Well it was quite a week coming back from New York City.  I have in the subsequent week benefited from a renewed sense of energy from the city which is the pinnacle of arts and culture in the world.  At the National Art Education Conference, I gave a lecture about what Hobbs and New Mexico can teach the country about our approach to fine arts education.  We live in a desert which is a very harsh and dangerous place.  The desert is also a beautiful place and a place with many resources.  Most of those resources are hidden like oil, uranium, natural gas, and water.  The desert of New Mexico is a metaphor for the major recession we have been in since 2008.  One survives in a desert if one looks for and uses the resources that are available.  These resources include community interests and quality staff, and it is vital to use those assets wisely.  This was the message we brought to New York City from New Mexico.  Most poignantly is what we learned while in the city.  Attending the conference were countless young teachers who were climbing on the walls they were so excited to be there.  I guess they did not get the memo on how teachers should be cynical all the time.  The conference had record attendance.  There was a sense of a ground swell of activity around the country in the area of arts and cultural education.  I learned volumes talking to a young teacher who used her IPAD to take pictures of her students art work and journal about it for her grade book.  Then I looked around and noticed almost everyone at the conference had an IPAD.  The world is becoming more interconnected and changing rapidly.  It is the artists and educators which seem to be leading the way in this new world of interconnectivity.  It is the artist that imagines things before they happen and pictures solutions before the problem is solved.  The energy of the art teacher and the city itself are one and the same.  This was evident as I walked past Central Park Zoo on my way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to view original paintings by Picasso and his contemporaries.  Afterwards, I walked over to Broadway to the historic Gershwin Theatre where I watched a performance of “Wicked”.  I sat in the balcony and watched a young understudy belt out the notes from songs speaking to being “unlimited” and “defying gravity”.  The young art teacher and city are showing us where the society is going - towards more collaborations and systems where the artist and giants of industry work in tandem.  Together this synergy creates a place that seems unlimited.  This is my fresh memory of the city where arts and culture breathe life and vitality to all those who travel there.   If you have any questions about the Elementary Fine Arts Program you can e-mail ledgerwoodt@hobbsschools.net.   Thank you for your interest in the arts.   Tyson Ledgerwood Elementary Fine Arts Coordinator Hobbs Municipal Schools