The U.S. House of Representatives approved their final version of the Economic Recovery bill by a vote of 246-183. We can now confirm that the package DOES include $50 million in direct support for arts jobs through National Endowment for the Arts grants. We are also happy to report that the exclusionary Coburn Amendment language banning certain arts groups from receiving any other economic recovery funds has also been successfully removed. Tonight the Senate is scheduled to have their final vote, and President Obama plans to sign the bill on Monday - President's Day.

A United Voice
This is an important victory for all of you as arts advocates. More than 85,000 letters were sent to Congress, thousands of calls were made, and hundreds of op-eds, letters to the editor, news stories, and blog entries were generated in print and online media about the role of the arts in the economy. Artists, business leaders, mayors, governors, and a full range of national, state, and local arts groups all united together on this advocacy issue. This outcome marks a stunning turnaround of events and exemplifies the power of grassroots arts advocacy.

We would like to also thank some key leaders on Capitol Hill who really carried our voices into the conference negotiation room and throughout the halls of Congress: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Appropriations Chairman Dave Obey (D-WI), House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Norm Dicks (D-WA), and Congressional Arts Caucus Co-Chair Louise Slaughter (D-NY). We also want to publicly thank President Obama for taking the early lead in recognizing the role of the arts in economic development. These leaders were able to convincingly make the case that protecting jobs in the creative sector is integral to the U.S. economy.

What's Next
As we wrap up our work on the Economic Recovery legislation, we wanted to share with you other upcoming legislative action that we are tracking:
Finalization by early March of the FY 2009 appropriations, which has been operating under a continuing resolution for the last five months.

Release of President Obama's first federal budget for FY 2010 is expected in late March/early April.

Hearings in the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee on the FY 2010 budget.

Hearings in the House Education & Labor Committee on arts in the workforce and arts education.

The 22nd Annual National Arts Advocacy Day conference on Capitol Hill on March 30-31, 2009.

The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., has announced a new initiative designed to help nonprofit arts organizations that are struggling to stay afloat during the current recession, the Washington Post reports.

The program, Arts in Crisis: A Kennedy Center Initiative, is a high-tech support service through which arts administrators can have confidential discussions with the center's executive staff about issues such as shrinking income sources, fundraising, budgeting, marketing, the use of technology, and other areas pertinent to maintaining a vital performing arts organization in a troubled economy. Any nonprofit arts group may sign up to receive assistance, which will be provided via e-mail, phone, Web chats, and/or site visits. Arts in Crisis has received $500,000 in seed funding, mainly from board member Helen Lee Henderson and Miami businesswoman and philanthropist Adrienne Arsht.

Over the past eight years, the Kennedy Center has amassed a reservoir of information about how groups have managed both successes and failures, and the need for a central place to share this type of knowledge has been building. Indeed, organizations from almost every part of the country have reported belt-tightening measures or worse. The Baltimore Opera Company, for example, recently filed for bankruptcy, while the Seattle Repertory Theatre asked its staff to take two weeks of unpaid leave and the Orlando Ballet cut live music for its holiday performance of The Nutcracker.

"Organizations that have endowments have seen them cut by one-third," said Kennedy Center president Michael M. Kaiser, author of The Art of the Turnaround: Creating and Maintaining Healthy Arts Organizations. "In cities like Detroit that are so dependent on the auto industry, the money is gone. Foundations are forced to cut back, and individuals have seen their wealth reduced."

“To Provide Planning Assistance From Kennedy Center President Michael M. Kaiser and Executive Staff.” Kennedy Center Press Release 2/03/09.

Visit: http://www.artsincrisis.org for more information.

On February 6th, the U.S. Senate, during their consideration of the economic recovery bill, approved an egregious amendment offered by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) that stated “None of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for any casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, swimming pool, stadium, community park, museum, theater, art center, and highway beautification project.” Unfortunately, the amendment passed by a wide vote margin of 73-24, and surprisingly included support from many high profile Senators including Chuck Schumer of New York, Dianne Feinstein of California, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, and several other Democratic and Republican Senators.

If the Coburn amendment language is included in the final conference version of this legislation, many arts groups will be prevented from receiving economic recovery funds from any portion of this specific stimulus bill. It is clear that there is still much work to be done in the Senate and in the media about the role that nonprofit arts organizations and artists play in the nation’s economy and workforce.

Plan of Action

1. Arts advocates need to quickly contact Senators who voted for the Coburn Amendment and express your extreme disappointment with their vote. We need these Senators to know that their vote would detrimentally impact nonprofit arts organizations and the jobs they support in their state. We have crafted a customized message for you to send to your Senators based on their vote on the Coburn Amendment. The correct letter, customized to each of your Senators will appear when you enter your zip code. If your Senator voted for this funding prohibition, you can send them a message expressing your disappointment and ask them to work to delete this language in the final conference bill with the House. If your Senator voted against the Coburn Amendment, you can thank them for their support of the arts.

2. We need as many news articles as possible this coming week to publish stories about the economic impact of the nonprofit arts industry and how the recession is negatively affecting arts groups across the country. Please click here to customize an opinion editorial to your local media. We have provided you with easy-to-use talking points.

3. Next week, Americans for the Arts will be sending you another action alert that targets the White House and the soon-to-be-named Senators and Representatives who will serve as conferees to the final economic recovery bill. Please be prepared to take action on this alert as well.

4. Americans for the Arts itself is submitting op-eds to several national newspapers and online blogs. We are enlisting high profile leaders to co-sign these letters as well.

5. Americans for the Arts is purchasing full-page ads titled “The Arts = Jobs” in Washington’s top political newspapers in Roll Call, Politico and The Hill on Monday and Tuesday of next week. We encourage you to post the ad on your social network sites.

Please help us continue this important work by becoming an official member of the Arts Action Fund. Play your part by joining the Arts Action Fund today -- it's free and simple.

Please go to http://www.artsusa.org

The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 is being considered by Congress right now, and a growing number of media reports have portrayed the arts funding included in the House version of the bill negatively. Americans for the Arts is calling on all of our members to provide a coordinated public relations response to educate the public and put pressure on Congress. We ask that you take two minutes to send a short letter to the editor of your local media outlet. We've provided the talking points and we just ask you to customize it to your community.

As Americans for the Arts has previously reported, the House bill includes a $50 milllion provision for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). As the legislation states, the NEA "is positioned to use existing mechanisms to allocate lifeline funding quickly to these nonprofit organizations to retain jobs" and there is solid research to demonstrate the stimulus gains that can be provided by this funding. However, here are some examples of the negative press received from publications across the country:

"True to form, Congress has loaded the [bill] with hundreds of billions in wasteful spending. The bill includes $650 million for digital TV coupons, $140 million to study the atmosphere and $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts. None of these proposals would create jobs or boost our economy. They're just old-fashioned waste" - Op-ed in the Indianapolis Star

"The National Endowment for the Arts would get $50 million for new exhibits to deem America racist and sexist." - Op-ed in the Norwich Bulletin

"The National Endowment for the Arts, for example, is in line for $50 million, increasing its total budget by a third. The unemployed can fill their days attending abstract-film festivals and sitar concerts." - National Review Editorial

"I just think putting people to work is more important than putting more art on the wall of some New York City gallery frequented by the elite art community." [U.S. Rep Jack] Kingston said. "Call me a sucker for the working man." - Congressional Quarterly report
As Congress spends the next few days completing their work on this legislation, it is the exact time for arts advocates to write to their local media outlets today and fight back against threats to the funding and anti-art amendments. Visit our new Action Alert which will provide you with helpful information to send a Letter to the Editor to your local media outlets. If you take action today, we expect that this pro-arts message will show up in news reports by early next week, just when Congress is expected to be making final decisions on the legislation.

Please help us continue this important work by becoming an official member of the Arts Action Fund. Play your part by joining the Arts Action Fund today -- it's free and simple.

Go to http://www.artsusa.org

REVOLUTIONARY SHAKESPEARE CAPTURED ATTENTION OF
STAA MEMBERS IN MASSACHUSETTS WINTER WONDERLAND

Revolutionary Shakespeare was the theme of the 2009 Shakespeare Theatre Association of America (STAA) Conference, held on Jan. 29-Jan. 31, 2009. The conference was hosted by Shakespeare & Company on their 30-acre campus, in Lenox, Massachusetts with much of the activity presented in the recently opened state-of-the-art Production and Performing Arts Center and new Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre. A special performance of Romeo and Juliet was created for young audiences by Shakespeare & Company’s Education Department and was presented at the conference.

The formal STAA conference began on Jan. 29 and closed with the annual member banquet on Jan. 31. Each of the three conference days had its own point of departure: Revolutions Past; Revolutions Present; and Revolutions Forever. General Sessions covered topics such as Revolutionary Moments, Power to the People, and Revolutionary Spaces. Break out sessions included topics raised during general sessions, and included Staging Revolutions; Spreading Revolutions; Tearing Down the Walls; and Writing Revolutions.

STAA Members, please subscribe to the our new STAA mailing. Log on and click "Mailing Lists" under the Member Services heading. The new mailing list is provided through google groups.

The STAA mailing list is for members only!

GET YOUR REGISTRATION IN NOW!

There is still time to register for the 2009 STAA Conference.

Please log on and click Member Files under the Member Services heading. Look for the folder, Shakespeare and Company 2009 Conference and open the document in that folder. You will be able to access all information by clicking the web link embedded in the document.

The 2009 STAA dues invoice is posted in Member Files under the Member Services heading. Dues have increased for Organizational Members to $150 per year and for Associate Members to $75 per year. The deadline for your 2009 dues was November 15, 2008. If you have not paid, please download the invoice and send it immediately to Lesley Malin at the address on the invoice.

Shakespeare Festival/LA (SF/LA) hosts youth and education experts from The Shakespeare Theatre Association of America (STAA)

Convening December 10 & 11, 2008 at the SF/LA headquarters Downtown, this meeting occurs less than a month after the company honored filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, producer Mark Gordon and Harvard Project Zero Director Steve Seidel with Crystal Quill awards for their enduring contributions to arts education.

Each of the participating theatres share the core belief that Shakespeare is an innovative tool for shaping their unique role in supplementing the education provided by local school districts. “This is a fantastic opportunity for us to increase the impact we have on the cities we all work and tour in,” observed Chris Anthony, SF/LA’s Director of Youth and Education and Associate Artistic Director. “We’re all committed to evaluating and measuring our contributions to the youth we serve.”

Barry Oreck, Ph.D., a research consultant to school districts and arts organizations across the country, will spearhead the process. His work has focused on professional development of classroom teachers and teaching artists.

Among the other STAA-affiliated theatres represented are Utah Shakespearean Festival, Shakespeare & Company (Lenox, MA), Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey, Shakespeare Theater Company (Washington DC), Georgia Shakespeare, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, American Shakespeare Center (Staunton, VA) and Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Funding for this summit and the subsequent planning process is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, whose national initiative Shakespeare in American Communities is the largest tour of Shakespeare performances and related educational activities in the history of the United States. Since its 2003 inauguration, Shakespeare in American Communities has reached more than 2,000 communities in all 50 states. For more information, visit http://ShakespeareInAmericanCommunities.org

Since 1985, Shakespeare Festival/LA has been a cherished community resource. Whether it's through nationally recognized youth and education programming; award-winning, free, professional outdoor productions that uniquely reflect the people, landscape and history of Los Angeles; or presentation of the Crystal Quill, a national award recognizing enduring contributions to arts education, SF/LA is committed to making the Bard's works accessible, relevant and enriching for people from all walks of life. http://FreeWillLA.org

On Monday, April 1, Advocacy Committee Chairman Erik Curren (American Shakespeare Center, Staunton, VA) joined hundreds of delegates from all 50 states for the Congressional Arts Advocacy Day sponsored by Americans for the Arts held in Washington, DC. Arts advocates met with Senators and Congressional Representatives to lobby for key issues important to the arts, including:

* Increase funding for the National Endowment for the Arts

* Expedite U.S. visas for international artists

* Enforce teaching of arts as required by No Child Left Behind

The in-person meetings in Washington helped to show legislators that the arts community is ready to show how what we do is crucial to America’s civic life and that funding the arts is more crucial in today’s economy than ever before. For example, every dollar spent by the NEA generates nine dollars in economic activity. That’s the kind of return on investment that shows the arts mean business.

As Congress debates the President’s budget now, it is crucial that your legislators in Washington hear from you. Even if you can’t meet with them in person, an email or a phone call from a constituent can help sway a lawmaker to vote for the arts, instead of voting to cut federal spending on the back of arts funding.

We encourage you to visit Americans for the Arts E-Advocacy center at http://www.capwiz.com/artsusa/home/ where you can send a message directly to your Representative and Senators telling them why the arts are important to you and your community. Using the E-Advocacy Center, you can create and send your letter to Congress in less than two minutes. We urge you to send your message to Congress today while House and Senate committees are still debating the federal budget and deciding at what level to fund programs like the NEA that are so important to non-profit theatre companies around America.

The 21st annual Arts Advocacy Day is the only national event that brings together a broad cross section of America’s cultural and civic organizations, along with hundreds of grassroots advocates from across the country, to underscore the importance of developing strong public policies and appropriating increased public funding for the arts.

For more information visit:
http://www.artsusa.org/events/2008/aad/default.asp