 My name is Nalani Garriere and I am a freshman theater major from Boston Arts Academy. Today I'm going to be sharing a poem with you and I hope you guys enjoy it. Have you ever seen the world through the eyes of an artist? Okay, try one more time. Have you ever seen the world through the eyes of an artist? Some seen their everyday blue skies and green grass while visual artists capture an image of their new masterpiece. For visual artists, it's more than an image, it's their muse. It's the Swiss-like movement that their hands form whenever they get their hands on a paintbrush. It's the fine colors that instantly find themselves onto a canvas. It's the delicate shapes that curve an arc to create their piece. It's more than just a visual presentation, it's their way of communicating with the viewer. It's the colors that express what their mind sees and what their hearts feel. It's their art. Have you ever moved like the way of an artist? Children skipping and jumping throughout the playground while our dancers work within their bodies to turn that jump into a grand jete. For the dancers, it's the music in which their body responds to. It's the steps in which lead to another. It's the story that is expressed through movement. It's the energy stored within their heart released through every jump. It's the words that they don't have to tell when they can be shown. It's the unconscious movement that they feel. It's their arc. They are heard through the eyes of an artist. Pedestrians along the street simply listening to music while our musicians decipher every note and instrument that their ears can grasp. For the musicians, it's more than just the notes on a sheet of paper. It's the entire sheet itself. It's the melody that was first written within their heart, next written on paper. It's the music that leaves their heart into their instruments allowing both you and the musician to feel something. It's their hidden inner self expressed through music and symphony that hits their core as an artist. It's their way of being heard. It's their art. Have you ever voiced through the voice of an artist? Words simply written on a piece of paper while our vocalists combine both those words and notes to create a harmonized like melody that is out of this world. For our vocalists, it's more than just the words that they sing. It's the meaning behind it, whether that be their pain, their strength or their happiness. They want you to hear it all within their voice. They want you to hear what they have to say, but in their song. For vocalists, it's more than just the sound that they create from their bodies. It's the sound in which they create from their heart. It's the unconscious ways of the diaphragm that release a sound so powerful it touches you. It more than touches you. It blows you away because you hear them, but you hear them from here. It's their outlet. It's their art. Have you ever lived through the truth of an artist? Some sit in a movie theater and simply watch away, while actors watch closely at how a fellow performer is living the truth of a character. For an actor, it's like many other arts. It's their outlet. It's their escape. It's the truth that they are able to convey from a script. It's the switch that the actor is able to flip whenever a character is being played. It's the expression that they are able to feel alongside their audience. It's the emotion that they want to release, but get to do so in someone other than themselves. It's their truth, even under imaginary circumstances. It's their art. It's our art. Have you ever? Okay. I would like you guys to do me a favor. I want you to turn to the person next to you, either way, and say to them, you are an artist. Once more, I want you to tell yourself and say to yourself, I am an artist. Oh snap, you guys did that all at once. Okay. That is who we are, artists. The people who sit amongst you are artists, and there is a base in that word with hidden power in it. And as artists, we work to let it shine freely for all who feel there is a hidden artist within them. Because we walk past artists every day with such divine stories, with such divine styles for their art. With such divine demeanors, personalities, ideas, perspectives, ethnicities, and so much more. And with our art, we are able to share that. And this is the art that I share with you, these words, in which both you and I are able to experience. But I want you to experience it within yourself. Whether that be through the art of a visual artist, dancer, vocalist, instrumentalist, or an actor, or even all of the above, there is no rule to being an artist. It simply all boils down to one question, a question in which you need a clear answer for you to find the artistic identity within yourself. It's the question in which, if we're speaking about art, we should all ask ourselves. Have I, or in the sense you, ever experienced art through yourself, through myself? Who are you as an artist? Who am I as an artist? Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, join me in thanking Nalani again for that beautiful poem, and thanking her for her artistry. What a gift to all of us today. Please join me. Nalani is another example of the impact of the robust and comprehensive arts education program of the Boston Arts Academy. So we thank them as well. Welcome to Arts Matter Advocacy Day 2017. The energy in this room is palpable, and it is so wonderful to see so many of you coming out at this important time. So thank you for being here. My name is David House, and I'm the Executive Director of Arts Emerson. And on behalf of all of my colleagues at both Arts Emerson, HowlRound, and those here at Emerson College, we welcome you to the Robert J. Orchard Theater here in the Paramount. I'm honored to be your MC, or more like your guide. There's going to be a lot of talking from me, so I apologize in advance. More of your guide and your fearless cheerleader as we get through this morning. Over the next couple of hours, we will hear from speakers, briefers, performers, and others to help us prep and get pumped up for Arts March to the State House, and to meet with our state legislators and our legislative aides, and to talk to them about why arts matter. As the Executive Director here at Arts Emerson, we are thrilled to be able to host this event, and when Matt and his team at Mass Creative approached us about sponsoring, we saw it as a great opportunity, as it fits really squarely within our mission. A mission that speaks of our organizational commitment to connecting communities through stories that reveal and deepen our relationship to each other. Many of my colleagues are here, and I want to thank them for the work that they did preparing for this day as well. Today, we will use our stories, our stories, your stories, stories from across the Commonwealth to let our legislators know that the arts, culture, and creativity are alive and well here in Massachusetts. And even more importantly, we all believe, and I know that you will agree with me, that the arts belong to everyone. The timing of this event could not be more appropriate. With last week's proposal by the Trump administration to eliminate the national endowment for the arts and humanities, it's imperative that we take this time to make sure that our leaders know how important the arts are to the fabric of our towns, our cities, and the entire Commonwealth. These are remarkable times, aren't they? That's a nice way of putting it. And remarkable times require remarkable action. And I can think of no better place to be this morning than with all of you as we rally together in support of what we believe and what I believe to be a fundamental right, a right for everyone, no matter your race, your color or your creed, your gender, regardless of if you're rich or poor, if you're urban or suburban, regardless of whether we are physically or mentally impaired, Massachusetts, or whatever we call ourselves, and every American has a right to arts, culture, and creativity without question. And today we stand to lift our voices to say that arts matter for all of us. So I'm encouraged to be here in this room with you today, and I look forward to what comes ahead. As you can imagine, putting together an event like this was quite an undertaking. For the past three months, Mass Creative Senior Campaign Organizer Tracey Konopinski has been the mastermind behind this day. Yes, give it up for Tracey. Where is Tracey? Tracey is somewhere masterminding, but we want to thank her for the dealings and with the logistics of the performance, to producing the materials in your packets, to helping with the legislative meetings. When we're doing the original planning for this day, we estimated about 250 people, and today we look like we're about over 600 folks in this space. So we thank Tracey for her leadership. And speaking of leadership, it's my pleasure to introduce and welcome to the stage our fearless leader, a staunch advocate for arts in all its forms, Emerson College President Lee Pelton. Well, welcome everyone. It's really good to see you. You know, I'm not only President of Emerson College, but I'm proud to say that I chair the Board of Trustees of the Boston Arts Academy. Which, as you can imagine, gives me great delight as you were able to witness earlier. It's a pleasure, of course, to be here with so many artists and arts patrons and loyal supporters and staunch advocates for the arts and arts education. And I want to thank David, I want to thank Matt Wilson and all the people at Mass Creative, and all the others who helped organize this wonderful event today. And I also, I think, I don't know, is Judy Pryor Ramirez, are you in the room? There she is. She's over here. She's the executive director of the Emerson's El Maluva Center for Civic. Got me? That's good. No, I know, I just want to, can you hear me? Because I was getting back to you there, so that's supposed to be all. Who's the executive director of the El Maluva Center for Civic Engagement, Learning and Research. I want to also, Judy, thank you for your role in today's events. Emerson, Emerson aspires to be the global hub for arts and communication and higher education. And we pursue this vision by embracing excellence, diversity and inclusion in global and civic engagement. We are well known for our excellence in the arts. We possess the largest number of theater seats in New England, that's over 4,000 seats. And our productions are the locus of the Boston Theater scene. And you may have seen, at least I hope you read the news in December about our unprecedented partnership with the Ambassador Theater Group, the largest international producer of live theater to jointly operate with us, the Colonial Theater. At the same time, our visual and media arts department is the largest in the college, and our faculty and students are making significant, significant contributions in new media and sound and film, both in the entertainment industry and in the visual arts. Civic engagement permeates our culture here at Emerson. Our School of Arts works with various community organizations to support artists and art projects in the city, including the Asian Community Development Corporation, the Arts for Humanities, the Real Abilities Film Festival, and the Boston Poetry Festival, just to name a few. And our Elma Lewis Center inspires engagement and action by using the college's strengths and communication in the arts to support social change. We are very proud of the work happening at our engagement lab, which is an innovation hub which is focused on civic media. And last fall, for instance, the engagement lab hosted a forum on civic media and the arts in public places. And Emerson is likewise committed to public arts programming. One of the most recent examples is our newly established Urban Arts, the Media Art Gallery located just around the street here on Avery. Indeed, an Emerson education is an education rooted in creativity and expression and innovation. And members of the Emerson community share an innate desire to create and to use their chosen disciplines and media to make a difference. It means a great deal to us to host this symposium on arts advocacy. And today we come together for an important and a common cause, one that supports our common humanity. And I can't help but note that we are gathering in this beautiful theater which is named for Arts Emerson founder Robert J. Orchard, who's been a driving force in Boston's theater scene for more than four decades. Today we come together in support of the arts and support of collaboration and creativity and support of the great need to use our collective voices to advocate for the arts. Because the arts matter, we need our arts as one person wrote, to teach us how to breathe. The arts bring people together, the arts connect diverse ideas and disciplines that connect us to life's most enduring and important themes. And of course the arts helps us to understand our world and to be inspired by it. In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson said that arts is a nation's most precious heritage. For it is in our works of art that we reveal to ourselves and to others the inner vision which guides us as a nation and where there is no vision the people perish. I should note that President Johnson spoke these words at the signing of the bill that created the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for Humanities. The very agencies of course that our current administration seeks to define. This is a critical moment to make our voices to heard and to do it as effectively and as loud as possible. And today you will have the opportunity to learn about and practice just that. And I hope you take what you learned today and apply it to the arts of course but that you also use it to advocate on issues about which you are passionate. So that others may see the incredible value of the arts and culture across this Commonwealth, across the nation and across the globe. So again I want to thank you all for participating in today's event and for all that you do and will do to support, to promote and advance the arts. Thank you very much. Thank you Lee. So I want to go over quickly through the agenda for the day so that we all know where we need to be and how we need to be there and more importantly what time we need to be there. As you can see on the Golden Rod agenda in your packets we will be inspired by speakers guided by sessions on how to tell our personal stories to our legislators. Briefed by experts on the issues we will be presenting at the State House. We'll see a role play of a meeting with a legislator or one of their aides and we'll get pumped up by another performance by a group of young Boston artists. After we soaked up all that information we'll head for our work at the State House. We'll split into regional groups and we'll meet with fellow art supporters and partners from cities and towns who will be joining you on the legislative meetings. Here you will confirm the time and the place of your meetings and make sure you know the roles that you'll play in those meetings. At twelve thirty we'll gather downstairs. We'll unfurl our banners. We'll grab some signs and march to the State House guided by the conservatory lab charter school band and the downtown Boston brass band. Yeah. We'll need to get to the State House through security and many of us need to be in meetings at one thirty. So we'll wrap up there at two forty five at House members lounge in room three fifty at the State House with a debrief and a talk with Representative Chris Walsh. Now that's a full day and I'm sure you got it all right. We're ready. Before we move on to the next part of the agenda Marissa Mass creatives digital organizer would like us to let the outside world know what's happening here today. So I want everyone to take out your phones. You know the routine and take a minute to write a post. We'll we'll give you some time with a picture with hashtag A. M. A. D. seventeen and feel free to use Twitter Facebook Instagram. And if you're not on social media then get into the picture with a friend so that they can include you as well. And and now I'm going to do my own. I'm going to take a picture of all of us together so if you could squeeze in just a little. Bear with me. It's got to be good one sec. Are you still working. Are you posting. Take 10 more seconds. Make sure you tweet and post throughout the day here at the Paramount in the March and after the legislative meetings. You will see hand or handles for speakers on the agenda and for legislators on the meeting list to include in your posts for every one of us who are there and here there are thousands of others who share our passion and know that arts matter to all of us here in the Commonwealth. Now I'd like to take a moment to introduce the mass creatives executive director Matt Wilson and we all know that Matt came into this role a couple of years ago and really has taking on a sort of journey that we can be all be proud of. And so I want to publicly thank and acknowledge and recognize Matt for his leadership on behalf of all of us here. So Matt please join us. Good morning. Thanks David for that introduction and for keeping us in line this morning and thanks to you and Lee for hosting us in this gorgeous theater. What a gorgeous place. This month marks five years since a dedicated dedicated group of arts and cultural leaders and supporters formed mass creative. Their goal was simple. Their goal was simple. Let's build a more healthy vibrant and equitable Massachusetts by creating an organization to advocate for the resources and support that the arts cultural and creative community needs to thrive. And while the goal is simple that certainly didn't mean it was easy and it's a credit to all of you and really take a look around at all of us. We're a pretty impressive group of folks and I think for every folks person who's here today there's a couple who wish they could be here today. As David said when we planned this back in November our staff sat down and said maybe we could stretch and get 300 people here. But as David says it looks like there's between 500 and 600 people here today. We should have known better. Thanks to all of you we're getting the message across that art that art isn't something that's just nice. It's necessary. Theater classes can keep a kid coming to school who might otherwise drop out. A suburban music festival can get folks who might otherwise never meet each other out of their homes and mingling together forming the beginnings of relationships among neighbors that make a community stronger. And another thing artists do we work well with others. We build partnerships with government agencies and with other organizations that support the vulnerable among us. People who need better and more affordable health care people who are living in poverty people who are black Latino and Asian people who are Muslim people who are LGBTQ people who are immigrants and refugees. We work with and support those who are creating safe communities that are open and welcome to all. Mass creatives most impactful work though is helping you share all of your stories and all of these stories and all the work to our political leaders. These stories help them understand that arts and culture is not only deserving of their public investment but it's one of the best investments around that the public can make. In the past five years mass creatives membership has grown from zero to twenty five thousand individuals and more and more than four hundred member organizations during that time with your active passionate and sometimes rowdy support. We've been able to increase funding from the Massachusetts cultural council by five million dollars double the funding for the state's cultural facility fund to help repair and maintain beautiful facilities. Like this through our nonpartisan create the vote campaigns around city and state elections. Mass creative has helped inject arts and culture into key campaign debates and political platforms. In fact you may have met there is two candidates who are running for governor next year who came here this morning to check us out. What a great sign that they want to be here today. In this in this morning in a huge victory for the future of education in Massachusetts state leaders are now meeting in Maldon. And are scheduled to announce a new plan for our school schools that actually prioritizes arts education as something that's not just nice for districts that can afford it but something that's necessary for every district in the state. This vote which we think is going to happen at like eleven o'clock. What it will do will require every district in the state to publish report cards on how their schools are doing on providing access and participation for arts education in their schools. State officials have also agreed to overhaul our outdated two decade old arts education curriculum. So arts education is now on the priority list for our schools in Massachusetts. We've made all this progress because of the hard work of all of us to tell our stories to the right people at the right time. And that's why we're marching this afternoon to Beacon Hill to meet with legislators and legislative aides to talk to them and tell them our stories of what's happening in our communities. We're going to share our personal stories with them. Why we're called to do this work. How art and creativity shape our relationships with our friends and families. Why our hearts beat a little faster when we hear students like Nalani speak this morning. We're going to share we're going to share our community stories with them. As you know we're engaged in a very serious discussion in our country now about what is important and how we need to come together across cultural divides. Let me tell you bring bring together people around arts and cultural events in our neighborhoods and town centers is a great way to start. That's where the work begins with each of us talking with our neighbors and building from there. And you know what else we're going to share. We're going to share our values right after the Trump administration released released its budget proposal with no money. No money. Zero. Not one cent for the national endowment of the arts. A Winston Churchill meme went viral on Facebook and Twitter during World War two in response to a request to cut an art spot arts funding Churchill replied quote then what are we fighting for. I do have to say though that that quote is fake fake news. What he did say what he did say about the arts though it's a reflection of our values quote the arts are essential to any complete national life. The state owes it to itself to sustain and encourage them. Ill fares the race which fails to salute the arts with reverence and delight which are there do. My interpretation of Churchill's words are town city states and country will be much richer if we invest in the NEA the MCC arts education and public art rather than fund another F 15 fighter. So it's so great to see everyone here. So let's all roll up our sleeves. Let's soak up on the tips you'll be getting next on having good legislative meetings. Have a fun and boisterous March and make a difference today up at the State House. So I would like to introduce state representative Mary Keith a lifelong artist an arts champion and the state representative that represents downtown Worcester a city who is bustling with arts and culture. And really an exciting place to be so representative. Good morning everyone. It's so great to be here. My name is Mary Keith and I represent the 15th Worcester District as Matt said it snakes its way across downtown Worcester to Lake Quinn Sigmund and out to the town line of Milbury. I'm also a House member of the Joint Committee on Arts Culture and Tourism. But today I'd just like to share a bit of my own life my life story and the important role that the arts have created in making a pathway for me. I'd like to share some of that with you here today. In 1971 I came to Boston to attend Mass College of Art and I love to tell I love to tell people how much it cost. It was a long time ago but it cost $300 a semester. So that's kind of amazing but I'm really proud of Mass Art because what it did was for average working class families make the arts really accessible and made it not so risky to try something. So you could have a summer job and earn your tuition with your parents throwing maybe a hundred bucks in there too. So Mass Art is a little different today than what it was back then but I'd like to give a shout out to President David Nelson because he's committed to keeping Mass Art affordable and accessible to working class folks and we need that more than ever. Oh coming to Boston I really was determined to get to know this city and I became a real city person. I majored in printmaking at Mass Art and I remain a printmaker today in Worcester as part of the Blackstone Print Studio and we're going to be having a show together in June of this year. So I'm fortunate to be able to continue to be active as an artist. The stories I want to share with you are around a time in my life when I was an art educator and I taught in public schools and I taught also at the great institution of the Worcester Art Museum. Teaching at both of these places were very different experiences but each helped me to become a leader today and that is what I'd like to share with you today. First of all I taught in the town of Uxbridge in an elementary school for a number of years and I was the art on the cart teacher. Anybody here ever done that right? So you have to be super super organized. You walk in you have to get all your materials in your shopping cart so that you don't waste any precious moments in the classroom. And I say precious moments because really we only had 40 minutes right? I was determined in that role that my students were not going to be confined to paper and pencil or just dry materials and that I wanted them to be able to paint big pictures and make paper machete too. So I had to build a lot of trust with the classroom teachers that I was not going to leave them with a big mess when the 40 minutes was up right? And my students have to organize their workspace in a way that minimize spills and accidents. And in the end they could see the value of our precious time together so they were very earnest about being organized themselves. They were excited that they could use different materials and that creativity was something that could happen in such a short period of time. And then we always displayed our work. That particular job taught me a lot about planning ahead getting people to work with you to a common goal and celebrating our results. At the Worcester Art Museum my teaching experience was somewhat the opposite. It might even seem luxurious. We had the museum's collection to inspire us. We had beautiful bright sunny studios with lots of space. And we had two hours to work together which meant that we even had time to evaluate our work. Something that's so important in this society that we're in now where everything's rushed that we could slow it down and really look at what we had done. And to talk about whether we felt successful or not. I remember a painting lesson where a fourth grade girl attempting to paint the eye of the person in her painting. And as she put that last bit on the paper it exploded into a blob. Right? And she was crushed. So we took some time and fixed it up a little but it wasn't the same. And when we put all of our paintings together at the end of our session and looked at them she was able to share how disappointed she was. And then everybody talked about a solution. What could we learn from this? It was really an important moment for everyone. That job at the Worcester Art Museum taught me a lot about the luxury of time. That disappointment in what might seem like failure are really teachable moments. And that vulnerability is merely being human and something that we all need to share and learn from. So my teaching has truly taught me and I carry these lessons today. How to be organized in thought and action. How to be determined in working toward a goal. How to be a public speaker. How to build trust with those that will support you and assist you in getting there. How to be vulnerable and to evaluate why things didn't go the way you expected them to do to go and using that knowledge to try again. And also how to celebrate our successes. That's what the arts have done for me. I hope the students I have had over the years can touch some of these lessons also in their own lives. I want to thank everyone for advocating for the arts. Not just here today but every day as I know you do. I want to especially thank the Worcester advocates that are here today in the city of Worcester for raising up the arts and making them so evident throughout our city. I want to thank Mass. Yes, Worcester. I want to thank Mass Creative for organizing strong voices for the arts in our state and that we have a saying in Worcester that we use a lot because I also was a community organizer at one point as well. And that saying is organize people and elected officials get it done. So let's get it done today and I look forward to seeing you at the state house. Thank you representative Keith. It if it's that easy then we're going to have a very good day. Thank you for your leadership and for your vision and for your advocacy. A couple of quick notes and this is where my ignorance is going to show because I don't know that much about social media but I understand that we are trending number one in social. Does that mean something? Yeah. Hey, come on. So keep it going. Whatever you're doing, keep tweeting, keep trending and doing those things that let everyone else know that we're here and present. I'd also want to bring your attention to the fact that you see the live captioning. This event is also being live streamed by howl round an organization that has a national is a national footprint international footprint theater comments and we're very proud that they sit right in our office in the office of the arts here at Emerson College. So not only are we here are Twitter, Twitter friends and Facebook friends but the rest of the world can tune in to see what we're doing here in Massachusetts. So thanks to our friends and colleagues at howl round. So now we're going to take the next 75 minutes getting prepped for our meetings and I should ask a question. How many of you have actually been to the state house and had meetings with your legislator or AIDS? Yeah, so a good number. I'm assuming that those who didn't raise their hand have not, which is great. Which means we have a lot of new faces, a lot of new friends and we can all help each other as we go out. We will take the next several minutes to prepare. So some of us will meet with senators or representatives and some of us will meet with their AIDS. Either way, it's a chance to tell them why arts matters to us and why they should matter to them. In most offices, the AIDS are significant players in determining the priorities and actions of their bosses. I don't feel slighted if you get an aid and not a legislator. Mass creative has developed a basic structure for our meetings. The four C's. Can you say that? Four C's. Excellent, you're great. Let's take out the blue tips on lobbying in your packet and we'll run through the outline of the meeting. In the meeting, which will last 20 to 30 minutes, you will first see, you will connect with a legislator or aid, then you will provide context for talk about the impacts of the arts and culture in your area and ask for three commitments, that's the third C, to support the arts and cultural community and finally, catapult your new relationship to the next step. In the connection part, we'll lay out the agenda, you'll do some introductions and those introductions will depend on the number of people in your group so you'll have to monitor how deeply you go into your introductions but try and keep them to five minutes. Then you'll want to take time to learn about the legislator. Ask about their experiences in the yard, where they go for their cultural food and artistic food in their districts and then fill out the responses on the yellow meeting report form, which is also in your packet. Then you'll thank the legislator or aid, if they sign on to letters that cosponsored the MPAP bill, you can find that list of signers on the purple piece of paper in your packet. So that was the first C, was that the first C? Yeah, connection. For context, we'll talk about why the arts matter in the district and I suggest that you pick one person or two to talk about their organization or about a personal experience that has had an impact on the community and this is where we in the arts really shine, it's on our personal stories and we're speaking the truth here, we've heard that word dropped a couple of times with Paul Robeson who said that artists are the keepers of truth, the gate keepers of truth so we want to be honest and open about the experiences that we've had and the impact that it's had on us personally and in our communities. We then ask for commitments. We'll ask will you support increased investment in the creative community by boosting the Massachusetts cultural council budget to $16 million in fiscal year 18? We'll then ask will you work with the department of elementary and secondary education to ensure the creation of robust and accessible school reports on arts education and the rewriting of the Commonwealth's outdated arts education curriculum frameworks? And then we'll ask will you co-sponsor S.1896 to establish a Massachusetts public art program? So that's a third C and then we'll catapult the fourth to the next step. Submit your new relationship and talk about next steps. Take a picture of your, for your newsletter or social media. Hand out any organizational material that you may have brought with you that you want to leave behind. Invite the legislator and or his or her aide to an event in the district. Confirm any issues that need follow-up and then thank them or their aide for their support. Got it? What's the first C? Second? Third? Wait, you're cheating. All right, but you get it. We'll remember you have the handouts if you need to be reminded, but also there are many people who have been doing this for years who will be happy to help, won't we? Yes, excellent. So now I want to introduce Sarah Stackhouse, Chair of Theater at Boston Conservatory at Berkeley and Chair of Mass Creative. She will be bringing a few of her students on stage to help us think about how to tell our personal story to our political leaders. Please welcome Sarah and her students. Hi guys, I'm in charge of C, which is Connect. C is for Connect. I was thinking about this yesterday and I was thinking, why is this an important step? We have and we know this every bit of evidence that we need and every piece of data that we need to prove that arts contribute to healthy families, individuals, communities, schools and societies. We know it, but some people don't listen to it or they don't know it or they don't understand it or it hasn't been shared with them in a way that matters to them. And what we do know is that social movements have figured out that story and storytelling helps you connect with other people and when you connect with other people they listen to you. And so what we're going to work on for C is for Connect is how you can form a relationship that is genuine in a very short period of time by sharing your story and asking them their story. And I guarantee that 90% of the people you meet with will not glaze over when you surprise them with a heartfelt story about your life and the arts. And then they'll share yours and then you have an opening to do the other Cs. We're talking about young people in a lot of our funding requests and policy requests and so I thought rather than just tell my story, we would have them tell their stories which are incredibly powerful and I'm so glad they're on stage with me. My name is Sarah and I'm from Arlington, Massachusetts. So here's the thing you guys, when I was little I had a really, really hard time because I was too big for the room. What this meant for me is that I had really big ideas and I was overweight and I talked all the time and I was kind of bossy. It's a little hard to imagine but it's true. And my mom, do you guys remember Lily Tomlin's Edith Ann? Does anybody remember Edith Ann? So Lily Tomlin had this character where she would sit in their giant rocking chair so she looked like a little kid and she had a bow and she would like rock in her chair and she used to say, my friends say I'm bossy. I am not bossy. My ideas are just better than theirs. And my mom used to say, oh my gosh, that is you. So it's funny but it was also really hard because I couldn't connect with other people. And then in the fourth grade a fantastic new music teacher in Charlotte, Brummit came to my school and started a fantastic chorus. Here's what happened to me in that chorus. I learned a bunch of things. I learned that I was instantly part of a group and I could be included and belong. I learned that I could channel my big, big self into that chorus and it was considered a contribution and not a problem. And I learned that I could actually lead my section and that I could lead. And so by the time I graduated from high school, you guys have feedback because I have feedback. By the time I graduated from high school I was in like five choirs and I was running the drama club and I was directing and I had friends. Thank God for Mrs. Brummit and that chorus. And now I'm the chair of theater at Boston Conservatory at Berkeley. I am also a mom who votes. I believe that every classroom in every town, every year should have arts for every kid. On stage and all of you, we know that art saves lives and we know that it makes life worth living. And so in closing I want to testify with all of you and Nathan and Mika and Allie and Grace and Antonio and Zach and Nathan and Ryan who's backstage is going to come out and everybody else on this stage with me, that arts matter. Come on, arts matter, right, right on. So join me in thanking these guys. They're going to exit the stage but they'll be around later to go talk to their representatives and senators because young people are the hope of our whole future. So you can thank them in person. Later on, would you guys can exit and thank you for doing this. So I think if you go in to meet with your representatives and senators and you say before this was me and then I encountered something, right, a teacher, an organization, a performance, an idea, whatever it was and it changed you, which we all know the arts does and it turned you into something else or your family or your daughter or your community. If you share that story, they will not scribble, they will put their pen down and look you in the eye and then you can ask them, you know, what kind of arts experiences do they have? What happens in their town? What are they interested in? It doesn't take long, it's really powerful and then you hit them with the numbers and the statistics and the ask for today. So what I want to ask you guys to do is to take out your green paper. It's a little worksheet. A couple of you have done this before and I want to say that there were about 40 arts leaders and some of you have heard me say this before but it's still true. About 40 arts leaders did this program at the Kennedy School a couple of years ago, I guess 10 years ago now and Marshall Ganz, who worked with Cesar Chavez and the migrant grape workers and worked with Obama, teaches stories telling for change and how social movements use story and he said, you know what, all you arts people I'm going to teach you how to do this and we said, we're arts people, we know how to tell our story, we're super good at it and then we did it and we sucked. I mean we really did. I think A. Brybeck was good and the rest of us were not good. So we spent a long time learning how to tell our story well and part of the hard thing is you have to have a couple things for a good story. You have to have a beginning, you have to have a clear twist that makes it interesting and catches their attention and then you have to have something at the end that lifts them up. So this worksheet talks you through those steps. Right? It says, my name is and before I got involved with or inspired by the arts, I was. Then this happened. Now and now I've learned the following. That's your storytelling template right there. So what do I ask you to do is take a few minutes right now, take a pen out or if you don't have a pen, think about what your story is going to be and then turn to the person next to you and practice. We're going to clean up the stage, practice your story, and tell you that we're done with that, but then you'll all be ready to go to the state house and share your story. So pull out your green sheets, do a little thinking, and I encourage you to please, if you think you are good at this, give it a try and see how it goes. Okay, thank you. How much more time do we have? Hello. If you guys haven't switched, make sure you switch now because we've got two more minutes. Okay. So even if you didn't get to finish your complete story, it's really great exercise to do and hopefully you met someone you didn't know before, which is also part of this day because this is an incredible group of people. To say that depending on the size of your group, when you go in to see your legislators today, you may not all get to tell your full story if there's a group of 10 of you. So you may have to just kind of adapt with each other, but it's a set of skills you can use at any scale. So I'm going to switch your group and figure out what you're going to do. We're going to move from the connect part onto the context and commitment part. And leading off this part of the briefing is Barbara Grossman, Vice Chair of the Massachusetts Cultural Council and Emily Foster Day, Chief Advancement Officer for the Boston Center for the Arts. Please join me in welcoming them. Hello, arts advocates, arts activists. Thank you, Lee. Thank you, David. Thank you, Matt. Thank you, Sarah and your students. I'm also a teacher. I'm a professor at Tufts University and I care deeply and passionately about the arts in this city, this commonwealth and this great nation. We will survive Donald Trump, but it's going to take some work. And I think important that we're in a center called the Paramount Center because as Matt said, the arts aren't nice. The arts aren't a thrill. The arts are necessary. They are paramount to what it means to be a civilized thinking, creative, engaged, committed, passionate, visionary country. So thank you for being here and thank you for telling your story. As I think we just saw from Sarah and her students, our data with soul. Show your legislators your soul. I've heard kids say, art saved my life. It's that basic. It's that real. And it really does make a difference because ultimately you're doing what art and artists always do. You're connecting with fellow human beings. You're engaging. You're thinking together and that's really what we all want to do. And it's a particular fraught cultural moment to quote Yogi Berra. It's deja vu all over again because 20 years ago I had the honor to serve on the on the National Council on the Arts, the advisory board to the NEA. I was appointed by President Clinton and it was when Jane Alexander was the chair and when we had Jesse Helms, the enlightened senator and the artist's demons and holding up posters of art saying this is why we need to defund the agencies and calling for the government to zero fund just what Trump is doing, the NEA, the NEH and public broadcasting. Thank goodness at that time we had a president, Bill Clinton who was very much in favor of the arts and we had strong congressional support. This time we have a president, the first president that was created more than 50 years ago in 1965 a president who is leading the charge to zero fund NEA that's right, boo him, boo his, right. Leading the charge to zero fund these agencies it's quite a trifecta the NEA, the NEH and the corporation for public broadcasting. These were, as we heard from Lee these were created the NEA and the NEH more than 50 years ago in 1965 in Johnson acting on the vision of his predecessor John F. Kennedy signed legislation bringing the endowments into existence because they understood that what makes us a truly great nation is to recognize and support the arts, the humanities and cultural activity. So we now have a president who wants to eliminate them along with other minor things like refugee relief the environmental protection agency women's reproductive rights and so many other issues and causes that we know are part of the fabric of what makes this a great nation and we will not allow them to be dismantled so thanks I'm a Democrat I can't help myself I want you to know first of all and this is a message from Anita Walker M.C.C. who's very sorry that she can't be here today but she's in Tennessee helping their state arts organization deal with its process but she wants me to assure you that our grants are from the NEA are secure through the end of this fiscal year through June 30 that includes both direct grants to the Mass Cultural Council's budget roughly 7% of our budget comes from the NEA to our nonprofit cultural institutions schools and artists but it's not surprising that arts groups and advocacy partners across the country have mobilized and are taking action hopefully art supporters in Congress will understand that what Trump is proposing is wrong and makes no sense and there was actually a really encouraging article in the Times this morning about veterans which talks about the important work that NEA funded programs are doing with veterans who have discovered art as a way to help them deal with their own trauma and their own horrific experiences so this threat to federal funding makes what happens at the state level even more important and just as I was walking over this morning I walked through the common graveyard Gilbert Stewart's grave and what I love about his grave he was a great painter it says Gilbert Stewart artist and it shows his palette so 18th century here's Gilbert Stewart identifying himself proudly even in depth as an artist with his palette by being here today you are making a difference you are speaking with passion you are showing that arts matter that the MCC is asking for a $2 million increase in our budget for the new fiscal year beginning July 1st last year we were basically level funded at $14 million thank goodness it wasn't a cut and this year we are asking for $16 million dollars that will reach every community dollars that will support nearly $400 non-profit arts humanities and science and the pastic local cultural councils 329 of them throughout the state who do fabulous work and I'm sure a lot of you are involved in them so yes lets clap for our local cultural councils and dollars that will reach thousands of kids thousands of kids through arts education programs in school and after school there's a bottle a water bottle that the MCC has that has a label that 30,600 young people experience culture with MCC support that's a big number this is our ask but we need your stories your voices your templates your passion your belief that what you do is of value and is so critical to our future the uncertainty in Washington makes state support even more critical make your legislators who you just heard are artists people who do get it people who do recognize what the arts do in a positive way for their communities but please make them understand how you have been impacted and how the increased dollars will just enhance the quality of life throughout the state there was an article I'll quote New York Times article on Saturday which said arts without funding I wanted to talk about how after Kansas governor Sam Brownback basically eliminated that state arts commission in 2011 that artists have really rallied and so they're scrubbing toilets and they're making cooking food for arts openings and you know it's like great maybe it can be done but it shouldn't have to be done I think the time has passed to try to justify why the arts important they are what you do is unique and of value what you do, what we do together makes our state more vital more vibrant, more dynamic what you do matters today for our future as a city as a state as a nation and so thank you for being here thank you for standing up and speaking out thank you for speaking your passion thank you for marching to the state house and thank you very very much and we will do this thank you Hello I think we all understand how difficult it is each year to raise the necessary funds to do our work and do it well as an organization whose mission it is to incubate Boston's performing and visual artists and facilitate their development funding from the Massachusetts Cultural Council most recently from the cultural investment portfolio in five years more than half the lifetime of Boston Center for the Arts national and state funds that come through the MCC to the BCA have allowed us to keep admission to the Mills Gallery free subsidize rent for our studios and other performance and rehearsal spaces keeping them well below market value and provide small and emerging theater and dance companies with a home for production that would literally be no roof on the Cyclorama a national registered landmark where right now you can go see a powerful installation by Medicine Wheel Productions another MCC funded organization called Hand in Hand one of our artists described his residency at Boston Center for the Arts as a critical time to just lay on the floor and think you try to remember a moment when you could just lay on the floor but you weren't stressed and without that pressure on your shoulders you could focus you could think, you could create the BCA can provide the space and time to our city's visual and performing artists because of the funding that we receive from the MCC at Boston Center for the Arts we describe our two acre group of buildings as a campus these buildings are the professional home to more than three dozen arts organizations large, medium, small and many of which are also members of the MCC cultural investment portfolio for every dollar of funding that these organizations receive or lose a ripple effect is created across the BCA campus activating hundreds of artists in every genre and discipline who make our campus and neighborhood a vibrant cultural destination for arts audiences from all over the city and so it goes for all of the organizations supported by the national funding to create opportunities for artists, for students and for our communities this is our work and our purpose and it cannot be done without the Massachusetts Cultural Council thank you thank you now it's my pleasure to introduce to talk about arts education Myron Parker Brass Executive Director for the Arts for Boston Public Schools and Alexis Maxwell a student at Boston Arts Academy and I thank them, thank you good morning so I'm going to be very brief because what you really want to hear is why this is important to Alexis but it's always wonderful to be in a room full of artists art educators art advocates, art supporters anyone who is supporting what we do and it's not just what we do it's who we are but it's also wonderful that our collective message has pushed the agenda for arts and arts education in Boston and across the Commonwealth on behalf of every arts educator I want to thank you and I thank you because your message not only included how arts are essential to vibrant and healthy communities or the impact that arts and culture have on the economy but it also included that students who have access to quality arts education have higher academic achievement students who have access to quality arts education are more civically engaged and students who have access to quality arts education have much better workforce and career opportunities so arts education continues to grow it is becoming very systemic and very impactful both in and out of school and that's because of your message the message that you continue and now finally with no child left behind in our rear view mirror we're very excited about that for the first time in 20 years the Commonwealth has issued or is issuing a statement on the importance the vital importance of arts education to our children as I'm sure you know Desi has spent the last 10 months working on their accountability and that is going to show how the state will measure what quality in education looks like and this new well rounded definition and because hundreds of you have sent emails you've filled out surveys you've gone to meetings you've been that vocal audience that vocal participant we have gotten commissioner Chester's attention I'm not sure if he's real pleased about that but we have but a result of that is that there are some things to celebrate in that getting the attention in being that vocal voice and being there all the time talking about the importance of arts education and so in the accountability plan Desi will be including access and participation in arts education in the school and district report cards that will be a part of this accountability plan and transparency and what arts education looks like across all of our Commonwealth school districts and parents and students and communities will be able to see how their school district compares to others what their commitment is to quality arts education Desi will also for the first time since 1999 revised the arts curriculum frameworks and this is our opportunity so successes but that doesn't mean that we don't continue our push because now our advocacy and our voice is even more important we got to this place because of overwhelming public support and we need to keep that momentum going we need to ensure that our legislators hold Desi to their commitment over the next two years and so as you're out today that's part of what we hope and we hope and we hope and we hope that the parents moving forward 88% of the parents who were surveyed across the Commonwealth said that arts education is important and we as the arts and arts education community need to continue to push to change the narrative on how we talk about arts education in the community and now you're going to hear why it should never be a question Thank you Thank you so much Hi everyone My name is Alexis Maxwell I'm a sophomore at Boston Arts Academy Oh, if you've seen our production of the Whiz at the Strand Theater you may know me at that apparel Okay, so anyways today is all about advocating for like celebrating the power we have to express ourselves through the arts and I'm here today to talk about how my school, Boston Arts Academy or BAA has helped me on the journey to finding my power to express Before BAA I went to a Catholic school it was great it was really nice but they weren't really about individuality with the whole uniform thing going on and it was really sad and I had so many questions and thoughts in my head and I couldn't share any of them but like at BAA it's not the case from the moment I walked through the doors for my audition this was the first time I stepped into the school I saw people expressing themselves through their opinions and through their clothing and through their art and just moving as if everything they do is about creativity and that is what showed me and art gives us the power to speak out but also it gives us the power to listen to each other and that's why I believe a school like BAA is so important because when I'm allowed and encouraged to express myself through art that motivates me to want to go to school I mean education is good too but like arts when my teacher gives us artistic leadership and allows us to create our own pieces she's telling us that our ideas are valid and that our creativity matters and there are a bunch of artists together all people who deeply love what they are doing so much that it nearly nearly like every day in that the love empowers like a flu it's so contagious like the love of art is just so amazing it's like I'm drawn to the school because being around those people encouraged and support my expression whether through a song or through dance, a drawing or a monologue in the morning and go to school and that's also why my love for theater made me want to come out and speak today because I think it's important that all children get to experience in arts education because all children should want to go to school and all children feel that their voices matter thank you I didn't see the whiz you missed an amazing performance where did she go so now I get to introduce Mass Creatives Andre Green and Debra Greel Public Art Placemaker for the city of Salem to come up and talk about creative placemaking and public art what an act to follow so every year every year the Commonwealth spends $200 million on new building projects in every city in town in Massachusetts state government infrastructure provides the backbone of the community how we spend that money how we prioritize our infrastructure can be immensely powerful and bring us together or as some might have it tearing us apart from small investments and benches to large products like the artwork many of you saw in the tea and you're coming in this morning investments in public art provide an opportunity to leverage public works of creative work with representatives Cory Atkins of Concord Chris Walsh and Chris Walsh of Framingham alongside Senator President Stanley Rosenberg of Amherst and Senator Eric Lesser of Long Meadow to convene the task force representing planning groups community develop organizations working artists and others to review how other states have funded public art on public property including every other New England state and including such progressive bastions as Utah and Louisiana has some form of mechanism to fund public art we chose to model our program on the oldest and we think best state public art program the one in Hawaii by directing 1% of new capital spending we can create a fund of $2 million every year to be spent on projects on state land 38 members of the House co-sponsored their version of the bill which is called H2717 now we're asking members of the House and Senate and we're asking you to ask them to co-sponsor the Senate version S1896 in doing so they can join their colleagues in being champions for public art in our communities as Deborah Greil $2 million every year could fund in public art can literally and I do mean literally literally literally literally literally transform communities Deborah this is pretty exciting so I told I was told I have 330 characters so about two tweets so I'm not going to make this long because I'm sure everybody's getting restless so I just want to tell you that I'm going to be going to the Senate to fund my position in the planning department so I get to sit at a lot of meetings where developers are so I'm just going to toss that out in terms of thinking about your own cities and where your art sits we need to be better at being at the beginning of the conversation of art and not at the end so what we did this year is we took some of that money and we divided it up into small grants and so we don't have pictures obviously of where we'd like to so we're calling it celebrating the urban environment so we're inviting artists to put a proposal in that's actually do this Thursday and so one of the places that we're trying to put temporary art anybody here from the MBTA because we didn't get permission but anyway when they built a new one they just left this sort of blighted wall that's very present in our downtown so we're asking somebody to put some temporary art on this and so just to sort of be a little radical about it just not asking permission quite yet so we're going to see how that goes and I can sort of send some pictures out once we see what some of the artists are coming up with the other thing and I'm very excited to say that we actually I got on some lists and we're getting proposals from all over the country for a $2500 project so as one of them so even if you have a tiny budget get it out there let people know what's going on in your town but if I had some of that $2 million that Andre said let's go back to a different train station on the other side of town they spent I don't know how many millions of dollars building a beautiful train station but a lot of tourists every year people coming and going but the entrance is blighted it's there's an overpass and so you're coming into this really nice train station but you're having to come into a place where it's not painted it's concrete it doesn't say hey you've arrived in a creative city so if I had a little bit of that $2 million I would go to the MBTA I would go to the state and I'd say we have a project let's paint it, let's light it let's get some art there let's get some life there let's do a lot of that so that's what we're going to do with our money and let's get out there and let's ask for it because it's time Massachusetts it's time for us to fund our public art so I look forward to seeing you at the state house thank you we're getting there are we pumped up? a couple of things just to thank our our panelists who are up here to help us connect and give us context and the commitment and the catapult to Barbara and oh lord I knew I was going to do this to Sarah and our students to Barbara and Emily to Debra and Andre, Myron and Alexis thank them for their presentations this afternoon I also have a quick update for those of you who are texting Facebooking and Instagramming number one here in Boston now we're number six in the nation so yes so keep it going more pictures more tweets it all feels right to me and also one other acknowledgement that we love having the students who are present with us and I just want to give a shout out to a group of students who traveled far far away from North Adams on a bus this morning 50 students from the Massachusetts College for Liberal Arts we see you there in the balcony that's a long way to travel so we know that you care and are passionate about the art so thank you for the work that you're doing in North Adams and beyond okay so now we're going to package up all this with a role play with Representative Christine Barbara from Somerville and two of her constituents Heather Balcunis oh lord I didn't get that no Heather we will have our performance by the conservatory lab charter and I'll come back for that so welcome Representative Christine Barbara I represent parts of Somerville and Medford a strong supporter of the arts and one of the reasons that I am on the right page on budget funding for mass cultural council as well as a percent for arts program and education arts education in schools is because I have amazing friends and they come to me all the time to talk about arts and it's the constituents that actually keep me up to date on what's going on so we're going to do a quick role play on meeting your legislator before we do that I wanted to just say two things one is that while all of your legislators may not be as familiar with the arts they know that it's critical to their communities there are so many issues coming at us during budget season which this is it's really critical that you're showing up in your legislators office to say this is a critical part of our community and this is why it matters to me I can't say enough about how much how important it is for you to go and make that case during this busy time when we're hearing a lot from a lot of people so that's one the second is you may very likely be disappointed and I don't want you to be disappointed in that I actually think sometimes it's better to talk to the staff our staff really runs the state house which I will admit they keep us on task they keep us informed and they're extremely well versed on a number of issues so if you're talking to a staff person in an office it is just as good as talking with the senator and with that I think my constituents Heather and Jason we're going to do a quick welcome thanks for coming in today thanks for coming thanks for meeting with us it's really nice to be here yes thank you so much for taking the time to meet with us I'll move this over here I think that's better a few minutes but I would love to hear about the project that you're here to talk about FY17 budget to veto override and also supporting the impact and cosponsoring that bill thanks I was happy to do it arts are a critical part of the economy and bringing people together in Somerville and in Medford arts have played a really critical role in Somerville my colleague here works with the arts council and we've worked together on a couple of projects as a preschool teacher and an after school educator lots of messy art projects there we saw the importance that art plays in the roles in the lives of children as a creative outlet a way for kids to really express who they are in their community I mean as you know as a representative in Somerville and as an arts administrator with the Somerville Arts Council and as an artist myself I can't tell you how much the arts are important to me personally and other since I was student at MassArt and I know that it's important to you as well but I'd love to hear more about some of the active roles you have in our community so in my district especially some of the arts programming like art beats in Somerville like Cache and Medford which is also part of my district the arts and the art community has really been bringing people together and building connections across cultures across communities in a way that I don't think would happen without the arts and it also is really helpful to our economy Somerville in particular is a community that has really we've been trying to help our arts community and looking at broader issues like affordable housing and making sure that artists can stay in our community and we know we have a lot more to do but it's something that I'm a strong supporter of with that said are you willing to support the increased investment in the creative community by boosting the MassCultural Council's budget by two million dollars this year I think that sounds very reasonable so I'm happy to support that Fantastic and to expand on that would you also be willing to help redefine and restructure the outdated laws from Massachusetts Commonwealth that helps support a more vibrant arts education framework and to support SC and that continued support for arts education Yes, I think including the arts in education is a critical piece and for me who is someone who I will not say had a particular talent in the arts but I loved arts education and it was so critical to my development and I think to problem solving and how I think about issues differently I do not have an arts career that as a student I really appreciated having the arts as part of my education and I don't think it would have been a full education without it so I'm happy to support that Thank you so much So I'd like to extend an invite to a couple of events Summerville is going to be hosting a STEAM week Science, Tech, Engineering, Arts and Math at the end of May I would love that And we also have a very big event coming up in the next few weeks Summerville Open Studios is going to be happening and it's one of the largest open studios in Summerville and where over 400 artists will be participating in many different genres and it's a great way to experience art at free local and also there's Charlie so it's very accessible for many people for me to get the word out to my constituents about how easy it is to see art in your community Well lastly I'll say speaking of art in the community there's this incredible park on the Rose Kennedy Greenway It's the Armenian Heritage Park and there's this incredible Ramboid dodecahedron sculpture that changes every year because it's telling the story not just of the Armenians and so this Sunday they're actually reconfiguring the sculpture so it could be a special treat if you're looking for something to do this Sunday from 8 to noon Come check out the park That's a great idea and I'll get more information about it Perhaps we can get a cup of coffee and meet there and talk more about this I don't have time to meet with this I know you have a busy schedule but this really means so much to not only us but the rest of the arts community in Somerville and I know the rest of the arts community throughout the state so we really thank you for your support and have a good rest of your day Well thank you for taking time out of your day out of work to come in and do this I know it can be hard to be hearing about what's going on in the community is really important so thank you for coming in today Thank you Now you can see that acting was not in my repertoire as a student but thank you all again really thank you for coming today and for all the work that you're doing and good luck Thank you that was pretty easy so I think we're getting ready and getting closer but now we'd like to welcome the Brass Ensemble to perform a little bit and get us psyched up even more so than we already are for what's coming very shortly which is our march to the State House so at this time we'd welcome the Ensemble to the stage Thank you so much Oh we're not done Y'all sit down We're not done Take the tea for an hour just to get here to play one piece You kidding me and percussion percussion ensemble it's a lottery based school and there are no auditions part of the process here and what we do at Conservatory Lab is we have an hour and a half of music every single day and that's part of our curriculum that's part of what we do it's part of what we talk about it's how we live and breathe in the academic side of things and the music side and we use music like we're doing right now and talking to you and talking to the folks at the State House and all other parts of the world and so I thought well what better way to do this performance is to give you an opportunity to be a part of our group today and so there is a piece called We Got That Fire it's not grammatically correct but we have that fire it was taken I guess so we got that fire we're gonna play it for you once and then I'll teach you a little bit of the vocal parts you bought your trumpets though right everyone bought trumpet I thought that was part of the prerequisite you had to come and bring a trumpet okay here we go this is We Got That Fire I said whoa one more time and whoa one more time it's not easy to sing a cool song like that and clap on two and four so y'all should walk out of here feeling incredible so we are gonna join our very special friends Babam which is the Boston Area Brigade of Activist Musicians and Babam they're wonderful people and we've had an opportunity to play in various parades and different fun functions before and so this I think is the most important gig that we'll have all year which is going to the State House so at least you'll know one song that we're gonna play on that piece and when you hear and I hope you sing it as beautifully and loud as you just this moment here while you're all the way up there hey what's up guys okay thank you so much we are Conservatory Lab Charter School in Dorchester thank you wow we've got that fire I love the energy I love seeing you sing I was just waiting for you to dance but that's the next piece okay here we are so now yes oh sorry we now want you to meet up with other folks please don't move here from your district so you can prep your meetings with your legislators we're gonna do this in a couple of steps so hold tight as I walk through them we'll be in these groups for 15 minutes at 12.20 it's now 5-12 we'll start wrapping up so we're ready at 12.30 to head out for the Arts Matters March through the Common to the State House so follow your captain's lead on that alright everyone take a minute to look at your name badge there's a number on the front that tells you what senate group you're in and on the back your meetings are listed based on the information you gave in your RSVP if you don't have a number you can refer to the meeting sheet that your captain has to find out where you're going now I want you to know where your captains are in the theater so that when we start to move into those groups you know where to find them let's make this fun so when I call out your name I want you to stay seated and cheer alright we have captains one and two in orchestra left your captain is down here one and two orchestra left we have captains three through fifteen in orchestra center cheer that's your cheer yes we have captains sixteen through nineteen orchestra right no everyone's supposed to cheer for them yeah yeah yeah that's right up in the balcony left we have twenty through twenty seven cheer and balcony right we have twenty eight to thirty five now I'm going to start inviting you to move into those groups but it's not all going to be numerical so pay attention we want to keep you on your toes and before we move I just want to say that it's been so inspirational to be here with you today and from all our mini walks I'm reminded of a Negro spiritual that says walk together children don't you get weary and I'm going to adapt to say sing together and dance together and paint together and write together and create together don't you get weary because there's a great camp meeting so pleased to be here today so I'm going to first start by calling the groups that will be meeting in the lobbies and on the stage to help free up space in the theater for other folks to move around are you following this okay good because I am not in the rando lobby where we had breakfast that's right back here at the back of the orchestra we have groups two fourteen and nineteen everyone in groups two fourteen and nineteen stand up I see you stand up okay everyone in those groups head now to the rando lobby and we'll applaud you as you leave don't dawdle keep it moving in the downstairs lobby we have groups eight nine and fifteen everyone in groups eight through nine and fifteen now you can stand up and you can believe moving begin moving and we will applaud for you as you leave on the stage we have groups three ten and sixteen can you stand and carefully make your way to the stage three ten and sixteen three ten and sixteen two fourteen and nineteen are in the rando lobby which you can exit just up this way eight nine and fifteen are in the downstairs lobby which you can exit this way and three ten and sixteen are here on the stage excellent movement move with purpose and for the remaining groups everyone will be meeting in the theater where your captains are currently standing you can refer to the group chart