On Sunday, March 19, 2017, Jacqueline E. Lawton gave the keynote address at the 10th annual Emerging Arts Leaders Symposium. It was a very inspiring speech and she has been kind enough to share it with us! **Please note - the following is reproduced with permission of its author, Jacqueline E. Lawton. All copyright belongs to Ms. Lawton, and no part of the following should be reproduced without her permission.** Good morning! I’m honored to have been invited to speak with you

Next spring, the 10th annual Emerging Arts Leaders Symposium will be held at American University. What began as a capstone project, meant to fill a void in the field, has grown into one of the main events on the calendars of arts managers across the country. Every year the symposium has grown, and our partnership with Americans for the Arts has continued to flourish. This year’s theme, Focus Forward, is a call to action to not only envision the future, but to make it so. Whil