"An investment in the future"

This morning's News from the Future event was moderated by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette executive editor David Shribman, who called philanthropy "an investment in the future." The first presenter, Earl A. Powell III, director of the National Gallery of Art, picked up on this theme in paying tribute to Andrew Mellon, whose private collection helped to launch the National Gallery in 1941, four years after Mellon's death. Mellon stipulated that the gallery not bear his name, but the name of the nation, and that its admission be free.

Mellon's legacy is not just one museum, but a belief in the power of the arts in our culture. Powell noted that the arts contribute $166.2 billion to the economy, and that study after study demonstrate the positive impact the arts have on children's learning. Future generations will depend on men and women like Mellon and his family to support the creativity and originality that allows the arts to thrive, Powell said.

Next up was James Wolfensohn, former president of the World Bank, who spoke of the rapidly changing global economic landscape. In some ways, we are going back to the future, Wolfensohn said, noting that in 1500 and then again in 1820, China and India represented 50 percent of global GDP. The world is experiencing a "dramatic revolution in terms of the sharing of planetary wealth."

Unfortunately, the U.S. is doing a poor job of preparing its youth for this new world, in which the largest aluminum company is Russian, for example, and the largest steel producer is Indian. "We're leaving this world to our kids and giving them the incentives and education that is attuned to our backgrounds...It is a challenge to us to not only glory in the past and our past achievements but it is a moment for us to use these legacies and use our institutions that have been created by Andrew Carnegie to change this and give our young people the opportunity to prepare for the world of the future and not the world of the past." 

Jonathan Potts