T: It's Time

The arts are what show who we are as a society. It shows where we are headed and where we have come from. So it comes as no surprise that in this new regiem that is about to take over that someone from the creative world would step up and speak out. Step forward music legend and producer QUINCY JONES who is urging President-elect Barack Obama to create a ministry of culture. One of the best ways to promote and preserve the cultural health of this country would be to give the arts Cabinet-level status. A petition has emerged and is making its way across cyberscape. It has attracted more than 10,000 signatures already, including the likes of Baltimore Symphony Orchestra music director Marin Alsop and composer John Corigliano. It arrived in my e-mail box today. Quincy states the U.S. and Germany are the only countries who do not have a culture minister. Considering America's contribution to music, movies, television and theatre around the globe shouldn't now be the time to rectify that? Jones, has worked with Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra and Donna Summer, among others, says, "Every country on the planet is playing American music. And we don't have a ministry of culture."

There is change in the air right now, so make your voices be heard. Here is where you can sign http://www.petitiononline.com/esnyc/petition.html Keep the arts alive. They need your voice and that is a F.A.C.T.