First Lady Coming Up Taller Awards Classical Music YoutubeFirst Lady Coming Up Taller Awards Classical Music Youtube
Wednesday was a day full of music and arts at the White House with the First Lady hosting the “Coming Up Taller” awards, a Classical Music Student Workshop and an Evening of Classical Music as part of the White House Music Series.
Coming Up Taller is an initiative of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities that awards outstanding after-school arts programs that often help to redirect and save children’s lives. The award includes a $10,000 grant and has been given annually since 1998. The President’s Committee partners with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Endowment for the Arts, and National Endowment for the Humanities to administer the program. The PCAH is one of the most prestigious entities in the country and includes celebrities such as Edward Norton, Forest Whitaker, Alfre Woodard, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Yo Yo Ma, as well as noted Senator’s wives Teresa Heinz Kerry, Vicki Kennedy, and Jill Udall.
This year’s winners include the Shakespeare’s Remix Program sponsored by the Epic Theatre Center in New York, Washington DC’s Sitar Arts Center, and Detroit’s Citywide Poets program. Margo Lion, co-chairman of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. praised the winners saying, “By exciting imaginations and providing opportunities for self-expression through the disciplines of theater, dance, music and literature, these exceptional projects offer their participants windows on possibility and a belief in a more positive future.”
“Mrs. Obama echoed those sentiments while recognizing how much these programs benefit students. “Ultimately, each of your programs is using achievement in the arts as a bridge to achievement in life. And you see all this every day, each and every one of you working so hard. You see this in your students as they become more confident and more engaged and more willing to take risks and to take responsibility for their futures.” Full Text
Later in the day the First Lady was joined by Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell, Grammy Award-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and pianist Awadagin Pratt during the Classical Music Student Workshop Concert. They also participated in the Evening of Classical Music that evening. President’s Full Text of Remarks
November 9th, 2009 at 12:40 am
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