After an inspiring talk from Randy Weeks, the director of Denver’s Center for the Performing Arts, the crowd was already charged up to work on behalf of Sacramento’s arts community. Weeks explained how Denver’s seven-county region came up with a sustainable approach to help local non-profit arts organizations. In 1988, a recession year, Denver-area voters created a Scientific and Cultural Development Fund and by a three-to-one vote, approved a tax on themselves to support that fund. Since then, Denver arts organizations, both large and small, have been able to thrive, thanks to the stabilizing effects of this initiative. They’ve attracted more community support as well. The 150 arts volunteers that heard Weeks tell his story Wednesday morning in Sacramento Ballet’s Studio Two were excited to hear that a major metropolitan area had implemented such a program.

But the fireworks were still to come. More precisely, the trumpet was about to sound, because surprise guest speaker Wynton Marsalis had just arrived. Marsalis, who is a tireless supporter of arts and music education, and an eloquent speaker on world cultures, addressed the electrified crowd for about half an hour. The world-renowned musician had come at the behest of Mayor Kevin Johnson, who created this arts initiative (For Art’s Sake) to help Sacramento develop and market its arts programs. Marsalis thanked Mayor Johnson for the opportunity to help, and spoke about American culture, and what concerned citizens can do to help.

We must educate kids about culture, he told the crowd. “The arts are what nourish the soul. While technology has changed, the technology of the human soul has not changed.” Marsalis pointed out that many older nations have a better understanding of the value of their artistic heritage – he mentioned Vienna, where Beethoven and Strauss lived, composed and played. Today, centuries later, that city’s culture thrives, because its citizens keep this heritage alive. “We are a very young nation” he explained, “and our biggest problem is our lack of cultural identity… There is a shared culture” – he mentioned Walt Whitman, Winslow Homer, Duke Ellington, William Faulkner, and a number of folk music traditions – “but we haven’t been successful at coming together – we need to teach what shared culture is.”

Marsalis, in a black suit and striped tie, was warm and engaging, just as he is on the stage when he banters with audiences all over the world. He encouraged arts groups to collaborate with each other, to cross genres as he has done, working with collaborators such as dance groups, visual artists, musicians and educators. His advice? Just call someone up on the phone, and talk about your ideas. Marsalis pointed out that America is all about business, so our system doesn’t value the arts as much as it should. But we need to remember that “the importance of the arts is not quantitative, it’s qualitative.”

American culture does exist, and it’s a rich blend, Marsalis told the rapt crowd, but we don’t know the recipe, we don’t teach the recipe. He exhorted artists and organizations to be vigilant. Dance. Play music. Tell stories. Sing. “If you want to make gumbo, you have to have roux,” the New Orleans native told the hungry crowd. “If it doesn’t have roux, it’s just soup.” Is a city without a thriving arts scene like gumbo without roux? “Art is soul food,” Marsalis smiled. “We have to fight for that!”