Advocacy

For Western New York’s arts community, the economic impact of COVID-19 has surpassed millions of dollars, with $2.5 million in losses being reported for March alone (source: ASI’s Emergency Relief survey). When the crisis initially hit our region, forty-six percent of arts organizations reported that they would be “very likely” to have to lay off some or all of their staff—an unfortunate reality for a sector that employs more than 10,000 full-time employees (source: ASI’s Arts and Economic Prosperity Report). These losses are reflected at every level of the arts across the country. NPR reports that two-thirds of artists are now unemployed, and American for the Arts reports that the estimated total economic impact on the arts is $4.8 billion.

Advocate on Behalf of Arts and Culture

There are currently multiple arts and creative economy/workforce bills under consideration by the House and Senate–more, by some accounts, than at any other point in U.S. history. The Get Creative Workers Working coalition has put together a Combined Creative Economy bill endorsement form. This website allows you to review all seven (7) of the bills currently being considered by Congress that impact the creative industry and sign on to any or all of them. You can also review this 4-page overview of the seven bills.

The seven (7) bills are:

  • Creative Economy Revitalization Act (CERA) – a bi-partisan bill, authorizes a new $300m granting program at the U.S. Department of Labor to pay local creative workers for public creative projects like festivals, performances, public art, narrative gathering from first responders and historically marginalized communities, and arts education work.
  • The Comprehensive Resources for Entrepreneurs in the Arts to Transform the Economy (CREATE) Act – a bipartisan bill that, through the Small Business Administration and the Economic Development Administration, aims to more thoroughly serve the people, places, and programs that make our nation’s creative economy prosper. It expands loan programs, integrates creative work into economic support programs, ensures access to disaster relief assistance for artists.
  • The Promoting Local Arts and Creative Economy Workforce (PLACE) Act – The PLACE Act, by focusing on adjusting policies related to ten federal agencies and councils, bolsters local creative economies and workers in creative and cultural industries. Among many actions, it amends existing legislation to include the arts, creates new creative economy grants, and boosts funding for creative businesses. 
  • The Arts Education for All Act – the broadest arts education policy bill ever introduced in Congress, supports offering arts education to pre-school and K-12 students and those in the juvenile justice system. It closes existing equity gaps in access to arts education, which can improve health, academic, social, and career success. It also supports federal research into how arts education can improve education overall.
  • The 21st Century Federal Writers Project Act – Inspired by the 1935 Federal Writers’ Project of the New Deal Era, 21C FWP will help address the mass unemployment of writers by authorizing a new grant program at the U.S. Department of Labor and will create a nationally administered archives for the commissioned writing.
  • The Saving Transit Arts Resources Act (STAR Act) – The STAR Act restores control to local transit authorities regarding art and non-functional landscaping in federally funded transit projects. It returns federal transportation policy to what was the status quo for 30 years until a 2015 prohibition on local decision-making.
  • The Performing Arts Tax Parity Act (PATPA) – a bi-partisan bill, updates the Qualified Performing Artist (QPA) tax deduction, modernizing a provision that has been on the books since it was signed into law in the 1980s by President Reagan so that middle-class arts workers today can deduct their common business expenses.
Add Your Name in Support of These Bills

What is Put Creative Workers to Work?

To thrive post-pandemic, we must leverage our creative power by putting creative workers to work rebuilding, reimagining, unifying, and healing communities in every state and territory, as well as within tribal lands. There is a new website that includes everything you would need to know about the Put Creative Workers to Work policy platform, including talking points, coalition and endorsers list, and action steps. It features 16 specific actions that the Administration can take—and you can advocate for—to activate the creative economy within a comprehensive national recovery strategy. Areas of focus include:

  • Engage in, and drive, direct employment of creative workers.
  • Drive local, state, and private sector activation of creative workers.
  • Adjust existing policies to recognize creative workers as workers.
  • Integrate creative interventions into response, recovery, and resilience programs.
  • Support access to arts, culture, and arts education.

Committee on Small Business Hearing

The House Committee on Small Business held a hearing on Wednesday, January 19 called The Power, Peril, and Promise of the Creative Economy. Four speakers from the arts and cultural sector in the US were invited to speak about the impact COVID has had on the industry and make recommendations for how the federal government can help with long-term recovery. The speakers at the committee hearing were:

  • Mr. Carson Elrod – Co-Founder & Co-Leader, Be An #ArtsHero and Director of Government Affairs, Arts Workers United
  • Ms. Nataki Garrett – Artistic Director, Oregon Shakespeare Festival
  • Ms. Sandra Karas – Secretary-Treasurer, Actors’ Equity Association
  • Ms. Raeanne Presley – Co-Owner, Presleys’ Country Jubilee (Presleys’ Theater) and Secretary for Plains Chapter, National Independent Venue Association (NIVA)

Watch the full hearing by clicking here or in the video box below.

What You Can Do

Respond to Surveys and Sign Petitions on Behalf of the Nonprofit Sector

We need to ensure that the nonprofit sector is represented in any economic stimulus package and other resources for small businesses. We urge everyone working in the nonprofit arts and cultural field to respond to as many surveys and sign as may petitions as possible. Below are some examples at the local, state, and federal level.

Contact Your Representatives

We urge you to take action on behalf of the nonprofit arts and cultural sector by advocating to your elected officials that funding for the arts and nonprofit sectors must be included in any future federal stimulus packages. Find the contact information for your elected officials at the links below.

Resources