16 arts advocates from Illinois traveled to Washington, DC to join more than 500 other arts advocates for the 21st annual National Arts Advocacy Day.
The Illinois team represented nine congressional districts and met with the offices of Senators Richard Durbin and Barack Obama as well as Representatives Melissa Bean, Judy Biggert, Jerry Costello, Danny Davis, Rahm Emmanuel, Luis Gutierrez, Phil Hare, Jesse Jackson Jr., Timothy Johnson, Mark Kirk, Daniel Lipinski, Peter Roskam, Bobby Rush, and Jan Schakowsky.
The IAA teams met with members of Congress to discuss increasing:
- Funding for the National Endowment for the Arts to $176 million.
- Funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities to $177 million.
- Grants to museums through the Institute of Museum and Library Services to $47 million.
- Funding for the US Department of Education's Arts in Education programs to $53 million.
The IAA teams also discussed:
- Encouraging charitable gifts to arts and cultural organizations by making the "IRA Rollover" provision of the Pension Protection Act permanent, removing its ceiling of $100,000, and lowering the age of individuals allowed to take advantage of the legislation.
- Allowing artists to take a fair-market value tax deduction for gifts of their own work rather than just the cost of the materials used to create the work by co-sponsoring and supporting the Artist-Museum Partnership Act S548/HR1524.
- Strengthening arts education in No Child Left Behind by retaining the arts as a core academic subject of learning, improving national data collection and research in arts education, requiring states to annually report on student access to all core academic subjects, and reauthorizing the Arts in Education programs of the US Department of Education.
- Improving the visa process for international artists by enacting the Arts Require Timely Service (ARTS) Act HR1312.
- Promoting cultural diplomacy by increasing funding for the Cultural Programs Division of the State Department's Office of Citizen Exchanges by $10 million.
To take action on any of these issues, visit the e-Advocacy Center of Americans for the Arts here.
Among the highlights of the legislative meetings were face-to-face meetings with Representatives Judy Biggert, Jesse Jackson Jr., and Jan Schakowsky.
Members of the IAA team meet with Rep. Jan Schakowsky.
Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. renews his membership in the Congressional Arts Caucus.
Representative Norm Dicks (D-WA), Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, held a Congressional hearing on the importance of the arts. Americans for the Arts Artists Committee members Robert Redford, John Legend, and Kerry Washington; The Conference Board CEO Jonathan Spector; Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann; and Americans for the Arts' president and CEO, Robert L. Lynch, testified at the hearing and emphasized the importance of developing strong public policies and appropriating increased public funding for the arts.
Members of the Illinois Team
Julie Adrianopoli, Illinois Arts Alliance
Michelle Boone, The Joyce Foundation
Bridgett Calfas, Krannert Center for the Arts
Paul Chairavelle, Columbia College Chicago
Ra Joy, Illinois Arts Alliance
Gail Kalver, Human Rhythm Project
Martha Lavey, Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Elizabeth Lytle-Flamm, Palatine/Inverness Arts Council
Amy Rasmussen, Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education
Sydney Sidwell, Lloyd A Fry Foundation
Rupal Soni, Neighborhood Writing Alliance
Nancy Stemper, Carbondale Community Arts
Scarlett Swerdlow, Illinois Arts Alliance
Adam Thurman, Court Theater
Sheridan Turner, Kohls Children Museum
Antoinette Wright, DuSable Museum of African American History
To visit IAA's 2008 National Arts Advocacy Day photo gallery, click here.
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