The Coming Up Taller Initiative

Young people today are presented with increasing opportunities, outside the regular school day, to realize and explore new skills through the arts and the humanities. With the guidance of dedicated teachers, musicians, librarians, historians, artists, and community leaders, they are studying Shakespeare’s plays and adapting them to reflect the world in which they live; performing pieces by composer Aaron Copland in symphonic ensembles; reading and discussing literature and poetry by such 20th-century authors as Zora Neale Hurston and T.S. Eliot; and creating their own art through clay, ink, paint, and the lens.

Coming Up Taller is a national initiative that recognizes and supports out-of-school and after-school arts and humanities programs for young people. A project of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, Coming Up Taller Awards honor programs that offer exceptional learning experiences in the arts and humanities and that have a tangible effect on the lives of young people—improved academic performance, enhanced life skills, and positive relationships with adults and peers.

Selecting this year’s awardees was particularly challenging, as the field and quality of after-school programs continue to thrive. In step with this growth, over the past nine years, our agencies have awarded more than $1,200,000 to Coming Up Taller finalists; increased the number of annual awards from 10 to 15; introduced an annual leadership conference to enhance the organizational capabilities of award recipients; and, through a partnership with the U.S.–Mexico Foundation for Culture, given 10 awards to cultural youth programs in Mexico.

“A radiant and hopeful image of how the world ought to be” is how President’s Committee member Bill Strickland, founder and CEO of the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, once described his first encounter with the arts. “It opened up a portal, suggesting that there might be a whole range of possibilities and experiences that I had not explored.” In this spirit, we are proud to join with First Lady Laura Bush in honoring the 2006 Coming Up Taller awardees, who, in their excellence and diversity, open the portals and spark the ingenuity that lies within every young person.