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Residents in Whitesburg, Kentucky are preserving the photographs and films of their local Appalachian region through Appalshop cultural center. Veterans returning from war in Iraq and Afghanistan connect with classic texts and the public through Aquila Theatre. Students, teachers and historians have access to the papers of Founding Father George Washington. Through these projects and thousands of others, the National Endowment for the Humanities has inspired and supported what is best in America.” Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, released a statement saying, “There is no viable substitute for federal funding that ensures Americans have universal access to public media’s educational and informational programming and services... “Public media is one of America’s best investments. At approximately $1.35 per citizen per year, it pays huge dividends to every American. From expanding opportunity, beginning with proven children’s educational content to providing essential news and information as well as ensuring public safety and homeland security through emergency alerts, this vital investment strengthens our communities. It is especially critical for those living in small towns and in rural and underserved areas.” The NEA’s current annual appropriation is under $148 million per year. On March 13, just before the White House proposed budget priority release, the two Co-Chairs of the Congressional Arts Caucus, Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter (a Democrat) and Congressman Leonard Lance (a Republican) released a letter addressed to the Chair and the Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies. “Federal investment in the arts provides all Americans with expanded opportunities to engage with the arts in each state and district,” Congressmembers Slaughter and Lance say in the letter. The Congressmembers cite the pioneering role the NEA plays in arts and health in the military, with the recent launch of a partnership between that agency and the Department of Defense to provide therapeutic arts activities for military personnel, veterans, and their families. “In addition to supporting our military service members,” the letter continues, “the NEA contributes to the development and economic growth of our communities. Arts and culture-related industries create jobs, attract investments, generate tax revenues, and stimulate local economies through tourism and consumer purchases. These arts businesses represent 39 percent of all businesses and 1.9 percent of all employees, respectively. America’s arts and entertainment are also leading exports, with $60 billion annually in overseas sales, creating a $26 billion arts trade surplus.” The letter cites the Bureau of Economic Analysis as finding that the total dollar amount that the arts and culture sector contributes to the U.S. economy is more than $729 billion, or 4.23 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. In California this year, the NEA provided about $9 million for arts programs. Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and California Arts Council Chair Donn Harris wrote to NEA Chairwoman Jane Chu expressing their support. “We are concerned for the preservation of the Endowment, but do not fear for art itself,” wrote Speaker Rendon and Mr. Harris. “Art survives, and has survived throughout history under some of the most difficult conditions imaginable. “World-renowned organizations like the San Francisco Ballet or the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art turn NEA grants into experiences that deeply affect great numbers of people, but we also know that these are groups whose existence does not turn on a single grant.” “We’re most concerned,” continued Speaker Rendon and Mr. Harris, “about the schoolchild in rural Kern County who learns to draw from a professional artist in a school-based program. We worry about the low-income San Francisco teen who learns to produce video after school, instead of hanging out on the streets. “We worry about the community of Quincy, hard hit by the decline of the lumber industry. With their 2017 grant, Quincy residents can still forge a rural identity through a downtown mural with themes they will choose. These grants have outsized impacts. Local matches and economic multipliers make these funds influential in our communities, not only artistically, but economically.” Some of America’s most prominent writers and artists across a wide array of genres–including painter Jasper Johns, actor John Lithgow, singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash, cartoonist Art Spiegelman, and novelists Hanya Yanagihara, Salman Rushdie, Neil Gaiman, and Anne Tyler–are leading a petition drive to protect federal funding for the arts [www.signherenow.org/petition/save-endowments/pen/] that supports literature, scholarly research, visual arts, dance, theater, museums, and arts education programs around the country, to ensure that all Americans can access cultural works and activities. The petition was initiated by the literary and free expression organization PEN America and the activist hub Daily Kos, in partnership with the Asian American Arts Alliance, Brave New Films, the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses, the Dramatists Guild, Free Press Action Fund, LAMBDA Literary, Left Action, The Nation, The Other Stories, People Demanding Action, People For the American Way, RootsAction.org, Watchdog.net, and the Zero Hour.
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LA ART NEWS SECTION A