Commemorating Arts Advocacy Day

Floor Speech

Mr. QUIGLEY. Mr. Speaker, entrepreneur Steve Jobs once said, ``It is in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough--it's technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that make our heart sing.''

I rise today to recognize National Arts Advocacy Day and to stress the importance of arts and arts education for advancing technology and growing our economy.

I am proud to represent the Illinois delegation of thirteen arts and cultural leaders on Capitol Hill today, which include Ingenuity, a group that works with Chicago Public Schools, and whose mission it is to make arts education available to every child in every school.

Students in the arts and humanities learn how to explore, discover and innovate. Arts education engages kids in school, promotes confidence and builds a foundation for success for every student, but it also grows our economy.

In Illinois, the non-profit arts and culture sector generates 2.75 billion dollars and supports more than 78,000 full-time-equivalent jobs. Additionally, Illinois is home to nearly 34,000 non-profit and for-profit arts businesses. These creative enterprises employ more than 140,000 people in jobs that cannot be outsourced.

I continue to be a proud supporter of arts education, and I've consistently supported robust funding for the National Endowment for the Arts--I encourage my colleagues to do the same.

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