Yesterday, I read this Newsweek article
about Wynton Marsalis’ delivery of the annual Nancy Hanks Lecture at
Kennedy Center the night before he spoke to Congress. This article
makes it clear that Mr. Marsalis didn’t give a speech – he performed
one. After reading about this performance, I did what anyone who reads this article from outside the arts world might do: I went to
YouTube. It wasn’t there – in fact, it wasn’t anywhere on the web.
I immediately drafted a post begging Americans for the Arts to put the lecture online so all of us could view and share it. I worked on the post so late at night that I didn’t publish it for fear my blurry eyes misstated something. Prepping it for publication a few minutes ago I discovered the video at Americans for the Arts’ blog – they posted it today! Thank you!
I still haven’t found it on YouTube but maybe that’s next. I want anyone who’s looking for it to find it. I’m unclear what plans Americans for the Arts has to let the world know the video is online so I’m doing my part by letting you know. Pass it on.
The video includes Bob Lynch’s welcome as well as former Senator Tom Harkin’s introduction of Mr. Marsalis. You’ll find the actual lecture starting after 17 minutes of these remarks. The balance is over an hour, so be prepared to give it some time. I’ll share my thoughts in a future post. As with all art, its nice to have your own experience before others tell you about theirs.
UPDATE Americans for the Arts has removed the introductions so the video starts with the beginning of Mr. Marsalis speech. They’ve also added a feature that allows the video to be embedded on other sites so I’ve put it below. (It might have been there originally and I just discovered it.) An advocacy colleague and I decided tonight that it would be great to have the Nancy Hanks Lecture webcast live next year so organization across the country can use it to gather arts supporters that are unable to travel to DC.
Wynton Marsalis: 22nd Annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy from Americans for the Arts on Vimeo.
UPDATE 2 The speech is now on YouTube, and you can find the full transcript here. Use the link in the first paragraph to download a pdf.