NOTE FROM:

Henry Moran
Executive Director President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities

Mary L. Chute
Acting Director Institute of Museum and Library Services

Dana Gioia
Chairman National Endowment for the Arts

Bruce M. Cole
Chairman National Endowment for the Humanities

The confidence of a middle school student expounding on the history of his state; the grace of an accomplished young ballet dancer; the camaraderie between a teenaged painter and his artist mentor as they stand before an easel - these are snapshots of the programs that we honor this year with Coming Up Taller Awards. Through the power of the arts and humanities, these programs have expanded the boundaries of the lives of young people who have limited opportunities, but great potential. We are pleased to join First Lady Laura Bush in saluting the achievements and standards of excellence of our 2005 award winners.

Coming Up Taller is a national initiative that recognizes and supports exceptional after-school and out-of-school arts and humanities programs for young people. It is a project of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, in partnership with The Institute of Museum and Library Sciences, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Over the past eight years, more than 100 programs have received Coming Up Taller Awards, more than; 300 programs have been recognized as semifinalists; and more than 2,500 Coming Up Taller nominations have been submitted from across the country. Each of these programs encourages young people of all ages to take responsibility for themselves and their future through learning, mastery, and accomplishment in the arts and humanities. In addition to providing training and knowledge in these two disciplines, many of the Coming Up Taller awardees teach basic employment skills, and emphasize leadership development. Programs also offer support services, such as mentoring and homework assistance. Ultimately, increased literacy, improved school attendance, and higher graduation rates among participants testify to the significant positive impact of these programs.

The Coming Up Taller program has grown incrementally over the years, in step with the growth across the field of after-school and out-of-school arts and humanities learning. Last year, in addition to the awards, we hosted a Leadership Enhancement Conference at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The conference provided award winners and semifinalists with assistance in organizational capacity building. Given the success of the Pennsylvania meeting, we convened our second Leadership Enhancement Conference at Artists for Humanityís New Epicenter in Boston, Massachusetts, in July 2005, in partnership with the Massachusetts Cultural Council. This year, we also convened colleagues from several state arts and humanities agencies for an ongoing dialogue around best practices to increase the awareness of and capacity for after-school and out-of-school programs.

In the words of President's Committee member Debbie Allen, distinguished actor, dancer, and choreographer, "Nothing in this world moves forward without creativity." As we move forward, we thank the 2005 Coming Up Taller Award winners for shaping the lives and nourishing the creativity of so many young people. We are also grateful to the many corporate, foundation, and individual contributors who have helped to make the Coming Up Taller Program possible. We especially appreciate the local public and private funders this year and during the past eight years, who support these learning opportunities in communities nationwide.