2003 Governors Arts Awards

Government Leadership in the Arts Award Recipient:
Senator Judd Gregg

The New Hampshire Citizens for the Arts along with the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts honored Senator Judd Gregg with the State's first Government Leadership on the Arts Award during the 2003 Governors Arts Award ceremony.

Since Senator Gregg was unable to attend the awards event, Rebecca Lawrence, Division of Arts Director, and Glen Swanson, NH Citizens for the Arts President, delivered the special award to him when he visited his Concord office in February.

The award, created by artist RP Hale of Concord, New Hampshire, is a gilded calligraphy framed artwork outlining his leadership and accomplishments in support of New Hampshire's arts community. It read as follows:

"Whereas Senator Judd Gregg, when Governor of New Hampshire, revived the state's Governors Arts Awards in 1989, and, throughout his administration, consistently supported funding for the programs and services of the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts;

Whereas Senator Gregg spoke out in favor of continuing federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts when it was controversial to do so and subsequently voted for increases in its appropriations including, for Fiscal Year 2004, an increase of $7 million over last year, 40 percent of which will be distributed among the states;

Whereas Senator Gregg, through his position on the Senate Appropriations Committee, secured $400,000 in federal funding for improvements and renovations to the 125-year-old Music Hall in Portsmouth in the Fiscal Year 2004 Interior Appropriations bill through the National Park Service's Save America's Treasures budget.

Whereas, in Fiscal Year 2003, Senator Gregg secured $360,000 for the Capitol Center for the Arts for its Arts Education Program and for renovations to this historic facility.

Whereas, through his position as Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Senator Gregg was the chief sponsor of the Museum and Library Services Act of 2003, which establishes policies that will strengthen museum operations and facilitate the international exchange and display of works of art and other cultural materials, and secured an appropriation of $38.6 million for those purposes in Fiscal Year 2004;

And whereas, as Chairman, Senator Gregg led this committee to support Section 5551 in the No Child Left Behind Act to establish an Arts Education Program, which authorizes the Secretary to make grants to support model arts in education projects and to share information about model arts in education programs;

Therefore, we the citizens of New Hampshire recognize and thank Senator Judd Gregg for his understanding of the public value of the arts, which enrich New Hampshire's quality of life through educational, community, and living heritage programs, and for his leadership in government support of the arts as both Governor and Senator of New Hampshire."