To: The United States House of Representatives and The United States Senate
Continue to fund the NEA/NEH and Corporation for Public Broadcasting
We strongly disagree with the Trump Administration's proposal to eliminate funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) from the federal budget. We also urge you to reject any plans to privatize the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The CPB, which includes local NPR and PBS stations, offer the only free broadcast venues dedicated solely to the presentation of accurate news, arts and educational programming.
On the campaign trail, President Trump promised that he would make America great again. Eliminating federal funding for the arts and humanities will ensure that he and any legislator who votes to do so will inevitably fail in that mission. Only through the creation and sharing (through museums, public venues and institutions like NPR and PBS) of literature, dance, theater, music and visual art will a country's achievements and unique culture be remembered and celebrated not just a decade from now, but for centuries to come.
The undersigned below have and will continue to loudly voice our displeasure and vote against any politician who supports any effort to eliminate NEA, NEH, and CPB funding.
On the campaign trail, President Trump promised that he would make America great again. Eliminating federal funding for the arts and humanities will ensure that he and any legislator who votes to do so will inevitably fail in that mission. Only through the creation and sharing (through museums, public venues and institutions like NPR and PBS) of literature, dance, theater, music and visual art will a country's achievements and unique culture be remembered and celebrated not just a decade from now, but for centuries to come.
The undersigned below have and will continue to loudly voice our displeasure and vote against any politician who supports any effort to eliminate NEA, NEH, and CPB funding.
Why is this important?
Funding for the NEA, NEH and CPB combined account for just 0.02 percent of the federal budget. We spend 1/40th of what Germany does on government funded arts programs--they average $20 per citizen, we a measly 41 cents. And it is not only Western Europe where the arts are deemed crucial to the continuation of their culture and society. Mexico, Uzbekistan and the Balkans all spend a greater percentage of their national budgets on arts education and programming or allow artists to pay their federal taxes through the donation of a work of art for the benefit and education of their citizens.
The country currently faces great uncertainty and fear given the bullying and fascistic governing style of Donald Trump and his appointees. At a time when so many of us are worried about access to healthcare, the need to combat and solve climate change and the disturbing erosion of our civil rights, protecting the arts and humanities may not be at the top of your list. But the arts and humanities not only remind us what it means to be human but also provide us with inspiration, joy and a much-needed respite from the chaos of Trumpism.
The country currently faces great uncertainty and fear given the bullying and fascistic governing style of Donald Trump and his appointees. At a time when so many of us are worried about access to healthcare, the need to combat and solve climate change and the disturbing erosion of our civil rights, protecting the arts and humanities may not be at the top of your list. But the arts and humanities not only remind us what it means to be human but also provide us with inspiration, joy and a much-needed respite from the chaos of Trumpism.