[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 41 (Monday, October 17, 1994)]
[Pages 2031-2032]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message on the Observance of National Arts and Humanities Month

October 14, 1994

    The arts have long been an integral part of America's cultural 
heritage, encouraging us to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and 
of our society. In a world too often beset by hatred and incivility, the 
arts and

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humanities empower us to celebrate our individual identities, while 
reminding us of the values and commitments that unite us as a country.
    Although the rich diversity of our nation would seem to preclude an 
official American culture, we have a powerful tradition of artistic 
expression and intellectual inquiry that honors every one of us equally. 
Through art, music, literature, history, and philosophy, we preserve and 
pass along, from generation to generation, our most cherished images, 
ideas, and beliefs.
    For more than two centuries, the arts and humanities have helped 
Americans transcend political, religious, racial, and ethnic divisions 
by engaging us in the common task of interpreting and expressing the 
meaning of human experience. When we read each other's stores, discuss 
each other's ideas, and feel each other's emotions through dance, 
painting, and song, we come to understand the complexity and texture of 
each other's lives. In so doing, we gain a greater appreciation and 
understanding of the breadth of human thought and emotion. And we gain a 
more profound sense of our common purpose as Americans.
    But if the arts and humanities are essential to appreciating and 
preserving our culture, they are also essential to our growth and 
renewal as a people. For it is only by deepening our understanding, 
unleashing our imaginations, and enlarging our capacities to see and to 
feel that we can envision a better future for ourselves, our 
communities, and our nation.
    In the new and complicated century that awaits us, we will depend 
even more on our artists and humanists to help us discover the roots of 
our deepest beliefs and gain a vision of our most promising 
possibilities.
    The month of October has been designated National Arts and 
Humanities Month, and I urge all Americans to celebrate the artistic and 
intellectual freedoms we enjoy and to reflect on the crucial role they 
play in reinvigorating and renewing our great nation every day.
                                                  Bill Clinton

Note: This message was made available by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on October 14 but was not issued as a White House press 
release.