Tuesday (4/9) on the NPR blog Deceptive Cadence, Tom Huizenga writes, “Describing himself as a ‘venture culturalist,’ has a musical appetite as wide as the world. He’s fearless in the face of Bach, bluegrass or bossa nova, but Monday night he tried on yet another hat, delivering the Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center concert hall. … Though he titled his speech ‘Art for Life’s Sake,’ it was, in fact, a point he made early on about diversity that seemed most potent. … ‘The edge effect,’ Ma said, ‘is where those of varied backgrounds come together in a zone of transition; a region of less structure, more diversity and more possibility. The edge is a time and place of transformation and movement.’ Not surprisingly, education was another strong theme in the speech. Ma pointed out that all the recent talk about STEM—a focus on teaching science, technology, engineering and math—should really be about STEAM, adding arts to both the mix and the anagram. … Ma’s lecture marked a high point for Arts Advocacy Day, sponsored by Americans for the Arts, the national organization supporting the arts and culture.” Full video and transcript of Ma’s speech are included with the article.
Posted April 10, 2013
