Wisconsin Arts Board

MISSION STATEMENT The Wisconsin Arts Board is the state agency which nurtures creativity, cultivates expression, promotes the arts, supports the arts in education, stimulates community and economic development and serves as a resource for people of every culture and heritage. VISION The Wisconsin Arts Board vision is inspired by a quote from the late Robert E. Gard, Professor Emeritus of Community Theatre, University of Wisconsin: "If we are seeking in America, let it be for the reality of democracy in the arts. Let art begin at home and let it spread through the children and the parents, and through the schools and the institutions, and through government. And let us start by acceptance, not negation-acceptance that the arts are important everywhere, and that they can exist and flourish in small places as well as large, with money or without it, according to the will of the people. Let us put firmly and permanently aside the cliche that the arts are a frill. Let us accept the goodness of art where we are now, and expand its worth in the places where people live." We embrace this vision: it guides our belief that the arts are basic to human life and essential to the human spirit. VALUES The Wisconsin Arts Board values: - imagination - creativity - curiosity - freedom of expression - respect and appreciation for all cultures and people - artistic quality - a broad definition of the arts - audience and patron development - community engagement The Wisconsin Arts Board's programs and activities do not discriminate on the basis of disability in admission, access or employment.