The arts are even more important now than they ever have been. They enable us to draw connections between ostensibly disparate topics, at a moment when people the world over need to learn how to work together to confront the challenges that are facing us, the multiple crises that are bearing down on us, the environmental crisis, the economic crisis, the crises in our democracies. The arts are not a back page thing for me, they are front and centre and teach us how relate to one another as human beings.
Topé Folarin (Texas & Harris Manchester 2004)
I was the only person in the arts in my cohort of 32 American Scholars – there’s this sense that tends towards people that are going to move into politics or journalism or the more conventional ideas of how leadership is provided. What I know now all these years later is that I am absolutely a community leader here in San Diego. The arts are a force for leadership that can chart a path for people who are trying to solve the issues that are shaking the United States.
Barry Edelstein (Massachusetts & Pembroke 1986)