On behalf of the Rhode Island arts community, I’m delighted to send our state’s congratulations to Mary Anne Carter on her confirmation by the United States Senate as the 12th Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Those of us who were fortunate to meet Mary Anne during her May 2019 visit to Rhode Island know she will be an extraordinary leader of our federal arts agency. She is knowledgeable, inquisitive, and engaged with the mission of the National Endowment for the Arts. It was clear during her brief time in the Ocean State that she understands the impact of federal arts funding on communities and on individual lives.
While she was here, Mary Anne met each member of Rhode Island’s Congressional delegation, spoke to a large gathering of the arts and humanities community from the stage at Trinity Rep, and met with arts and cultural leaders over lunch at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. But, most significantly, she made time to visit New Urban Arts, DownCity Design and Community MusicWorks – organizations that are committed to the role the arts play in changing the lives of young people at the community level and which have received both state and federal support for their work.
This, I believe, will be the crux of her work at the National Endowment for the Arts. Mary Anne has a personal commitment to what the arts can do to promote positive change, globally and individually. The National Endowment for the Arts has been doing this important work for over 50 years, and I look forward to what our federal partners will do under her leadership in the years to come. She is also a great cheerleader for the arts, so expect to hear a lot more about the good work of the Endowment and the arts from our friends in Washington.
Congratulations, Mary Anne. I’m glad that Rhode Island’s Congressional delegation was firmly in support of your nomination, and we look forward to being good partners and friends during your term as Chairman.
–Randall Rosenbaum, Executive Director, Rhode Island State Council on the Arts