For 10 years, musician/producer Quincy Jones has been asking the American government to provide a cabinet post capable of promoting the arts, in particular arts education, directly from the White House. In a radio interview last November, Jones reiterated this need for a minister of culture, similar to those found in France, Germany, or Finland, after he encountered high schoolers unfamiliar with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and John Coltrane. Jones said that he would even “beg” President-Elect Obama to establish the post if he had to.

Inspired by Jones’ passionate plea, two New York musicians, Jaime Austria and Peter Weitzner, have started an online petition to make this idea happen and well over 140,000 people have signed the petition thus far. Please help support the arts in the United States and take a moment to sign the petition. We did.

SIGN IT HERE!

posted by: Brent Carter

Tags: art, culture, design, petition, the rathaus

This entry was posted on Monday, January 19th, 2009 at 12:59 pm and is filed under art & design, culture, the rathaus. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.