Americans for the Arts

Please note this important message from Americans for the Arts, Arts Action Fund. The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 is being considered by Congress right now, and a growing number of media reports have portrayed the arts funding included in the House version of the bill negatively.  Americans for the Arts is calling on all of our members to provide a coordinated public relations response to educate the public and put pressure on Congress.  We ask that you take two minutes to send a short letter to the editor of your local media outlet. As Americans for the Arts has previously reported, the House bill includes a $50 milllion provision for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).  As the legislation states, the NEA "is positioned to use existing mechanisms to allocate lifeline funding quickly to these nonprofit organizations to retain jobs" and there is solid research to demonstrate the stimulus gains that can be provided by this funding.  However, there has been some opposition and negative press received from news media across the country. As Congress spends the next few days completing their work on this legislation, it is the exact time for arts advocates to write to their local media outlets today and fight back against threats to the funding and anti-art amendments.  Visit our new Action Alert which will provide you with helpful information to send a Letter to the Editor to your local media outlets. If you take action today, we expect that this pro-arts message will show up in news reports by early next week, just when Congress is expected to be making final decisions on the legislation. Ask your Member of Congress and Senators to support the arts in this legislation.