I'm Jonathan Cape Heart and this is Cape Up. Elizabeth Alexander is a poet. She spoke at President Obama's first inauguration. She's an author. Her 2016 book, The Light of the World, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize,

reflected on the life and sudden loss of her husband. And she's a philanthropist, As president of the Andrew Mellon Foundation,

Alexander is focused on ensuring the arts and artists

survived the coronavirus pandemic.

We talk about the grant program she and other foundations have created to keep artists going.

We talk about the importance of the arts to society.

Human beings have never lived without art.

People draw on cave walls.

People come together and sing.

People gather in groups and tell stories of the tribe.

This goes across the world, across human history, it ain't ending.

And Alexander shares her advice for those who've lost loved ones suddenly in the pandemic,

and you can hear it all right now.

Elizabeth Alexander thank you very much for coming on the podcast.

It is wonderful to be talking to you today.

So we know the devastation the coronavirus has had on the economy, on health care, and health care

workers, but not enough attention has been paid to the impact of the pandemic on the arts, has there?

No, there really hasn't, and I think it gets to very, very fundamental questions.

Are artists a part of our economy? Is the

arts sector an important part of our economy? That's one question. Another

question is, what do we need the arts? Why do we need to support the arts? How can we live without the arts and what does

it mean to be helpful to not only the arts writ large but to artists.

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