January 22, 2018 – The National Assembly State of Arts Agencies (NASAA) released updated reporting on “The Arts and America’s Bottom Line,” demonstrating the value of public investments in the arts on American communities today. In advance of the upcoming presidential State of the Union address, this reporting pays critical attention to how arts and creative expression drive America’s economy, with millions of jobs creating 4.2% of our nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). The arts and culture sector outweighs sectors like construction, transportation and mining in benefitting the country’s GDP. Adding to the country’s bottom line, arts and culture generate a $26.4 billion trade surplus.

“Town to town and state to state, America’s bottom line is strengthened by public investments in the arts. That’s why every state and jurisdiction joins the federal government in investing in the arts. Far from being a partisan issue, these investments are a matter of effective public policy and putting communities first,” said Pam Breaux, President and CEO of NASAA.

Today’s press briefing also focused on arts-integrated medical treatments helping to heal military personnel with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with Dr. Sara Kass (CAPT. ret.), Senior Military Advisor for Creative Forces. In a powerful statement by U.S. Army Veteran, Purple Heart recipient, and alumnus of the Armed Services Arts Partnership programs, Sebastian Munevar shared how after many ineffective medical treatments to treat his PTSD, he found his peace and voice in listening to another veteran’s poem that viscerally captured his own feelings about the war and helped him understand why his life was spared. Mr. Munevar was enrolled in a writing program under the Armed Services Arts Partnership program at that time.

“I was spared to retell, I was spared so that you all could listen. For the first time in years, I felt empowered to explain my experience, an experience that revolved entirely around killing and dying. I felt inspired to communicate the horror of seeing my dear friends reduced to charred chunks of flesh. I felt relieved to share my burden and to break free from the bonds of silence. I didn’t know it then but when I started writing, I began rebuilding my lost connection to the world around me,” said Munevar, now Senior Management Consultant, Booz Allen Hamilton.

Susan DuPlessis, Program Director of the South Carolina Arts Commission, and Matt Mardell, Director of the Colleton Museum, Farmers Market & Commercial Kitchen, highlighted the use of arts as a key to rural opportunity. While rural America lost 400,000 jobs during the last recession and recovery has been slow in these areas, the collaborative initiative of state and federal agencies to include the arts as a strategy to offer sustainable solutions to small towns that suffer from significant economic challenges was presented today through the lens of Walterboro, South Carolina.

“When we have a voice to communicate about our struggle, which the arts give us, it changes the outcomes and the sense of community. When you can create your own narrative, that’s the same thing that’s happening when we work deeply in communities where they have been told they don’t have anything and have ‘less than’ other places,” said Susan DuPlessis in speaking about Walterboro’s transformation. “When we focus on what is, not what is broken, that is when we can start to reimagine place in a whole new way,” she added.

For further program information on The Art of Community: Rural SC, Creative Forces, and a report on State Arts Agencies in the Spotlight: MT, OK, SC, TN, UT and WV, please email Leah Frelinghuysen at leah@monarchypr.com. The entire program is available at Facebook for further viewing.

About NASAA

NASAA is the professional association of the nation’s 56 state and jurisdictional arts agencies. NASAA is a national, not-for-profit, nonpartisan organization that champions public support for the arts in America. Together, NASAA and the state arts agencies advance the arts as an essential ingredient in the well-being and prosperity of our nation’s individuals, communities and families.