“I went to Washington this year to campaign for more funding for the arts,” said Sharon Stone at the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Distinguished Women in the Arts luncheon held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Wednesday, November 6. After the audience applauded Stone, the actress stopped her speech and quipped, “Thank you. That’s more of a response than I got in Washington.” Stone noted that she traveled to offices all over Capitol Hill to speak with elected representatives about arts education. She posed this rhetorical question to the MOCA luncheon audience, “Why don’t we understand that we get more return on our investment in the arts than almost any other thing?” Stone proposed that art education should be categorized as a product that Americans export. “The arts have a tremendous impact on our economy. And, statistically, when we give our children art, they stay in school,” she added. Then Stone tackled the task at hand: introducing this year’s MOCA honorees, artists Lita Albuquerque, Helen Pashgian, Nancy Rubins, and Betye Saar, all of whom had works on display at L.A. museums during the Pacific Standard Time exhibition that opened in October 2011.

Pictured: Sharon Stone
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