Wonderful post by Patricia Arquette on the White House Blog about the Champions of Change initiative.

I had the wonderful opportunity to go the White House and meet many of the Champions of Change, who are making great strides in incorporating strong arts curriculums into their schools. I was inspired by the principals I met with, and heard about how they were turning their low-performing schools around by incorporating the arts into the core subjects.

Champions of Change: Patricia Arquette

Patricia Arquette was in Washington this week to represent The Creative Coalition at the White House’s Champions of Change initiative.

For her role as Allison Dubois on the critically acclaimed series “Medium,” Arquette has received numerous accolades, including the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, and many subsequent Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations. The granddaughter of comedian Cliff Arquette (best known for his television personality Charlie Weaver), Arquette comes from a family ensconced in the entertainment industry. Her father was actor Lewis Arquette and her siblings — Rosanna, Alexis, Richmond and David — are all actors.

Arquette recently wrapped shooting Patricia Riggen’s “See If I Care” opposite Eva Mendes. Her feature film credits include Richard Linklater’s “12 Year Movie aka Boyhood,” “Holes,” “The Badge” and “Little Nicky.” Arquette has worked with a stellar list of directors in such critically acclaimed films as: Martin Scorsese’s “Bringing Out the Dead,” Rupert Wainwright’s “Stigmata,” Sean Penn’s “The Indian Runner,” John Madden’s “Ethan Frome,” Tony Scott’s “True Romance,” Tim Burton’s “Ed Wood,” David O. Russell’s “Flirting With Disaster,” John Boorman’s “Beyond Rangoon,” “Lost Highway” (in a dual role for David Lynch), Steven Frears’s “Hi Lo Country” and Roland Jaffe’s “Goodbye Lover.” Among Arquette’s TV movie credits is “Wildflower,” directed by Diane Keaton, for which Arquette earned a CableAce Award as Best Lead Actress.

Last spring, after visiting Haiti and seeing firsthand the destruction caused by the devastating earthquake that hit the island, Arquette started up the charity GiveLove (www.givelove.org) to help provide victims with sustainable housing and assist in rebuilding communities in the aftermath of the disaster.

My Five Minutes with the President

Patricia Arquette is one of several A-list celebrities visiting Washington, DC this week to advocate for funding for the arts.

“It’s not enough anymore, in this economy, for actors to just argue why arts funding benefits people,” actress Patricia Arquette told The Hill on Thursday. “I came here to talk to Republicans about how the arts drive huge sectors of this country’s economy.”

Arquette is one of a handful of actors lobbying policymakers ahead of Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, and her trip is part of a joint outreach effort by the Creative Coalition, one of the entertainment industry’s premier advocacy groups. She spoke to The Hill at a dinner at the Ritz-Carlton hosted by the Creative Coalition and Lanmark CEO Lani Hay.

This isn’t Arquette’s first visit to Washington to lobby for arts funding, but the star of CBS’s hit drama “Medium” said she wanted to reach beyond the arts’ traditionally friendly political audience.

“I had an amazing meeting today with the RAMS,” Arquette said, referring to the Republicans Associated for Mutual Support (RAMS), a group of current and former GOP chiefs of staff. “Obviously, [Republicans] aren’t considered the party that typically supports public arts funding, but we talked about the economic impact of creative work and intellectual property, and we were all reasonable adults, so there was a lot of mutual understanding in the room.

“As the country moves beyond a manufacturing economy, one of the areas we’re going to need to stay on top of the world is the creative economy: film, movies, music and technology. After all, isn’t the iPod a work of art?”

Hollywood Stars Advocate for the Arts

Nice interview with Patricia Arquette about Give Love and her charity work in Haiti, filmed at SXSWi in Austin, TX.

www.nosexandthesuburbs.com/2011/03/givelove-video-interview-w-patricia-arquette-at-sxsw/

According to the GiveLove Twitter and Facebook pages, GiveLove.org will team with partners Water.org and CoTweet for a global viral sanitation campaign at SXSW Interactive in Austin, TX.

You can read more about it on their new Twitter and Facebook pages here.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/GiveLoveorg/160016190714950

http://twitter.com/#!/GiveLoveOrg

On Sunday, Aug. 29 while many in Tinseltown were celebrating Emmy wins and TV honors, Patricia Arquette, Rosetta Getty and Jacqui Getty hosted a dinner benefiting the GiveLove with the 1st Annual GiveLove to Haiti Dinner in Los Angeles.

Several celebrities attended the dinner including Maria Bello, Odette Yusman, Rose McGowan, Rachel Bilson, James Van Der Beek, Dave Annable and Balthazar Getty. The dinner featured Maestro Dobel Tequila, which was used for the toast, and raised money and awareness for GiveLove. GiveLove’s goal is to “rebuild communities, homes and livelihoods for displaced Haitian earthquake survivors.”

Van Der Beek, Annable and Getty all wore a special H.E.L.P. bracelet designed and made by artisans in Haiti. The proceeds from the sale of the bracelets will go to GiveLove and Haiti relief efforts. To purchase a bracelet, visit www.BlanketAmerica.com.

Upon her return from a humanitarian two-week trip to Haiti, actress Patricia Arquette will visit welding students at Robert Morgan Education Center in South Miami-Dade who are working with her Give Love Foundation to build doors and roofing trusses for new housing in Haiti.

The American Welding Society teamed up the welding students with Arquette, an Emmy Award-winning actress, and fashion designer Rosetta Getty, to help build 54 housing structures on a one-acre site in Cite Soleil, Port-au-Prince. The units will be constructed out of shipping containers and provide immediate relief for displaced families who are currently camped at the L’Athletique d’Haiti soccer field.

WHERE:  Robert Morgan Educational Center, 18180 SW 122 Ave., Miami, FL 33177
WHEN: Monday, May 24th 5:00 PM – 6:00PM
WHO:   The following spokespersons will be available for media interviews:

• Patricia Arquette, Actress, Founder of  Give Love
• Ross Hancock, Communications Director, American Welding Society
• James Brantley, Welding Instructor, Robert Morgan Educational Center
• Robert Morgan Educational Center welding students

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100521005963&newsLang=en

Patricia Arquette has been extremely busy the last couple of weeks promoting both her television show and her charity project for Haiti. As part of her efforts to spread the word, she was in Washington, DC recently where she attended the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which was also attended by many other celebrities, as well as President Obama.

Patricia Arquette celebrates her 42nd birthday today. Have a very happy birthday, Patricia!!