Upcoming Guidance on Next Week's White House Art & Innovation Events: Music Series Celebrating Country Music & Smithsonian's National Design Awards Event

Next week, the President and the First Lady will host White House events celebrating the arts, innovation and creativity while at the same time encouraging outreach to students and the community. Country Music greats participating in an evening performance at the White House will also lead an afternoon educational workshop for more than 100 music students from across the country. National design award recipients of the prestigious Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt honor will attend the White House's annual luncheon hosted by the First Lady and they will also fan out across Washington, D.C.'s museums to provide free workshops for the general public.

On Tuesday, July 21st the White House will continue its music series celebrating the arts and demonstrating the importance of arts education by featuring Country Music and its stars Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss and Union Station. The musicians will participate in an educational workshop from 2-3 PM where 120 middle and high school students from across the country will come to learn about the craft of songwriting and the genres of country music including bluegrass, honky tonk and rockabilly. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will make opening remarks at the workshop. Paisley, Krauss and Union Station will then perform at 7:30 PM - President Obama will make remarks at this evening event. The Country Music Celebration is presented with assistance from The Country Music Association, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and produced by the Grand Ole Opry and Great American Country Television. The events will be held in the State Dining Room and East Room and are pooled press.

The National Design Awards were launched at the White House in 2000 to celebrate design in various disciplines from Architecture to Product Design. First Lady Michelle Obama will host the annual luncheon at the White House on Thursday, July 24th at 12:30 PM honoring the award recipients. She will make brief remarks in this East Room event which will be open to pooled press. Prior to the luncheon, the award winners will participate in discussions about their work and their careers at Washington D.C.'s Corcoran Gallery of Art, The National Building Museum, The Smithsonian Castle, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the National Museum of the American Indian from 10-11 AM. Media details for these events may be obtained through Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum's media contacts: Laurie Olivieri or Jennifer Northrop (212) 849-8420 CooperHewittPress@si.edu. More information on the award winners and workshops is available here.

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