By Laura Zabel, Springboard for the Arts This month I had the opportunity to give a short speech at We Day in Minnesota. We Day is “an annual series of stadium-sized events, We Day brings together world-renowned speakers and performers with tens of thousands of youth to kick-start a year of action through We Act. You can’t buy a ticket to We Day—you earn it by taking on one local and one global action.” Here in Minnesota, We Day took place in the Xcel Energy Center with 18,000 local young people, Magic Johnson, Martin Sheen, The Band Perry, Lennon & Maisey, Clementine Wamariya, Eileen Collins and many others. It was honor to be invited and I was proud to be able to speak with these wonderful young leaders about the power of art. It was thrilling to speak to such a large and enthusiastic crowd and to see the commitment and dedication of these young people to their community was incredibly exciting. Here’s what I said: Laura Zabel at We Day, photo by Amelia Brown

I believe that we are all artists.

And when I say artist, I mean painters, writers, musicians and actors. And I also mean people who sing in a choir, knit, dance with their friends and make videos on their phones. And I definitely mean all of you.

I believe that when you own the idea that you are an artist, it gives you a secret superpower. A superpower that lets you express yourself, no matter what your age or where you come from.

A superpower that brings people together no matter how different they seem. That gives you the power to see possibility where other people only see problems.

You’re all here because you believe you can make things happen, that you can change things for the better, that you can make a difference in the world. And, to me, that makes you all artists.

At Springboard for the Arts, our work is all about artists. We believe deeply that artists have the power to change their communities and find creative answers to some of our hardest problems.

So, artists, here’s my challenge to you – use your secret superpower for good. Use it for your neighborhood, your community. Use art to invite people to engage with each other in a new way, to build new connections, to have new conversations. Think of the biggest challenges in your community, your neighborhood or your school. And then use your secret superpower to come up with creative ideas to help solve them.

Art gives us the tools to communicate ideas, thoughts and feelings in ways that people can see and feel and understand.

I believe that as artists, all of us, together we can imagine and create a world that is equitable, vibrant and healthy. We have all the tools we need. Let’s get to work.