey of Nashville, Tennessee. Mr. Ivey is the 
     Director of the Country Music Foundation and an author and 
     scholar who specializes in folk music. He serves on the 
     executive board of the American Folklore Society.
       Quincy Jones of Los Angeles, California. Mr. Jones is a 
     musician, composer, film and record producer, and record 
     company executive and multi-media entrepreneur. In the course 
     of his career he has won 27 Grammy Awards and the prestigious 
     Polar Music Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
       Robert Menschel of New York City, New York. Mr. Menschel is 
     a Limited Partner with the Goldman Sachs Group, a New York 
     investment firm. He serves on numerous boards including those 
     of the Museum of Modern Art, the New York Public Library, and 
     the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ.
       Rita Moreno of New York City and Los Angeles, California. 
     Ms. Moreno is an actress, singer, and dancer and the only 
     female performer to have won an Emmy, an Oscar, a Tony and a 
     Grammy for her performances on television, film, the Broadway 
     stage, and for musical performances.
       Jaroslav Pelikan of New Haven, Connecticut. Mr. Pelikan is 
     Sterling Professor of History at Yale University and the 
     President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
       Anthony Podesta of Washington, DC. Mr. Podesta is an 
     attorney and President of Podesta Associates, a national 
     public policy and public affairs firm based in Washington, 
     DC. He was the founding President of People for the American 
     Way.
       Phyllis Rosen of New York City, New York. Ms. Rosen is a 
     real estate developer and President of P. Rosen, Inc. She 
     serves on the New Jersey Council on the Arts and has been 
     active in the development of the Park East Day School in New 
     York City.
       Ann Sheffer of Westport, Connecticut. Ms. Sheffer is active 
     in the theatre and serves on the Westport Arts Advisory 
     Council, the board of the Westport Art Center, and the 
     Westport Education Foundation.
       Issac Stern of New York City, New York. Mr. Stern is an 
     internationally known violinist. He has served as the 
     President of Carnegie Hall for over 30 years and is active 
     with many other cultural organizations.
       Dave Warren of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mr. Warren is a member 
     of the Santa Clara Pueblo (Tewa) and is Vice President of 
     Media Resources Associates, Inc., which is producing a nine 
     part television program on Native American art and culture. 
     He was active in the creation of the Smithsonian 
     Institution's National Museum of the American Indian.
       Shirley Wilhite of Shreveport, Louisiana. Ms. Wilhite is a 
     civic leader who has been active in the arts. She serves on 
     the Shreveport Regional Arts Council and is also active in 
     the Aspen-Snowmass Colorado Arts Council.
       Harold Williams of Los Angeles, California. Mr. Williams is 
     President and Chief Executive Officer of the J. Paul Getty 
     Trust, which administers funds for education and research in 
     the arts and the humanities. An attorney, Mr. Williams is 
     also the former chairman of the Securities and Exchange 
     Commission.

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