CALL TO ACTION: Contact Your NC Legislator About the Impact of COVID-19
It is time for us to start the conversation with the NC General Assembly about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and our concerns for the arts and culture industry. However, before we start sending emails, there are several things we should keep in mind.
- The most important thing government is doing right now is addressing public health and safety. Concerns about the economic implications are important, but secondary.
- This is a crisis across the entire population and your elected representatives are overwhelmed, as we all are. Be respectful of that in all communications.
- We will all need to be working with federal, state, and local governments for a very long time to address these issues. We will need to be patient, polite, and positive.
- Arts NC is working with our lobbyists as well as other statewide and national partners to make sure the arts and culture sector delivers the right message at the right time.
In this communication to the NC General Assembly we are focusing on two issues:
- The inclusion of arts and culture nonprofits in all government stimulus, emergency funding, and economic recovery efforts and initiatives.
- The expansion and increase of unemployment insurance benefits, and removal of any restrictions that would exclude temporary/seasonal/part-time employees which include many individual artist and performance/event workers.
As we gather more information about the impact of the pandemic, this conversation will expand to additional issues that will be helpful to our industry. Arts NC is in dialogue with our partners at the national level and in other states to determine and anticipate the needs of the arts community throughout this challenging time. If there is an issue that you feel we should address, please contact me at: Nate@ArtsNC.org.
CALL TO ACTION:
First, look up your representatives at the NC General Assembly HERE. You can also look up other legislators from your county and the counties in your region.
Second, cut and paste the following message into an email. You can modify it to make it personal, but remember to be concise and mindful of the tone.
Subject: The Arts and COVID-19
Senator or Representative,
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will have unprecedented impact on every community in this state. The health and well-being of every North Carolinian should of course be our highest priority. In the coming weeks, as you consider how to manage through and recover from this crisis, I ask you to consider the following:
- Nonprofit arts organizations contribute over $2 Billion to the state’s economy and employ over 72,00 workers.
- Current cancelations of arts performances and events in the interest of public health will have a devastating impact on the arts and culture sector. (We are collecting impact data now and will share it with you as soon as it is available)
At this time, I request that you:
- Please be sure that all nonprofit organizations including the arts, are given consideration in all government stimulus, emergency funding, and economic recovery efforts and initiatives.
- Please consider increasing and expanding unemployment insurance benefits, and removing any restrictions that would exclude temporary/seasonal/part-time employees which include many individual artist and performance/event workers.
I appreciate your leadership in this difficult time and want to work together to help our state through this challenging time.
Your Name, Title, and Positon (if applicable)
Finally, report any responses to Arts NC HERE. It will only take a few moments to fill out the information and then cut and paste email responses into the comments box. These responses from lawmakers will be crucial to inform how we proceed.
Also, we know there are many financial challenges on the horizon, but we need to know what we are up against. It is crucial that you take 5 minutes to complete this survey about the financial impact COVID-19 will have on your arts organization or on you as an individual artist. Arts North Carolina will work with Americans for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council to be sure that this data is available for advocacy at the federal, state, and local level.