I believe that we all agree: education does not happen only in the classroom. So much of what is taught in class could and should be complemented by the live experience of art, music, architecture, etc. However, before the Arts Initiative was created in 2004, it was difficult for faculty and students to finance a class visit to a performance, an exhibition, or a concert. I find it enormously important that it is now possible to fund such visits, and I think that we should all support this initiative and get involved in it as much as we can.
In addition, I would like to share my extremely positive experience of working with the people from ArtsLink. This semester, I teach a course on aesthetics which would have been impossible to design without having several art events on the syllabus. The people who lead and work for ArtsLink were quick to reply to my questions, clear and helpful in their explanations, and effective in arranging the first art event for my class. In addition, I could tell by the tone of voice of our conversations that they loved what they were doing. This, in my view, is why ArtsLink works – because the people who work for it are not only competent and highly professional but also enthusiastic about what they are doing. I hope that faculty and students do not take this unique service and institution for granted but appreciate it, and that each one of us will contribute in one form or another to its further development and success.
Judith Wermuth-Atkinson