[Cwgrad-announcements] FW: SUPPORT PUBLIC FUNDING FOR THE ARTS

[Amanda J Labagnara]

>SUPPORT PUBLIC FUNDING FOR THE ARTS. ACT NOW!
>
>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. Please write to your elected officials
>in the House and Senate and ask that they support an increase in funding
for
>the NEA. Act now. 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.
>
>A bill in the House includes an increase of $35 million, while a bill in
the
>Senate provides for only a $9 million increase. Representative Brown-Waite
>(R-FL) has introduced an amendment to increase the NEA¹s funding to only
>$128 million, the amount specified in the President¹s budget. This is a
>pivotal moment for the NEA.
>
>Please support a budget of $160 million for the NEA. Unadjusted for
>inflation and population growth, this $160 million does not bring the NEA
>back to its old levels of funding; it is only a modest and overdue step
>towards restoring the NEA¹s former resources.
>
>Visit the website of Americans for the Arts for more information and
>updates:
>
>http://www.artsusa.org/get_involved/advocate.asp
>
>
>We recommend that you fax a respectful, winsome letter to your
congressional
>representatives, or that you call your Senator¹s and Representative¹s
>offices and let them know that you support the NEA. Better yet, get
together
>with other arts leaders in your community and arrange a visit with your
>officials as they will be back home during the July 4th and August recesses
>of Congress.
>
>It¹s often most effective to point to something specific in your community
>that has benefited from NEA support.
>
>For the contact information of your representatives, go to:
>
>http://www.house.gov/
>
>http://www.senate.gov/
>
>Please act now. Write an op-ed piece for your local paper; write to your
>representatives. Urge them to support the House¹s level of $160 million
>funding for the NEA. Let them know how beneficial the arts have been to
your
>community. Visit the Americans for the Arts website for talking points on
>the economic, educational, and intrinsic value of the arts.