CALL TO ACTION: Contact Congress About COVID-19 Relief Funding
This is the third time Arts NC has issued a Call to Action this week, which is exactly the same number that we sent out during the entirety of 2019. All of you, our network of passionate arts advocates, are the most valuable resource we have in our work to promote public funding and policy for the arts. As such, we call on you only when the time is right and the need is great. Our need has never been greater.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the devastating financial impact on not only the arts sector, but on the entire global economy, becomes more frighteningly apparent every day. We will need to work with government at every level in the coming weeks and months to find solutions to these seemingly impossible problems, and to support one another in this difficult time.
The US Congress is feverishly working on legislation that will help reduce the spread of the pandemic and provide crucial relief funding to the countless struggling American industries and American families that COVID-19 is leaving in its wake. That is why I ask you to take five minutes to contact your Congressional Representatives today and ask that they designate a minimum of $4 billion dollars, to be distributed through the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as other important measures to help offset losses in the nonprofit arts industry. This is a very important first step to healing the arts and culture sector, as well as our nation, and starting us on the road toward recovery.
The $4 billion figure for federal arts relief did not come out of thin air. This is a specific amount that was arrived at by calculating initial responses to the COVID-19 Arts & Culture Financial Impact Survey and applying that over the entire sector. Your participation in this survey is not only making the case, it is making the difference. Now you can explore the information on the COVID-19 Arts Financial Impact Dashboard and be sure to retake the survey as you become more aware of additional impact for your organization by entering the cumulative impact each time. If you are an individual artist, select “artist / creative workforce.”
Arts North Carolina will continue to monitor developments and provide you with the most pertinent information through email and our COVID-19 Action Center and Resources page. Also, we will be speaking with decision makers and partners at every level of government and across both the state and the nation as we continue our work to be a voice for all the arts, for all the people.