Friends and Supporters,

ts remarkable, really. If you ask 100 people what is the single most important thing in their home — the thing that would be most important to save in an emergency — 99 would answer similarly: the family photos. Pictures of the kids, of the uncles, of the great grandparents who immigrated, of the 50th anniversary party and the bar mitzvah hold powerful connections to us and are, more than anything else material, irreplaceable.

In many ways, the arts are the cultural photo albums of our society and of our community. The poetry of Robert Frost, the plays of Tennessee Williams, the paintings of Jackson Pollock, the music of Schoenberg or Andrew Lloyd Webber, and the songs of Dave Matthews are part of our collective memory.

They are the photos of our history and emotions; the markers of past celebrations purposefully intended as a cultural photo album for our children. More than anything else, these cultural creations are irreplaceable.

The Capital Region is blessed with an extraordinary collection of cultural photo albums. Within minutes, the citizens of Albany, Schenectady, Rensselaer and Saratoga can witness beautiful historic and contemporary theaters, world-renowned music halls, fabulous museums and galleries, powerful collections of our history, and examples of our art and creativity in business, technology and expression.

We are home to evocative storytellers of all kinds passing the stories of those photos to our children and grandchildren through programming for children and families.

This supplement, with the help of Sprint Communications and the Times Union, takes a bold step to showcase 16 of the region’s important cultural treasures. We have been meeting informally for over two years discussing ways to collaborate and coordinate programs and activities.

This is our first step: declaring ourselves linked to one another by working to showcase the cultural resources of the Capital Region in one place at one time. Our second step is building a common presence on the internet for visitors near and far to see the strength and breadth of our region’s arts and entertainment.

We are a significant part of why it is great to live and work in northeastern New York state. Take advantage of us... go to our Web sites... go to our facilities... tune into to our programs And next time you are visiting with your neighbors remind them that right in their backyards are some of the most beautiful photo albums to browse and enjoy with family and friends anywhere in the country.