Ever wonder how your favorite band knows to show up on stage? Who decides what art to display in a public building? And who books the plays that come to your local theater? Each one of these behind-the-scenes jobs is thanks to the hard work of arts administrators. Today, with its focus on arts administration, was the first time some GSA students were made aware of careers in such a field. Arts administrators can be seen as a kind of arts activist. Marketing, fundraising, and grant writing are just a sampling of the tasks accomplished by arts administrators.

The morning announcements featured media and arts leaders, who spoke on the current state of the arts and its impact on America’s youth culture. They answered questions about how to best impact the arts as a young person. During Question and Answer time, students asked questions like “Why is art important?” and “Why do we need art?” The panel pointed out an unfortunate trend in artists creating mercenary art, or art that is created with the idea of being marketable or for entertainment, rather than originating solely from the artist’s creativity. Kentucky is a rich community for the arts, they said, and many folk arts are deep-rooted in the Kentuckian culture and landscape.