Joan Lipkin, artistic director of That Uppity Theatre Company, posted this letter to the St. Louis Theatre Discussion Group listserv this morning. I'm passing it along here, because I wasn't aware that Americans for the Arts had launched this campaign (I think paper letters are more effective, but hey, if all you can do is send an email ... ) And I find it really alarming that the arts programs are being designated as "pork-barrel spending," along with golf courses and swimming pools. Considering the challenges we are going to face in the next several years, and considering that art is the very best way to put the human experience in context and ascribe meaning to it, my feeling is that we are going to need plays, painting, symphonies and poetry as deeply as we need construction jobs, retrofitted schools and repaved roads. To get some context before reading Joan's letter, check out this Op/Ed in the Chicago Tribune. --Stefene Russell
"Dear Friends and Colleagues:
While I don’t agree with (or understand) everything that is in the stimulus package and think that some of it looks to be pork, I am acutely aware of the need for increased funding for the arts. As an artist or patron of the arts, I am sure you are, too.
The Senate has passed an amendment to the economic stimulus package that removes funding for (among other things) "theaters, museums, and arts centers." The amendment, offered by Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, effectively removes the arts from the stimulus package.
The arts in America account for over $166 billion in economic activity every year, and provide over 5.7 million jobs. The $50 million that was in the stimulus package for the National Endowment for the Arts could save over 14,000 jobs. And not so incidentally, the NEA helps to fund states arts agencies like the Missouri Arts Council.
There is still time to influence the Congressional decision on the future of the arts in America. The arts are crucial to the economic recovery that lies ahead and for the soul of the country.
Americans for the Arts have created an easy online form to write to your Senators on this issue. It will take less than two minutes to encourage your Senators to support the arts and the role they can play in the economic and educational future of our country. The form is very easy. You just type in your zip code and you are informed as to how your rep voted.
Then you can easily send them an email letter that the Americans for the Arts have prepared, edit it or send one of your own. Easy and very necessary.
Please join me in doing this today.
If you are in favor of funding for the arts in the economic stimulus package, go to http://capwiz.com/artsusa/issues/alert/?alertid=12612041 and express your support to your Senators.
Thanks and all best,
Joan Lipkin"
