By Tom McClimon
February 3, 2003

The Conference's Closing Luncheon January 24 served as the venue for the Conference of Mayors and Americans for the Arts to present their Government Leadership in the Arts Awards. This was the seventh year in which the awards have been given to government leaders and programs aimed at promoting the arts among young people.

Conference Vice President Hempstead (NY) Mayor James Garner presided over the arts portion of the Closing Luncheon. In his welcoming remarks, Mayor Garner talked about the Conference's long support of the arts. He also recognized members of the U.S. Urban Arts Federation who were present. The Urban Arts Federation is composed of the arts directors of the nation's largest arts agencies.

Robert Lynch, President and CEO of Americans for the arts thanked the mayors for their support of the arts and stated that "cities lead the way in support of the arts." He also presented to the mayors two public service announcements ads that have aired on television stations promoting the arts. Bob Morrison, executive director of the VH1 Foundation and a past arts awards recipient also talked about the value of the arts, particularly to young people.

Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson was honored with the Local Arts Leadership Award. Mayor Peterson was honored for his leadership of the arts at both the local and national levels. At the local level, Mayor Peterson has overseen a doubling of public sector arts funding from $750,000 to $1.65 million. The mayor also created at $10 million cultural development initiative fund and has appointed a Cultural Development Commission. On the national level, Mayor Peterson has chaired the Conference's Arts, Parks, Entertainment and Sports Committee and has represented the mayors at national Arts Advocacy Day the past few years. Mayor Peterson was unable to be present to accept his award due to an illness in his family. Accepting the award for him was Ramona Baker, Director of the Arts Council of Indianapolis. Ms. Baker read a letter from Mayor Peterson in which he thanked the two sponsoring organizations and stated that the arts are " a suave of authenticity that makes a city unique."

The Greater Columbus Arts Council's "Children of the Future" program was honored with the Excellence in Arts Programming for Youth Award. Presented by Les Lenkowsky, CEO of the Corporation for National Service. The "Children of the Future" program is an After-School summer program that serves 3,000 children a year. It's arts-based crime prevention program hires artists to work with young people to develop their artistic skills and help with social pressures. The AmeriCorps program helps to support the program. Ray Hanley, executive director of the Greater Columbus Arts Council accepted the award on behalf of the program and talked how the "arts can help bring a community together" as this program has done in Columbus.

The award for State Leadership in the Arts was presented to New York Governor George Pataki. Governor Pataki was honored for his leadership in increasing state funding for the arts by 56 percent over the previous 5 years, making New York 3rd in the nation in per capita spending for the arts. The Governor also established a Cultural Tourism initiative and created the Empire State Partnership program for arts education. The Governor accepted the award by videotape and in his remarks stated that the "arts have transformational powers to improve communities and nourish our citizens." Richard Schwartz, Chair of the New York Arts Council accepted the award on behalf of the Governor.

The Howard University Choir provided music for the luncheon