Lin-Manuel Miranda Selfies His Way Through the Capitol

Thursday, September 14, 2017

When Lin-Manuel Miranda and his dad, Luis Miranda, heard that the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities were at risk of being eliminated this year, they contacted Americans for the Arts and the National Humanities Alliance to ask how they can help. They committed two full days to walk the halls of Congress and made contact with more than 35 Members of the House and Senate on September 12-13. You can read the full list of Congress Members who met with Miranda at the bottom of this post.

News outlets across the country, including the Washington Post, the Washington Examiner, CNN, CBS News, The Hill, People Magazine, and more picked up on the story, applauding Miranda's bipartisanship and positive spirit throughout his trip. CNN even commented that "Lin-Manuel Miranda was the one guy in DC last night with bipartisan support."

Lin-Manuel also received two deserving awards while he was in DC:

The 2017 Freedom Award from the US Capitol Historical Society		The 2017 Congressional Hispanic Caucus Insitute's Medallion of Excellence

The timing of Lin-Manuel’s visit was crucial as the Senate deliberates on the new FY2018 funding level for the NEA and NEH after the House proposed $145 million for each agency (a $5 million cut from last year). He urged Senators to consider increasing the funding level to $155 million for each agency.

Help us in thanking Lin-Manuel by sending him a tweet:

Thanks @Lin_Manuel for helping #SAVEtheNEA #SaveTheNEH. Your advocacy on Capitol Hill this wk was invaluable @Americans4Arts @HumanitiesAll

Check out Lin-Manuel's selfies and other great photos with members of Congress and Bob Lynch, President and CEO of Americans for the Arts and the Arts Acton Fund below, and listen to his musical stylings as he rode through the Capitol subway trains!