Serving Our Culture

In 1844, when Samuel Morse sent the first electronic telegraph message from the Capitol Building in Washington, DC to the Pratt St. Railroad Station in Baltimore, Maryland, he prophetically announced “What Hath Gold Wrought.” In Morse’s day, the fastest means of communication was the railroad. The inventor of the telegraph was intent on wiring the nation to insure instant communications to all corners of the US and the globe. Today, the US Department of Art & Technology continues Morse’s legacy by serving all Americans, the small percentage who create media art, as well as everyone who seeks cultural and intellectual nourishment.

The US Department of Art & Technology remains committed to assisting America's avant-garde and cultural instigators. But we also do much more:

– The US Department of Art & Technology is the steward of our nation's 192 million square feet of museum and gallery space;

– The US Department of Art & Technology is the country's largest cultural agency, encouraging voluntary efforts to protect endangered alternative art spaces and artist studios on the .001 percent of America's lands that are in the hands of cultural visionaries;

– The US Department of Art & Technology brings art theory, interactive media, and virtual reality to rural America;

– The US Department of Art & Technology is responsible for psychological immunity to the new extension of technologies;

– The US Department of Art & Technology is a research leader in everything from telepresence to human-computer interactivity that allows us to engage more fully the participation of the viewer in the experience of the artwork;

– The US Department of Art & Technology helps ensure open source for software and provides programming assistance and hardware support for artists who bear the scars of being on the wrong side of the digital divide.