WEBVTT

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Good evening, I'm
Bob Booker, and I

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have the pleasure of being
the executive director

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of the Arizona
Commission on the Arts.

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I have two of my
board members here,

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and I'd like them to stand up.

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Lisa Barnes and Tim Bee,
who had been great members

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of the commission.

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Lisa chaired the selection
committee this year

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for the poet laureate.

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Our mission is that we imagine
an Arizona where everyone

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can participate in and
experience the arts, whoever

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you are, wherever you're
from, and wherever you live.

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And we take that to
heart in the work

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that we do every day
to serve Arizonans.

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I want to recognize the nominees
for this position as well.

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And if you're here,
I'd like you to stand.

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Stuart Watkins, Bob Atkinson,
James Cox, David Ray.

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Please give them a
round of applause.

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My message is simple when
I travel around the state.

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I want parents to understand
that taking their kids

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to theater class
or poetry lessons

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is as important as taking
them to the swimming pool

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or to soccer camp.

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I want our elected
officials to understand

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that public funding
for the arts is

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a smart move, an
economic move, and a move

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to build communities.

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I want grandparents to
understand that kids are not

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getting arts and education
in the classrooms

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that they remember,
and that they

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need to talk to our
superintendents and our school

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boards about the value of the
arts in our li-- in the lives

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of our children.

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I want mayors to be as
proud of centers like this

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as they are of their business
corporations, their libraries,

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and their community churches.

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And finally, I want neighbors
to be as proud of the fact

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that they have a
poet as a neighbor,

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a dancer as a
neighbor, an artist,

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or a theater actor
as a neighbor.

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And that's the dream that we
have at the Arizona Commission

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on the Arts.

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When I started my job, there was
a broadside by this guy named

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Alberto Ríos hanging
in my office.

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The former director
left it there for me.

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As I learned more about Tito
and his work, I became enamored,

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and I've used his poems
in many gatherings.

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Tito was initially
one of our artists

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in residence and working
in schools early on,

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helping children understand
literature, understand the use

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of words, understand poetry.

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I've seen Tito's
work amaze people,

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bring great joy to their
lives, and bring them to tears.

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It's with great respect
that I thank you

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for becoming our poet laureate,
and welcome you tonight.

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