Artists Making a Difference in D.C.

Kim Gower | Apr 10, 2008 | 0

Arts Advocacy Day

If you went up to Capitol Hill last week, you would have been flocked by dancers, musicians, artists, writers and actors from across the nation. No, there wasn't a concert or convention happening. No, there wasn't some artsy movie being filmed in DC.
And no, it wasn't the auditions for "So You Think You Can Dance."

It was the 21st annual Arts Advocacy Day in Washington. Congressmen's offices were invaded as artists fought for their careers and their passions in one of the most influential cities in America...

On April 1st, artist and advocates from around the nation swarmed offices on Capitol Hill. Their purpose was to relay the importance of increasing public funding for the arts to members of congress and representatives.
More than 500 advocates attended the events on Capitol Hill and visited their representative to push the importance of arts. You may not follow arts advocacy a lot, but various topics were approached. Here is a quick summary of a few that were discussed.

-Arts in the U.S. Department of Education
The goal here was to develop ways to integrate arts education into the national education curriculum. Advocates called on Congress to set apart $53 million for the Arts in Education programs in the FY09 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. The goal was to find a way to gain access to arts education for all students.

-Support Nonprofit Arts Organizations in America
The artist fair-market value deduction bill, S. 548/H.R. 1524, allows artists to take a fair-market value deduction for contributions of their own works to arts organizations. Activists encouraged Congress to co-sponsor this bill and persuade other members to do so too. Advocates also urged Congress to allow individuals to transfer money from the Individual Retirement Accounts to various charity organizations.  This would be through the IRA Charitable Rollover provision, which would need to be restored.

-National Endowment for the Humanities
The NEH provides many grant programs that promote and advance research, education, preservation and public programs in the humanities. On Arts Advocacy day, many activists encouraged Congress to support a budget of $177 million to further expand these programs and funding.

A Congressional Arts Breakfast started off the day. Guests included: John Legend, five-time Grammy Award-winning R&B singer; songwriter and pianist Kerry Washington; critically acclaimed actress Peter Yarrow; legendary singer-songwriter Many Senators; as well as Congress men, women, and Representatives. Speeches were made on the importance of arts.

We may not know for awhile what the efforts of this day will produce. However, I am proud of those who took the time that day to advocate the arts.  There are so many issues that need to be developed in the arts world; there is much to accomplish.

But it will take more than just one day to accomplish these goals. There are still things that we can do at home, from the comfort of our own computer.

I encourage you to find out who your representative is. They are working for us. They want to know what we want them to fight for. So let's tell them. Write to them, email them, visit them.  Encourage them to support and work for the issues that are important to you. Whether it is art education in the public school system, funding for arts non-profit organizations, services for artists, or  grants for art programs.

One of my friends who is a dancer spent the majority of the Arts Advocacy day talking to her representative about getting dance in the public school system. He was very interested and promised that he would try to get this topic on the table for discussion. She commented how amazing it was to stand in her representative's office and promote something that is so important to her. We discussed how, if more of us spent the time to get in touch with our congressmen, the arts may actually improve in so many areas.

Sitting still and complaining about the lack of respect and support for the arts in our nation will not do anything. We need to act on our thoughts. You may think it is small and it will not go far.

But trust me, a little goes a long way.

***Useful Links:

Americans for the Arts (sponsored Arts Adovcacy Day and a valuable source of information for all artists and dancers)
www.americansforthearts.org

Contact your Congressperson/Representative...
Here you can find your contact out by state.

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