Arts Participants are More Likely to VOTE! "American adults who attend art museums, art galleries, or live arts performances are far more likely than non-attendees to vote, volunteer, or take part in community events." Art-Goers in Their Communities: Patterns of Civic and Social Engagement, NEA Research Note #98, October 2009

	Civic Engagement is Key to a Healthy Community "The arts impact New Jersey communities in profoundly positive ways from bolstering the economy and creating jobs, to promoting community engagement and civic dialogue on issues of importance to us all." --Kim Guadagno, Lt. Governor/ Secretary of State

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	The Arts are Vital to Civic Engagement From volunteering to voting, community building to community healing, issue awareness to social action- research shows that the arts engage people in civic life, and people who participate in the arts help foster community vitality in a wide variety of ways. In fact, arts participation can be seen as an indicator of civic and community health. People who participate in the arts: Engage in positive civil and individual activities at strikingly higher rates than nonparticipants Volunteer or do charity work in their communities at a rate of 50% as opposed to less than 20% of nonparticipants Engage in outdoor activities and attend sporting events at double the rate of nonparticipants Exercise at nearly twice the rate of non-participants and are more likely to play sports The Arts and Civic Engagement: Involved in Arts, Involved in Life; National Endowment for the Arts; November 2006

	George Street Playhouse performing IRL on cyberbullying. Concerns about cyberbullying escalated after the New Brunswick community was left reeling over the death the Rutgers student who committed suicide after his gay sexual encounter was streamed over the internet. George Street Playhouse, a NJ State Council on the Arts grantee, recently hosted a "Spotlight on Cyberbullying Conference," for parents and educators to connect and share resources. George Street Playhouse has been providing performances to local schools on cyberbullying for the last two school years with a play they commissioned, IRL: In Real Life. Performed for hundreds of school children each year, the play is about four ninth graders who share text messages, exploited secret photos and threatening online conversations. Each performance includes a post-performance discussion. Listen here to a podcast about IRL: In Real Life.

	Learn More with Quick Links: Saguaro Seminar on Civic Engagement in America. John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA For stories and examples of the arts boosting civic engagement, click here Arts and Civic Engagement: A Tool Kit from Animating Democracy. Washington, DC: Americans for the Arts. 2009 Join hundreds of Arts Plan NJ endorsers in building a better NJ through the arts! Endorse Arts Plan NJ