Danny Simmons — Artist, Mentor, Conscience

Danny Simmons, artist, novelist, poet and creator of HBO's groundbreaking Def Poetry. 

The remarkable Simmons family also includes Joseph "Rev. Run" Simmons of Run-DMC, and all three brothers understood the value of poetry because they grew up with it. "My father was a poet," Danny says. The elder Daniel Simmons, a school administrator and teacher of black history at Pace University, wrote poems that were "personal, political, about civil rights, about feelings of alienation." 

I was encouraged into art by my parents...my mother painted and dad wrote and always shared what they were doing and provided a nurturing creative atmosphere where I felt safe to explore my creative side.
Danny Simmons

Love, Life, Art: A Conversation With Danny Simmons


Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation

Corridor

At Home With Artist Danny Simmons

Website

Rush in Brooklyn@ PS 371 and PS 11


Arts Education in Public Elementary Schools: 1999-2000 and 2009-10   In a recently released study from the U.S. Department of Education, it was revealed that at more than 40 percent of secondary schools, coursework in arts was not required for graduation in the 2009-10 school year. Not only that, the disparities in the availability of art courses in low-poverty vs. high-poverty schools illuminated the fact that affluent students are exposed to enrichment experiences that those in low-income areas are not. Do these kinds of disheartening numbers add urgency to your work?