The Arts in the Small Community: A National Plan

"Edgar", © Susan Calvert, all rights reserved

If you try, what may you expect?

First a community

Welded through art to a new consciousness of self:

A new being, perhaps a new appearance –
A people proud
Of achievements which lift them through the creative
Above the ordinary –
A new opportunity for children
To find exciting experiences in art
And to carry this excitement on
Throughout their lives –
A mixing of peoples and backgrounds
Through art; a new view
Of hope for mankind and an elevation
Of man – not degradation.
New values for individual and community
Life, and a sense
That here, in our place
We are contributing to the maturity
Of a great nation.
If you try, you can indeed
Alter the face and the heart
Of America.

-Robert E Gard, Ralph Kohlhoff and Michael Warlum
The Arts in the Small Community: A National Plan
Office of Community Arts Development
University of Wisconsin-Madison

1969

 Enjoy the Arts! Support Artists! Change your world!