National Arts Advocacy Day, April 16-17, 2012. Washington DC.

Thanks to OvationTV for the amazingly quick turn around, we get to see some clips from the Monday night Nancy Hanks lecture that preceded all of the activity on Capital Hill Tuesday.

My personal reflections of Alec Baldwin's Nancy Hanks lecture, carefully written to respect the archived speech by the Americans for the Arts. 

View all past transcripts of previous lectures (some include audio) on the Americans for the Arts

A little bit of respite and inspiration from Ben Folds - performance of "The Luckiest", Ben performed this before the lecture; accompanied by alumni musicians of the Young Arts program.

Celebrities including Alec Baldwin visited Capitol Hill Tuesday to shine their spotlight on federal funding for the arts.

Actor Alec Baldwin played the role of the old pro Tuesday, visiting Capitol Hill as part of Arts Advocacy Day. Leading a merry band of singers, dancers and actors, Baldwin noted that he had been lobbying for the arts since 1990 … He added that he didn't have much advice to dish out to the greener members of his delegation. "I gave...advice on federal aviation cell phone rules," Baldwin joked making reference to his recent spat with American Airlines.

Joining him for a day of congressional visits will be singer-songwriter Ben Folds, actors Hill Harper, Melina Kanakaredes, Omar Benson Miller, Johnathon Schaech and Tiffani Thiessen; American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance producer Nigel Lythgoe and country music star Clay Walker.

Alec Baldwin visited the nation's capital on Monday to press for increased federal funding for the arts after government dollars were cut last year, saying such funding ensures the public affordable access to theater, dance and music.