Arts Advocates Are Arts Voters.
The 2018 midterm election was a win for voter turnout, a win for women and diversity, and a win for the arts and the many critical health, education, and domestic social programs that support our lives, schools, and communities across the nation.
- Close to 113 million people turned out to vote this midterm election, compared to only 88 million in 2014. American citizens became more engaged to exercise their rights.
- One party control in Washington will end in January when Democrats take back majority control of the U.S. House, and Republicans increase their control in the Senate. The rebalancing will help promote greater checks and balance as envisioned in the Constitution.
- A record-breaking number of 113 women will take office in Congress this January.
- The first Native-American woman and Muslim-American woman have been elected to the U.S. House and the total number of newly elected members representing the spectrum of race, religion, ethnicity, and sexual orientation is unprecedented.
- A political firewall is now in place to protect and advance many domestic social programs, public funding for nonprofit arts organizations, parks, and education.
Let’s Celebrate This Holiday Season.
We #SavedtheNEA. Thanks to members, like you, who supported our advocacy campaign, signed petitions, sent emails to and met with Members of Congress, and supported pro-arts candidates through the Arts Action Fund PAC, we were able to save (and even increase) public funding for nonprofit arts organizations across America. Let’s now begin 2019 strong. Could you contribute to our Year-End Campaign?The arts will survive, but our job is to make sure the arts thrive. I urge you to contribute to our Year-End campaign so that we can begin 2019 strong and keep the momentum building for ArtsVote2020.
Pro-Arts Majority Expands in Congress.
Now that the Democrats will control the House of Representatives in Congress, we are well-positioned with incoming leaders and the new chairmen in the House. Thanks to our strategy last year of Capitol Hill “Fly In’s,” we successfully flew in grassroots Arts Action Fund members to meet with key members of Congress. Sometimes, I also flew out to have the meetings back in the Member’s district to develop a stronger relationship. Democratic Congresswoman Betty McCollum of Minnesota will now likely become the chairman of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee in charge of funding for the arts and humanities.
On the Senate side, Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, a great arts advocate, will remain chairman of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee.Sen. Murkowski received the 2017 Americans for the Arts and U.S. Conference of Mayors Award for Congressional Arts Leadership this year.The Arts Action Fund and its PAC will continue to focus on strengthening bipartisan relationships in Congress.
The Congressional Arts Caucus will see changes this year as well. Democratic Congresswoman Chellie Pingree of Maine (seen on the left) will now co-chair this large caucus, but it will be important to recruit a new Republican co-chair as Rep. Leonard Lance lost his re-election bid this year.
Congressional Arts Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) (left) with Tony and Grammy-Award winning actor and arts advocates John Lloyd Young and Tommy Faragher.
Arts Action Fund PAC Political Clout Grows.
In September, the Arts Action Fund PAC released its Congressional Arts Report Card 2018, scoring every incumbent on their arts voting record prior to Election Day. Our Candidate Arts Survey asked challengers and open seat candidates to share their policy views on the arts. It is through these two tools, and the critical recommendations of local Arts Action Fund members in the field, that the PAC contributed more than $100,000 to key pro-arts candidates this election year. I am very pleased to share that 80 percent of our candidates won their election bid, including many young first-time candidates such Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, Jahana Hayes of Connecticut, and Lizzie Fletcher of Texas.
We must replenish our resources very quickly as we head into the 2019-20 legislative cycle and ArtsVote2020. I urge you to contribute your Year-End gift to the Arts Action Fund to support our grassroots advocacy efforts.
Please Continue to Be an Arts Champion!
You are essential to the grassroots movement to advance public funding for the arts, arts education, and to support the candidates who will fight for the arts. Your support also allows us to create compelling and educational ads (seen on the right) that help educate both elected officials and the general public about the value of the arts. Keep the momentum going with a contribution to the Arts Action Fund.