Lynch: In reviving New Orleans, don't forget the arts

Lynch: In reviving New Orleans, don't forget the arts: "Lynch: In reviving New Orleans, don't forget the arts
Robert L. Lynch, AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS
Friday, March 24, 2006

It wasn't surprising when a blue-ribbon panel appointed by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin recommended recently that the arts and culture should be a centerpiece of rebuilding New Orleans' neighborhoods and reviving its economy. New Orleans is, after all, renowned for its arts and culture: from jazz and the blues to Mardi Gras to Cajun and Creole cuisine. And the city's cultural sector, according to the report, provided — prior to Hurricane Katrina — more than 15,000 jobs and more than $300 million annually to the local economy.

The significance of the arts and culture in New Orleans, however, is mirrored and even exceeded in cities throughout the nation. As important as the arts are for their intrinsic qualities — their power to delight, to inspire, to portray, and to provoke — they have emerged as a major building block of the U.S. economy."