Talented young artists like Amanda Gorman need to be nurtured. We’re here to help | Opinion

On Jan. 20, America was captivated by the vision of Amanda Gorman speaking from the steps of the U.S. Capitol. She commanded the podium as the youngest poet, at age 22, ever to have been invited to contribute to a presidential inauguration.

Inspired by her vivid recitation of “The Hill We Climb,” people in the tens of millions wondered about this brilliant young woman who suddenly had appeared before them, speaking poignantly about struggle and hope.

National YoungArts Foundation met Gorman when she was still in high school, in 2015, the year she received the first of what would be two YoungArts awards for writing. As a YoungArts winner, she participated that year in our Los Angeles regional program of classes, workshops, performances and exhibitions. We will never forget the applause that erupted after she finished reading her work. With her immense talent, she already was on her way to being designated the nation’s first Youth Poet Laureate, in 2017.

Watching Gorman uplift America at the inauguration, I thought of how the nation’s artists can contribute greatly to our recovery from today’s challenges and how we must contribute to supporting and encouraging them. Many, if not all, artists face a long and often difficult road, on which the steps taken by even the most independent artist must be sustained by a community. Even the most talented and determined artists rely on the support, encouragement and guidance from family, friends, peers, teachers and organizations.

At YoungArts, we are meeting this need by providing more artists with financial, creative and professional-development support, whether through monetary awards and emergency funds, virtual programming or partnerships with organizations in artists’ local communities.

Still, more can be done, and more must be done by all of us to nurture artists who will impact society as leaders, thinkers and truth-tellers.

I encourage everyone to seek out and support the next generation of artists in their communities and those on the horizon. From Jan. 25-30, YoungArts will livestream the work of this year’s 2021 YoungArts award winners at 8 p.m. every night. These artists are the nation’s most accomplished visual, performing and literary artists. These are tomorrow’s Amanda Gormans.

The time to meet them, and support them, is now.

Jewel Malone is executive director of the National YoungArts Foundation, headquartered in Miami.