Why Are We Doing This In The First Place?

I just wanted to turn you on to a short video of an incredible musician, spokesperson, and humanitarian, Wynton Marsalis — based right here in New Orleans — defending the arts and arts education before a Congressional Committee back in March.

On March 31, 2009, Arts Advocacy Day, Americans for the Arts gathered a panel of acclaimed artists and experts to call on Congress for continuing and additional support and funding for the arts and arts education in America. This hearing, entitled “The Arts = Jobs,” focused on congressional support of strong public policies for the arts, appropriating increased public funding for the arts and supporting arts workers. Josh Groban and Wynton Marsalis were among the artists who testified before a Congressional Committee to champion the benefits of arts and arts education.

Here at Artists House, in addition to educating and keeping you informed on all things music business, we also strive to keep music sacred and remember why it is we are involved in this rather amazing music business. Suffice it to say that John, George, and I all believe in the irrefutable power of music to change the world, and the power of education to empower artists to do so. This is, bottom line, why we do what we do. Music is our heritage and will be our lasting legacy, and we feel a rather strong responsibility to protect and nurture that. We hope you trust us as guardians (of sorts), and we hope that you’ll approach the music business with the same loyalty and conviction that we try to every day.