By Elizabeth Kelly
Lynchburg News & Advance
Oct. 22, 2004

Actress and the former chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, Jane Alexander, called upon the nation's leaders to make arts education "the fourth R" in a speech at Sweet Briar College on Thursday night.

"Arts education is on the decline still in our nation's schools, because it is harder to measure the arts than say, math or English," she said before a receptive crowd in the college's Memorial Chapel. "But it would be wonderful to see art as the fourth R."

Alexander, speaking as part of the yearlong Arts Lecture Series celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Pannell Art Gallery, said a president could provide the momentum that is needed to ensure future generations continue to appreciate the arts.

"We haven't had a president since Lyndon Johnson and JFK talk about the arts publicly in a big way," she said. "It needs to begin there."

In an often humorous speech decorated with quotes from artists as distinct as Albert Einstein and Henry Fonda, the Tony award winner and Oscar nominee recalled moments from her childhood in Brookline, Mass., as well as her four years as head of the NEA.

Her tenure there was marked by intense debate over the NEA's funding of art that some found obscene and immoral, and the demands of congressional Republicans, led by Newt Gingrich, to reduce funding for or even eliminate the NEA.

The NEA's budget was cut nearly in half in 1996, but Alexander managed to preserve agency. In 2001, she published a book about the experience titled "Command Performance: An Actress in the Theatre of Politics."

On Thursday, Alexander spoke of art as something indefinable, yet as essential to the human experience as our own DNA.

"Creativity is as necessary to our well-being as the air we breathe and the food we eat." It is also a force that can change lives, she said.

"I've seen it happen … give a child a clarinet or a paintbrush and he is less likely to pick up a needle or a gun."

At the same time that she lamented the lack of arts education, Alexander applauded the work of local arts communities.

"We have to keep the faith," she said, "because in fact there are more arts now across this nation than ever before in our history."

Contact Elizabeth Kelly at ekelly@newsadvance.com or (434) 385-5524.