[Cwgrad-announcements] FW: Advocacy Alert for California's Supporters of the Arts

[Amanda J Labagnara]

>
>Advocacy Alert for California's Supporters of the Arts
>
>Many literary magazines, presses, and organizations, like AWP, rely on
>funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), which also supports
>your state and local arts councils.
>
>On June 27, The House of Representatives voted to increase the NEA¹s budget
>by $35 million.  This represents the largest increase in the history of the
>agency, but the bill is not without its opponents.
>
>The House's bill must now be reconciled with the Senate's version of
>the appropriations bill, which provides for a lower level of funding for
the
>NEA. The bill in the Senate provides for only a $9 million increase.
>
>Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat representing California, is the chief
>author of the Senate's bill for a $9 million increase for the NEA. She is a
>supporter of the arts, and she certainly deserves our support, but we would
>like, respectfully, to encourage her to support the House's version of the
>bill, particularly:
>
>a) acceding to the House's $35 million level of increased support for
>the agency;
>
>and
>
>b) having any increase be distributed according to the House's formula,
>which is more favorable to Grants to Organizations.
>
>We believe that the arts are well served by having the NEA disperse many of
>its funds to various arts organizations of all sizes nationwide, rather
than
>by having a lion's share of the funds go to a few centralized national
>projects. Support for Grants to Organizations is especially important to
>small presses, magazines, and literary service organizations. Support to
>organizations also translates into important support for individual artists
>and arts educators.
>
>Act now.  If you live in California, please write a winsome letter to
>Senator Feinstein and ask that she support the House's increase in funding
>for the NEA.   Thank her, too, for her past support of the NEA and our
>nation's cultural life.
>
>And ask your  friends in California to call or write one of Feinstein's
>state offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego or Fresno.
>
>Contact information appears below.
>
>Although the NEA¹s budget was once $170 million, Congress cut the agency¹s
>budget by 40% in 1996. Its budget now stands at $124.4 million. Support for
>the arts helps build a strong democracy by disseminating humane values of
>sympathy, tolerance, and civic engagement. The arts are also economic
>engines that generate billions of dollars in activity.  Restoring the NEA
to
>its former levels of funding is long overdue.
>
>Please write to Senator Feinstein at the office for the county in which you
>live:
>
>San Francisco
>One Post Street, Suite 2450
>San Francisco, CA 94104
>Phone: (415) 393-0707
>Fax: (415) 393-0710
>
>The following counties are served by the San Francisco office:
>Alameda, Butte, Colusa, Contra Costa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Glenn,
Humboldt,
>Lake, Lassen, Marin, Mendocino, Modoc, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Placer,
>Plumas, Sacramento, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara,
Santa
>Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity,
>Yolo, Yuba.
>
>
>Los Angeles
>11111 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 915
>Los Angeles, CA 90025
>Phone: (310) 914-7300
>Fax: (310) 914-7318
>
>The following counties are served by the Los Angeles office:
>Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Ventura.
>
>
>San Diego
>750 B Street, Suite 1030
>San Diego, CA 92101
>Phone: (619) 231-9712
>Fax: (619) 231-1108
>
>The following counties are served by the San Diego office:
>Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial, San Diego.
>
>
>Fresno
>2500 Tulare Street, Suite 4290
>Fresno, CA 93721
>Phone: (559) 485-7430
>Fax: (559) 485-9689
>
>The following counties are served by the Fresno office:
>Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Fresno, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera,
>Mariposa, Merced, Mono, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Stanislaus, Tulare,
>Tuolumne.

Maurya Simon

Professor
Department of Creative Writing
University of California Riverside
900 University Avenue
Riverside, CA 92521-0318

TEL. (951) 827-2006 (office)

FAX: (951) 827-3619