Cynthia Harnisch shares her unique perspective on the revered place that museums and community arts organizations occupy in the lives of the people they serve. She relates how, as vice president of the Autry National Center in 1994, she came to be introduced to Inner-City Arts and through that introduction discovered a new respect and recognition for the challenges faced by impoverished inner-city immigrants--a population The Autry sought to serve. As her story unfolds, the importance of the arts for disadvantaged inner-city children and their families is highlighted. Harnisch closes her story with a surprising postscript, relating how some years later the mother of a child at Inner-City Arts gave new meaning to the significance of her work at both the Autry and later, as President and CEO at Inner-City Arts. (Contains 5 photos and 1 note.)