Advocacy for the Arts – Do it now, or stand in a bread line later

Recent announcements for the government to down-size and slash budgets on both a National and State level have had a chilling effect on the arts community. Plans to kill departments like the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) fly in the face of logic when the other announced goal is to improve the quality of education and better prepare a workforce that is competitive on an international scale.

Although most of us acknowledge that government spending must be curtailed to some degree, it is the careful selection of WHERE those cuts are going to come from that will be of the greatest concern. You can affect this outcome. It is in your (that’s YOU, personally) best interest to do so, or you may well be out of a job.

One of the most difficult tasks is in arts advocacy is getting people off their duff and to take action. Yes, you can fire-off a few e-mails to your elected officials, and you might even call (their receptionist – did you really think you were going to get-through to ‘the big cheese’?) on the phone. Please do. But there is more you can do. Much more. And you have to get others to do it, too. We need an outpouring of outrage, not a trickle of tears.

How do you make that happen? Know your script, present it eloquently. I can’t help much with the ‘eloquence’, that’s your job as the playwright, director, and presenter; however, I can help with the script. Below are some great resources to call upon to help you, and others, better understand the ultimate impact that the arts have on society.

Balance your arguments so that the audience gets both the big picture and feels the pain of your local situation. Arts funding, as you will learn and teach, affects not just humanity’s soul, but also impacts learning skills, job performance, work opportunities, and community cash flow. Discuss the broader economic impact that most people don’t ‘get’: Let them know about all of the jobs that are either directly in the arts community, or are peripherally affected by the arts.

If you school or community is planning a new theatre or looking at renovating an existing one, there are many people involved:

• Architects, Engineers, Consultants, Interior Designers, & Landscape Designers.
  • They employ or use draftsmen, secretaries, and printers.
  • They rent office space, buy computers & office furniture.
  • The buy / rent houses, food, cars, clothes, insurance, and entertainment.
• Contractors / Builders / Installers
  • They employ or use draftsmen, secretaries, and printers.
  • They rent office space, buy computers & office furniture.
  • The buy / rent houses, food, cars, clothes, insurance, and entertainment.
• Material Suppliers & Manufacturers
  • They employ or use draftsmen, secretaries, and printers.
  • They rent office space, buy computers & office furniture.
  • The buy / rent houses, food, cars, clothes, insurance, and entertainment.
• Product Manufacturers
  • They employ or use engineers, draftsmen, secretaries, circuit board assemblers, metalworkers, plastic molders, and printers.
  • They have both office space and manufacturing & warehouse space, they buy computers, machinery & office furniture. They use shippers to move their goods across the globe.
  • The buy / rent houses, food, cars, clothes, insurance, and entertainment.

Do you see a pattern here? They are all part of the economy! A single venue being constructed or refurbished provides hundreds, maybe thousands, with jobs.

The same is true for Schools, Theatre Troupes, Dance Companies, Art Studios Recording Studios, Music Stores, and Movie Theaters.

The Entertainment Industry directly employs hundreds of thousands of people (just look at the credits for a movie to see evidence of this), and millions, if you include all of the jobs that serve the industry. Take a moment to look around and explain this to those in a position of fiscal power.

How might a high school theatre program affect the future career of a student? Being an actor may not seem to be a good career choice for some, but that isn’t the only outcome of getting a student interested in the performing arts. Someone has to engineer, build, sell, install, and service the thousands of parts that are a vital component of a play, video, or music production. This involves truck drivers, machinists, computer programmers, artists, marketing experts, accountants, and a wide variety of managers, supervisors, and company leaders. Many of these skills require a college level education in a wide range of disciplines:

• Architecture, Electrical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Physics.
• Math (lots of math!), Computer Science (what job doesn’t need this at some level?).
• History (lest we repeat or mistakes).
• Humanities (Art! Music! Dance! Theatre! Broadcasting! Cinema! Writing!)

And yes,

• They employ or use draftsmen / graphics artists, secretaries, and printers.
• They rent office space, buy computers & office furniture.
• The buy / rent houses, food, cars, clothes, insurance, and entertainment.

Still not see the pattern? Then take a number for better service in the unemployment line — it’ll be a long wait when they down-size that department, too.

Arts Advocacy Resources:

• California Educational Theatre Association - www.cetoweb.org/ceta_pages/adv.html
  And in particular, they have a well researched Position Paper that you can download at: www.cetoweb.org/pdf/CETABrochure_web.pdf
• Arts Education Partnership – www.aep-arts.org
  And in particular, they have a paper entitled: Making a Case for the Arts: How and Why the Arts are Critical to Student Achievement and Better Schools that can be downloaded at: www.aep-arts.org/publications/info.htm?publication_id=25
• California Alliance for Arts Education - www.artsed411.org which has an extensive list of resources to use.
• National Governor’s Association Center for Best Practices - The Impact of Arts Education on Workforce Preparation can be downloaded from: www.nga.org/cda/files/050102ARTSED.pdf
• Nuturing Young People’s Creativity (International Youth Foundation ‘Field Notes’ January 2009) http://zunia.org/uploads/media/knowledge/FieldNotes_Creativity12621...
• A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future by Daniel Pink - www.danpink.com/whole-new-mind
• Theatre Communications Group (TCG) – www.tcg.org – top of page “Advocacy” tab
• Americans for the Arts – www.artsusa.org – top of page “Advocacy” tab & "Get Involved" tab
• Americans for the Arts – www.americansforthearts.org/
• Arts Advocacy Toolkit for K-12 Education – www.californiaartstoolkit.com
• The Value of the Arts to the Community and Education by AnnRene Joseph – www.marthalakecov.org/~building/strategies/arts/joseph.htm
• Polk Arts Alliance – www.polkarts.org/advocacy/
• Incredible Art Studio – www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/links/artedu.html
• Arts In Education – www.artsinedu.com/advocacyindex.htm
• National Performing Arts Convention – www.performingartsconvention.org/advocacy/id=28

To paraphrase the late President Kennedy:
"Ask not what the arts can do for you – ask what can I do for the arts?"