Date: April 18, 2006
To: Congressional Arts Policy Staff
From: Americans for the Arts
Americans for the Arts and its Arts Action Fund are pleased to send you this spring issue of Arts Policy Update. It is designed to provide timely and relevant information to congressional staff who are working on arts and arts education issues. The update is published six times throughout the year, as well as to convey breaking news. Click here for archives.
This information is drawn from legislative news placed on our Congressional Resource Website, which is updated regularly with comprehensive and timely information, ranging from arts-related legislation to economic data and Congressional Arts Caucus events and activities. We encourage you to visit the website often for updates.
CONTENTS
CONGRESSIONAL CAUCUS NEWS
ARTS ADVOCACY DAY
ARTS LEGISLATION NEWS
ARTS RESEARCH NEWS
CULTURAL AGENCIES & OTHER ARTS NEWS
ABOUT US
The Senate Cultural Caucus formed last year has 29 members and is chaired by Senators Kennedy (D-MA), Enzi (R-WY), Jeffords (I-VT), and Coleman (R-MN).
The Congressional Arts Caucus has 190 members and is co-chaired by Representatives Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Chris Shays (R-CT). The
Caucus has just welcomed three new members to its roster: Representatives Judy Biggert (R-IL), Todd Platts (R-PA), and Ray LaHood (R-IL). Most recently, the Caucus, in conjunction with Americans for the Arts, hosted the annual Congressional Arts Breakfast to kick-off Arts Advocacy Day.
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ARTSADVOCACYDAY
On March 14, 2006, Americans for the Arts, in conjunction with the Congressional Arts Caucus and 88 national arts organizations from around the country, enlisted arts, education, and policy leaders on Capitol Hill for Arts Advocacy Day 2006. Arts leaders and advocates from 40 states fanned out across Capitol Hill and made office visits to more than 300 Members of Congress. In addition, more than 5,000 online advocates sent e-mails to their Members of Congress, encouraging them to take action on several arts-related issues that, if enacted, will strengthen arts organizations, allowing them to provide more services to the public.
Americans for the Arts Action Fund Board Member Ken Fergeson and Representatives Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Ken Lucas (R-OK) at an Arts Advocacy Day event
Speakers at the 2006 Congressional Arts Breakfast included: Alec Baldwin, acclaimed actor currently appearing on Broadway in Entertaining Mr. Sloane and an Academy Award nominee for his 2004 performance in the film The Cooler; Pierre Dulaine, founder and artistic director of American Ballroom Theater and Dancing Classrooms (subject of the celebrated films Mad Hot Ballroom and Take the Lead); Brian Stokes Mitchell, Tony Award-winning actor for Kiss Me, Kate and president of the Actors' Fund of America; Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO, Americans for the Arts; Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA), who was presented with the Congressional Arts Leadership Award for his tireless efforts on behalf of the arts; Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT), co-chair of the Congressional Arts Caucus; Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), co-chair of the Congressional Arts Caucus; Dan Zanes, critically acclaimed family musician who made remarks and performed two songs; and VSA arts Young Soloist Nichola Kouzes, a remarkable 14-year-old country singer and guitarist from Colleyville, TX.
Rep. Jim Leach Given Congressional Arts Leadership Award
At the Arts Advocacy Day Breakfast, Americans for the Arts and the U.S. Conference of Mayors jointly presented the 2006 National Award for Congressional Arts Leadership to U.S. Representative Jim Leach (R-IA). Congressman Leach was selected for the Congressional Arts Leadership Award for his strong commitment to the arts. He has been a stalwart leader in advocating for increased public funding for the arts and humanities in America. As a longtime member of the Congressional Arts Caucus, he has consistently been one of the principal supporters of an annual House floor amendment, which has successfully increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities for the last several years. Mr. Leach has also co-sponsored legislation allowing artists to claim a fair-market value tax deduction when donating their work to charity, and supported the reauthorization of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Rep. Leach also co-chairs the Congressional Humanities Caucus.
William Safire Delivers Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts Education Research
On the eve of Arts Advocacy Day, the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist and chairman of the Dana Foundation, William Safire, delivered the Americans for the Arts 2006 Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy to a capacity crowd at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Safire's speech previewed preliminary research investigating the effect of early arts education on the brain's cognitive process. Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN), the co-chair of the Senate Cultural Caucus, introduced Safire. You can listen to the Safire speech, or download the podcast here. The evening also featured a performance by The Martha Graham Dance Company.
Senator Jim Jeffords was
recognized during the Hanks Lecture for his outstanding support of the arts throughout
his Congressional service. Sen. Jeffords is accompanied by Brian Stokes
Mitchell (L) and Alec Baldwin (R).
Rep. Tim Ryan Addresses Emerging Leaders at Arts Advocacy Day
Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) was the guest speaker at the Emerging Leaders Networking Reception following the Hanks Lecture. More than 50 university students and young professionals attended the event which the Fannie Mae Foundation and Shenandoah University's Arts Management Program co-sponsored and which was held in conjunction with Arts Advocacy Day. An emerging leader himself, the 32-year-old congressman scored an A+ on the Americans for the Arts Action Fund Congressional Report Card, serves on the Congressional Arts Caucus, and won the Government Leadership Award at the Akron Arts Alive! Gala last fall.
ARTS ADVOCACY DAY HANDBOOK DELIVERED TO CONGRESSIONAL STAFF
The 2006 Congressional Arts Handbook was delivered through House and Senate mail to all arts policy staff in advance of Arts Advocay Day. It is published by Americans for the Arts and includes statements from the 88 national Arts Advocacy Day cosponsors and contains contact information, facts and figures relating to a variety of arts policy issues.
Most important are the Issue Briefs on NEA, NEH, arts education, IMLS and public broadcasting appropriations. There are also Issue Briefs on tax policy, international issues and disaster relief. It is available online here. If you did not get your copy of the Handbook, or would like an extra copy, please contact Justin Beland.
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ARTSLEGISLATIONNEWS
NEA APPROPRIATIONS UPDATE
The arts community supports a budget of $170 million for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), an increase from the current level of $124.4 million. We note that the NEA received annual funding of $170 million in the early 1990s, prior to being cut by more than 40 percent.
On March 29, 2006, NEA Chairman Dana Gioia testified before the House Subcommittee on Interior Appropriations. The Administration's FY 2007 budget request, calling for level funding of $124.4 million. The request includes an unwelcome cut of about $3.5 million from the NEA's successful Challenge America program in favor of other NEA programs. The congressionally-popular Challenge America program has enabled the NEA to make direct grants in every congressional district across the country.
At the same time, the Congressional Arts Caucus circulated a Dear Colleague letter asking that NEA funding be restored to $170 million. 122 members signed the letter to this effect, which was sent to Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Charles Taylor and Ranking Member Norm Dicks. Restored funding would allow the NEA to give significant increases to all of its core grantmaking programs, including Challenge America.
Americans for the Arts has submitted written testimony bolstering the funding request in the Dear Colleague. The testimony provides several examples of grants made by the NEA's core programs. It also includes a special supplemental request of $5 million for the NEA to distribute in the Gulf Coast states through a one-time program of technical assistance and planning.
Click here for more information, or contact Andy Finch.
ARTS EDUCATION APPROPRIATIONS UPDATE
Arts advocates support an appropriation for the U.S. Department of Education's arts education programs of $53 million, an increase from current spending of $35.3 million. Each year, the administration has proposed zeroing out the program, but Senators Thad Cochran and Arlen Specter - chairmen of the full Appropriations Committee and the Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee, respectively - include funding for it in their bill.
On March 1, 2006, Senator Cochran stated to Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, who was testifying on the Labor-HHS-ED bill, that he hopes to work with her and with Senator Specter to ensure that the arts education program again receives funding.
Last month, a Dear Colleague was submitted to House Labor-HHS-ED Appropriations Chairman Ralph Regula and Ranking Member David Obey requesting $53 million for the Arts in Education programs at the U.S. Department of Education. This letter mirrored the requests made by grassroots advocates to their Member of Congress on Arts Advocacy Day and in the written testimony submitted by Americans for the Arts. The 2006 letter, with 136 signatures, represents a new level of support for arts education.
Click here for more information, or contact Narric Rome.
ART-FRIENDLY PROVISIONS OF TAX RECONCILIATION BILL IN QUESTION
When Congress left for recess at the end of March, a conference committee was still working on the tax reconciliation bill (H.R. 4297). The Senate version of the bill includes several provisions of interest to the arts, including a long-sought provision allowing artists to claim a tax deduction for the fair market value of works that they donate for mission-related use by charitable organizations. That provision also exists as a stand-alone bill, H.R. 1120 in the House and S. 372 in the Senate.
The artist provision is part of a larger package in the Senate version of H.R. 4297 that would change charity law in a number of ways. Broadly speaking, part of the package would provide new incentives for charitable giving, while the other part would reform several areas of charitable governance and practice. For more information on our position on the arts-related provisions, please see our letter to conferees.
Some published reports say that the entire charity package has been dropped by the conference committee, while others maintain that it is still on the table.
Click here for more information, or contact Andy Finch.
HEARING ON PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND CULTURAL EXCHANGE SET FOR MAY
The House State, Science, Justice, and Commerce Appropriations Subcommittee (Chairman Frank Wolf, Ranking Member Alan Mollohan) is scheduled to hold a hearing on May 3, 2006, on public diplomacy programs at the U.S. State Department. An important part of the public diplomacy initiative is the cultural exchange program, which makes grant awards available to local arts agencies and others to assist with their international exchange efforts (see State Dept. grant announcement below). Americans for the Arts, which has published a Monograph on this issue, will be submitting examples of cultural exchange programs to the subcommittee.
Click here for more information, or contact Narric Rome.
TESTIMONY SUBMITTED IN SUPPORT OF IMLS & PUBLIC BROADCASTING
Last month, Americans for Arts submitted written testimony to the House Labor/HHS/ED Appropriations Subcommittee in support of the Bush Administration's FY 2007 budget request for the Office of Museum Services within the Institute of Museum & Library Services (IMLS). Also, similar to our position last year, the testimony called for a rejection of the proposed cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). These cuts were partially restored in House floor action last year, and fully restored in Senate Committee action.
Click here for more information on public broadcast funding, here for more information on IMLS, or contact Narric Rome.
HOUSE HEARING ON VISA POLICY
The House Government Reform Committee (Chairman Tom Davis, R-VA) held a hearing on, "The Impact of Visa Processing Delays on the Arts, Education, and American Innovation." One of the witnesses testifying was internationally known cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who spoke about the impact delays in visa processing has had on the arts community. Other witnesses included representatives of the business community, another sector impacted by the delays in visa processing. The Washington Post's Federal Page reported on the hearing the next day, as did the New York Times, and the State Department issued a press release describing its visa processing work.
Click here for more information, or contact Narric Rome.
SENATE HEARING ON MUSEUM FUNDING
The Senate Homeland Security & Government Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security Chairman Tom Coburn (R-OK) held a hearing on federal funding of museums (testimony available). The witnesses included representatives from the National Science Foundation, Institute for Museum & Library Services, American Association of Museums, and Citizens Against Government Waste.M
For more information, contact Narric Rome.
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ARTSRESEARCHNEWS
REPORT FINDS NCLB REDUCES ARTS EDUCATION CLASS TIME
A report released last month by the Center on Education Policy has found, for the fourth year in a row, that under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) schools have reduced class time in several subjects, including arts education. The center found that a majority of districts surveyed - 71 percent - reported having reduced instructional time in at least one other subject to make more time for reading and mathematics, the topics tested for NCLB purposes.
This finding is a key concern for supporters of arts education, and its impact was heavily reported in the media (see the New York Times article, editorial, and Letter to the Editor from National Governor's Association and Education Commission of the States Chairman Governor Mike Huckabee). Americans for the Arts has an issue brief that calls for Congress to address this unintended consequence of NCLB when it begins the reauthorization process. Furthermore, turning around this reduction of class time in arts education is the focus of the $110 million PSA public relations campaign, "Art. Ask for More," led by Americans for the Arts.
NEW PUBLICATION ON BENEFITS OF ARTS EDUCATION
A new booklet published by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA), in collaboration with the Arts Education Partnership (AEP) and titled "Critical Evidence: How the Arts Benefit Student Achievement," responds to the needs of policymakers, educators, parents, and advocates for fact-based, nontechnical language documenting the most current and compelling research on the value of arts learning experiences. "Critical Learning" uses as its primary source, "Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development," published by AEP with financial support from the U.S. Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Arts. The studies and essays in "Critical Links" point to strong relationships between learning in the arts and fundamental cognitive skills and capacities used in mastering other school subjects, including reading, writing, and mathematics.
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CULTURALAGENCIES&OTHERARTSNEWS
NEA
NEA Announces $700,000 in Hurricane Relief Grants
The National Endowment for the Arts announced $700,000 in grants to support arts organizations in the Gulf Coast region that were affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year. These grants include $500,000 in support to individual organizations and state and local arts agencies in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Texas. Additionally, the NEA is funding $200,000 for regional participation in the Mayors' Institute on City Design and Your Town, two of the country's most established city planning and design programs.
Click here for recent NEA grants.
STATE DEPARTMENT
State Department Announces 2006 Cultural Exchange Grant Competition
The U.S. State Department has announced the 2006 "Arts Exchanges on International Issues" grant competition. The grant supports projects that engage underserved youth in selected countries abroad through innovative arts and arts education programming, as well as those that build partnerships between U.S. and overseas nonprofit arts and cultural organizations.
Project participants may be professional artists, arts educators, arts administrators, youth (must be at least 18 years old), or other arts and cultural experts of nonprofit arts organizations with 501(c)3 status and at least four years of experience in conducting cultural programs for youth. Projects focusing only on a performance tour and/or a performing arts festival are ineligible. Individuals are not eligible to apply for funding of their own work.
The proposed program must be a two-way exchange of people and should reach communities with limited access to existing arts educational programs. Proposals that show strong prospects for enhancing existing long-term collaborations or establishing new collaborative efforts among participating organizations and reflect a cost sharing of 20 percent will be deemed more competitive. The application deadline is May 11, 2006.
NEH
Click here for recent NEH grants.
IMLS
Click here for recent IMLS grants.
ABOUTUS
For more information about Americans for the Arts or the Arts Action Fund, please visit our websites. For further inquiries about arts policy or the information in this newsletter, please contact our Federal Government Affairs staff:
Andy Finch
Senior Director, Government Affairs
T 202.712.2059
Narric Rome
Director, Federal Affairs
T 202.712.2060
Nina Ozlu
Chief Counsel for Government & Public Affairs
Executive Director, Arts Action Fund
T 202.371.2830
This update will be published
six times throughout the year and for breaking news.
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