Members of congress spread the word about the festival - InFocus

ChildArt, July-Sept, 2003 by Shelley Sperry

If you live in the United States and have gone to a museum exhibit or seen a play or dance group at a local theater, you might have the Congressional Arts Caucus to thank. The Arts Caucus is a group of more than 170 members of Congress who find ways for the federal government to promote the arts and help artists throughout the country.

Representative Louise Slaughter of New York and Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut are the co-chairs of the group. Since 1998, Rep. Slaughter and the Arts Caucus have worked with ICAF on many projects. To encourage young people to participate in the Arts Olympiad, Rep. Slaughter sent information about the event to all the Representatives of Congress, and they made sure all the schools in their districts knew about the competition and the Festival.

Rep. Slaughter will be speaking at the International Child Art Festival in Washington. She will talk about the importance of the arts, and how the arts can promote peace throughout the world.

Congressmen and congresswomen find lots of ways to encourage children in their states to participate in art, music, dance, and theater. Sometimes they ask teachers to submit artwork, then choose pictures to hang in their offices on Capitol Hill. Most members have special Web pages just for children. If you find out who represents you in Congress, you can see what events and information they have just for you on their sites. To find out who your representative is, you can look at http://www.house.gov. To find out who your senators are you can look at http://www.senate.gov.