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Regular Session, 2014
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 93
BY REPRESENTATIVE BURRELL
A RESOLUTION
To commend the Shreveport Regional Arts Council on celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of
the ArtBreak Festival and its enduring success in the promotion of arts in education.
WHEREAS, since its beginning in 1976, the Shreveport Regional Arts Council has
enjoyed tremendous success in the promotion of artistic endeavors by students of Caddo Parish
schools; and
WHEREAS, in 1983, the first ArtBreak Festival was undertaken to highlight and
celebrate curriculum-based arts education and the Shreveport Regional Arts Council's
community-based interdisciplinary arts in education programs; and
WHEREAS, the success of the first ArtBreak Festival in promoting an appreciation of
the community value of arts in education was reflected in 1984, by voter approval of a new one
cent sales tax to be used to maintain visual and musical arts educators for students in Caddo
Parish in light of losses in state funding for arts and enrichment programs; and
WHEREAS, efforts to deepen and strengthen educational arts programs have been
sustained over the years with the assistance and leadership of school administrators such as
Superintendent Walter Lee, who received the prestigious award of "Outstanding Superintendent
for the Arts" from the Kennedy Center, as well as the enduring efforts of Henry Price, whose
leadership in planning and implementing community-based cultural plans led to his receipt of
both the Governor's Award for Outstanding Arts In Education Leader for Louisiana, and the
Outstanding ARTS Supervisor Award from the Kennedy Center; and
WHEREAS, throughout its history, the value of the Shreveport Regional Arts Council's
support of arts education has been recognized by grants extended from the National Endowment
for the Arts, and by awards such as the Governor's Award for Outstanding Arts in Education
Programming and the Friend of Education Award conferred by the Louisiana Teachers
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WHEREAS, the Shreveport Regional Arts Council has been extraordinarily successful
in establishing programs to both, bring professional artists into the schools to work directly with
students, and to also engage those professionals in the creation of art works in collaboration with
students from Caddo Parish schools; and
WHEREAS, students of Caddo Parish schools have enjoyed the benefit of working with
nationally recognized artists such as Meg Saligman, who created the nation's largest publicly
funded mural with the assistance of students from more than thirty Caddo Parish schools, and
with William Joyce who serves as the executive director of the Artspace Center which offers
students artistic curricula from all artistic disciplines designed to correlate with basic skills; and
WHEREAS, the Shreveport Regional Arts Council, through the efforts of William Joyce,
has worked to foster interest in arts in education throughout the state through the development
and execution of two major multiparish projects for exhibitions to be featured at the ArtBreak
Festival, namely, the "Black Friday" exhibition in 2008, to commemorate the eightieth year after
the Great Depression, and the "Triumph over Tragedy" project in 2009, which included a
twelve-week arts in education program based on the stories of fifty "elders" who witnessed the
Great Depression that was conducted in twenty-five schools, fifty libraries, and thirty-five cities;
and
WHEREAS, in 2014, the ArtBreak Festival celebrates its thirtieth anniversary by
continuing its tradition of a free, family, hands-on, student art showcase with visual, literary,
musical, and performance art, and by including a return by former students of Caddo Parish
schools who are now professional artists.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the Legislature
of Louisiana does hereby commend the Shreveport Regional Arts Council on celebrating the
thirtieth anniversary of the ArtBreak Festival.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a suitable copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
the Shreveport Regional Arts Council.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATI VES