"The idea of the arts just being set aside in a bubble that you touch just once in a while, that's not enough. The experience of art is a precondition for so many other priorities that we say we want to accomplish as a nation of opportunity. In order for us to care about a group of people that we don't have connection to, or don't know well, we have to be curious. If we’re not able to establish that kind of connection, curiosity, empathy, or whatever tethers us to other humans, we will never get to the important priorities we say we want to do or be the society we aspire to be." — NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson

For more, check out the newest issue of American Artscape Magazine: In Celebration of Artful Lives.