Below are ArtsVote campaign updates and links to information gathered along the campaign trail.
09-09-2006: At a house party in Londonderry, NH, Democratic presidential candidate SenatorJoe Biden was asked a question about his supports for the arts in a time of war and large defense expenditures. Biden expressed his support for the arts while in the Senate and their importance to our civilization. He went on to vigorously support increased funding by the federal government in arts education and the National Endowment for the Arts, and proposed several methods of trimming current federal spending to find funding for the arts without raising taxes.
10-11-2006: Today at a luncheon at a downtown law firm in Manchester, NH Democratic presidential candidate SenatorChris Dodd was asked about his support for the National Endowment for the Arts by Marilyn Hoffman, Chairman of New Hampshire Citizens for the Arts. Senator Dodd responded enthusiastically, supporting an increase in funding to the NEA and even creating a permanent actual endowment for the agency. Dodd also commented on the importance of arts education and recalled his previous experience serving on the board of several theaters.
01-28-2007: Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee appeared on NBC's Meet the Press and said the following in support of arts education: "I love music. One of the things that I'm very passionate about is music and art and education because it was life-changing for me. I think in a creative economy we've got to have a whole group of kids coming up and a generation whose left and right brains are stimulated. It's something I pushed for as a governor in Arkansas where we are one of the few states that required both music and art education. I'm a musician, I'm passionate about it, but I think this, this country has made a huge mistake in cutting music and art out of school budgets. And it's something we've got to address because the future economy is dependent upon a creative generation." [Meet the Press transcript, 1/28/07]
02-17-2007: New Mexico Governor and Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson made several appearances in Portsmouth and Hampton, NH. Early in the day, Richardson remarked about his belief in the impact arts have on the economy and his support for increasing funding to the National Endowment for the Arts. Later in the day at another event, Richardson included his support for the arts in his opening statement, and in response to a question noted that there was ‘a lot of support for the arts’ in Portsmouth.
02-24-2007: Former Senator John Edwards, a Democratic presidential candidate, was asked about his experience with the arts and their positive effects on communities while attending a house party in Salem. Edwards shared a short story about a sculptor from North Carolina and how his public art had made a positive impact locally.
03-27-2007:SenatorJohn McCain, a Republican presidential candidate, hosted a town meeting at the Franklin Opera House. After the meeting, Steven Foley, the director of the opera house, shook the candidate’s hand and expressed his hope that McCain would continue to support the arts. In an immediate response, McCain called a staffer over and arranged to have a $500 personal check sent to the opera house.
05-20-2007: Joan Goshgarian, head of the New Hampshire Business Committee for the Arts, attended WMUR’s “Conversation with the Candidates,” and asked Democratic Presidential hopeful Mike Gravel to talk about a program, event or organization in the arts that he believes made a difference in Alaska. A video of the session is available online (Joan’s question occurs at approximately the 20 minute mark).
05-23-2007:ArtsVoteNH is launched at the annual meeting of the New Hampshire Citizens for the Arts. Through a partnership with the Americans for the Arts Action Fund, ArtsVoteNH seeks to secure bold, new policy proposals in support of the arts and arts education in America from candidates during the 2008 Presidential campaign. Further background on the initiative is provided in remarks delivered by ArtsVoteNH Campaign Coordinator Suzanne Delle Harrison at the launch event.
06-24-2007: Becky Lawrence, a member of New Hampshire Citizens for the Arts, asked Democratic presidential candidate Senator Chris Dodd about his position on public support for the arts at a brunch in Concord. Dodd expressed his support for the arts and noted in his opening remarks that engaging in cultural exchanges between nations is an “essential” component of solving the problems currently facing our country.
06-26-2007: Today, Marilyn Hoffman, chairman of New Hampshire Citizens for the Arts, received a phone call from Senator Hillary Clinton, Democratic presidential hopeful. On the phone, Clinton detailed her support of, and fundraising for, the arts, as well as her commitment to the arts as a necessity—not merely a luxury in modern society. Marilyn later spoke with Clinton’s deputy political director for New Hampshire and further discussed the candidate’s dedication to the arts and arts policy. Clinton's staffer also provided an op-ed piece that Clinton wrote during her time as first lady in support of the arts (full article available to New York Times subscribers).
07-05-2007:ArtsVoteNH Campaign Coordinator Suzanne Delle Harrison attended a WMUR “Conversation with the Candidate” taping and had the opportunity to ask Democratic presidential hopeful Governor Bill Richardson about how he would integrate the arts into his education policy. Richardson responded that while he wasn’t "artsy," he believed in the importance of arts education and its ability to make students more creative and improve learning in math and science.
07-07-2007: Today in Concord, Suzanne Delle Harrison and a group of arts supporters met with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to discuss his support of the arts and of arts education. Governor Huckabee, a bass guitar player,performed with his band, Capitol Offense.
07-10-2007: Today ArtsVoteNH volunteer and New Hampshire Citizens for the Arts board member Pam Tarbell met with Mrs. Edwards. Mrs. Edwards talked about how art is an important means of learning from other great civilizations and expressed certainty that her husband, Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards is a firm supporter of the arts.
07-13-2007:ArtsVoteNH Coordinator Suzanne Delle Harrison met briefly today with Senator Hillary Clinton in Nashua at a rally held at Daniel Webster College. Clinton expressed both her support for the arts and her desire to continue speaking about them along the campaign trail.
07-20-2007: Today, Senator Barack Obama spoke at a town hall meeting in Manchester. Over the course of his speech, Senator Obama mentioned his support for the arts and how cultural tools can be a means of combating Islamic extremism in the modern world.
07-23-2007: This evening, at the CNN-YouTube Democratic debate, New Mexico GovernorBill Richardson called for a ‘a major federal program of art in the schools’ while responding to a question about changing the federal No Child Left Behind Law. He proposed that a program providing instruction in ‘music, dancing, sculpture, and the arts’ could help boost achievement in science and math for students that need a balanced curriculum. This proposal comes after several ArtsVote staff interactions with Governor Richardson at various New Hampshire events.
08-07-2007: On Tuesday, Senator Hillary Clinton gave a policy address at the Ernest P. Barka Elementary School in Derry, NH. Marilyn Hoffman, Chair of NH Citizens for the Arts was able to speak with Senator Clinton directly for a few minutes after the event. Senator Clinton recalled her leadership in defending the NEA during the mid-'90s when it was being attacked and discussed her current role in supporting the arts in New York State. She also included a mention of how the arts are a part of economic development and mentioned Richard Florida’s book as a source of information on the creative workforce. The Clinton campaign has issued a one-page report on the Senator’s record in the arts.
08-08-2007: New Hampshire Citizens for the Arts Board Member Pam Tarbell hosted Senator Chris Dodd at her gallery and sculpture garden in Concord today. He stated that he has always supported funding for the NEA and helped to defeat a bill that Sen. Jesse Helms had introduced during the mid-'90s. He also relayed that he sits on the board of the Goodspeed Opera House and the Eugene O'Neill Center in his home state of Connecticut.
08-26-2007: On Sunday, Glen Swanson, author of Storm Clouds OverIraq, asked Senator John Edwards about incorporating the arts in his speeches about eliminating poverty. Edwards replied with, "Yes, there's a connection, isn't there?" Swanson explained about ArtsVoteNH, using the arts as an example of how Edwards could distinguish himself from his fellow candidates.
08-29-2007:Christine Vilsack, the First Lady of Iowa, visited the Granite State on a fact-finding mission on education for Senator Hillary Clinton. Mary Tetreau, a volunteer with ArtsVoteNH, spoke with her at a house party in Londonderry. Ms. Tetreau told her that she was concerned that arts and music are often cut during education funding cuts. Mrs. Vilsack's response was, "It goes back to Hillary's 'It Takes A Village' book [a theme she had mentioned earlier]. The village has people with all different abilities, including arts..." She added that in Iowa, some music teachers had to teach math classes! Vilsack spoke about the importance of education to Hillary Clinton, and how kids should not just be taught to take standardized tests. She said, "Arts comes up at every education meeting we have. It is one of the 10 or 15 things that consistently comes up. There is always someone at an educators forum, banging their fist on the table, insisting that we focus more on the arts."
09-04-2007:ArtsVoteNH advocate Carol Delle attended a meet and greet for Senator Barack Obama at the Manchester home of Southern New Hampshire University President Paul LeBlanc. Carol reminded Sen. Obama that he had talked about cultural exchange being one method of fighting terrorism and asked if he were aware of the difficulty of foreign performers obtaining visas to enter the United States. He seemed surprised by this and said he would look into it.
Sen. Obama included a mention of arts education and referred to his daughters' positive experience with the arts in school. Carol reports, “I thanked him for referring to his daughters [big smile from him] and handed him a full page ad from the New York Times from Americans for the Arts—the Duke Ellington ad. I told him it was something he should read.”
09-27-2007:Former Senator John Edwards answered a question from a University of New Hampshire student about how he would address the lack of funding for the arts in education during the MTV/MySpace debates on Thursday. He responded by saying, “We have a responsibility to promote…arts education not only at the college level, but at a much, much younger level: first, second, third grade…” He also suggested that federal funding from Congress was the answer. "The president of the United States can go to the Congress and ask for specific marked funding for the things that we’ve been talking about. Whether it’s diversity in our academics or whether it’s the arts. Because I believe so strongly in the importance of the arts, I will ensure that we, at a national level, are providing incentives and funding to help promote the arts both at public schools and at colleges and universities.”
10-04-2007: On Thursday, ArtsVoteNH Coordinator Suzanne Delle Harrison attended a meet and greet for Governor Mitt Romney at MaryAnn's Diner in Derry. She inquired about his campaign offering a position on his arts support. He had just been speaking about his healthcare plan and Suzanne explained how the arts could be a component of his healthcare proposals—such as the arts therapy that aided children who were victims of Hurricane Katrina. Governor Romney said the subject was interesting.
10-11-2007: A big campaign day for arts education! New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson announced his national education plan in a speech at Manchester High School. In it he included a $250–$500 million arts education proposal. His campaign staff has provided ArtsVoteNH with the Governor's speech (the arts education section is on Page 4), his plan, and a flyer on his proposal. Later that evening, he held one of his "Presidential Job Interview" events at the gallery of ArtsVoteNH advocate Pam Tarbell where he reiterated his support for the arts. Below is a photo of ArtsVoteNH advocate Carol Delle and Governor Bill Richardson at the Candidate Cafe.
10-26-2007:ArtsVoteNH Campaign Coordinator Suzanne Delle Harrison attended Congressman Dennis Kucinich's Candidate Cafe on Friday. He was asked what his favorite subject in school was, and his reply was English, because his mother introduced him to British and Scottish poetry when he was young. He said that this love of poetry and literature opened up his world, giving him the tools to see the world through his senses. Suzanne had a chance to speak with him privately, and he spoke about how art is important because it can summon up a time and place in our lives and bring us back to that moment.
11-02-2007: Senator Hillary Clinton appeared at Sophie & Zekes restaurant in Claremont. ArtsVoteNH volunteer Doris Nelson attended, and got to speak with Hillary briefly. Doris informed Senator Clinton that she was was the director of a local arts center who had read her position paper and hoped that she would remember how important the arts are in education, to which Clinton replied that she would.
11-20-2007: Senator Barack Obama gave a speech on his national education plan at the Manchester Central High School today. In the speech he said, "And by the way—don't tell us that the only way to teach a child is to spend most of the year preparing him to fill in a few bubbles on a standardized test. Don't tell us that these tests have to come at the expense of music, or art, or physical education, or science. These tests shouldn't come at the expense of a well-rounded education—they should help complete that well-rounded education. The teachers I've met didn't devote their lives to testing, they devoted them to teaching, and teaching our children is what they should be allowed to do."
11-29-2007:ArtsVoteNH held the first-ever Arts Policy Forum at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord, NH. The forum was attended by representatives from the campaigns of Governor Richardson, Governor Huckabee, Congressman Kucinich, Senator Obama, and Senator Clinton. The surrogate speakers spoke about the arts-related backgrounds of their candidates and their support and proposals for the arts looking forward. The event enjoyed a surprise visit by jazz trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis and performance by a trio from Nashua Symphony Orchestra, the Black Bear Moon Rhythym Ensemble, and Kid's Coop, a children's theater group. The forum speakers also included a senior delegation from the U.S. Conference of Mayors who announced their support for the arts on behalf of 1,100 cities.
02-28-2008:
According to NCLB Act II, a blog tracking developments relating to the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind, "On the question of whether NCLB is narrowing schools' curriculum, put Sen. Barack Obama in the yes column. In a Feb. 28 appearance in Beaumont, Texas, the Illinois Democrat is emphatic on the point." The Obama campaign posted a video of the Senator speaking on this issue. The arts are discussed about a minute into the speech.
03-01-2008:
In a campaign trip to Vermont, Chelsea Clinton, when asked if her mother would support federal funding for the arts, said "she is a strong supporter of the National Endowment for the Arts and would boost funding for art and physical education in public schools, two areas that have been cut under the present administration. I took ballet for 15 years so this is real important to me."
04-02-2008:
On the day after Arts Advocacy Day, at a town meeting in Wallingford, PA, Senator Obama spoke on his support for the arts and arts education.
