President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities

The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) announces the release of its landmark report Reinvesting in Arts Education: Winning America's Future Through Creative Schools.  The culmination of 18 months of research, meetings with stakeholders, and site visits all over the country, this report represents an in-depth review of the current condition of arts education, including an update of the current research base about arts education outcomes, and an analysis of the challenges and opportunities in the field that have emerged over the past decade. It also includes a set of recommendations to federal, state and local policymakers. A summary of the report is here.

This publication highlights the synergy of collaborations the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) forged with each of the cultural agencies—NEA, NEH, and IMLS  between 2001-2008, opening new opportunities for international cultural relations from expanding programs with Mexico to catalyzing groundbreaking initiatives with China to launching new programs like AFI Project: 20/20. In addition, the book documents how the PCAH moved the White House interests forward in youth arts and humanities learning by expanding Coming Up Taller, in preservation by raising the profile of Save America’s Treasures, and in special initiatives like the National Medals by making it a White House signature event.

The Position Paper on Cultural & Heritage Tourism in the United States was developed by PCAH with help from than more than 100 leaders representing travel, tourism, business, arts, humanities, natural resources and government and endorsed by the delegates to the U.S. Cultural & Heritage Summit. This framework for a national strategy reflects the dramatic growth in cultural and heritage tourism since the landmark 1995 Cultural Tourism in the United States white paper created by PCAH and a coalition representing the arts, historic preservation, humanities organizations and the federal cultural agencies—the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services--for 1995 White House Conference on Travel and Tourism.

Save America’s Treasures Preserving the Legacy of our National Experience demonstrates how successful and critical this program’s relatively small investment has been in rescuing, restoring and conserving our nation’s cultural and historic treasures. Through twelve detailed briefs, the report outlines the breadth of our nation’s cultural and historic patrimony, as well as the magnitude of its vulnerability. One result highlighted by this publication is that Save America’s  galvanized a whole host of citizens to invest in and care for many irreplaceable national treasures.