March 26, 2007
Earlier
this month, the Congressional Arts Caucus asked all
members of the U.S. House
of Representatives to co-sign two letters of support
for increases in funding for the National Endowment
for the Arts and for the Arts in Education program
at the U.S. Department of Education. We
ask for your help in contacting
your Representative’s office and urging
them to co-sign these letters, which will be sent
to two subcommittees of the powerful House Appropriations
Committee.
The first
letter states, "We are
requesting $176 million to support the NEA’s
core mission and expand popular initiatives like
the Challenge America program. The NEA was
last funded at this amount in 1992, and has never
recovered from a 40 percent budget cut in FY1996.
Today, its programs remain seriously underfunded." Please
ask your House members to agree to co-sign the letter
as soon as possible. The deadline for signatures
is this FRIDAY, March 30, so there is NO TIME to
lose. To get started, simply click here to
send a customizable letter to your representative.
The second
letter supports an increase of funding for arts education
at the U.S. Department
of Education to $53 million, from the current
level of $35.3 million. Over the past six
years Congress has approved incremental funding
increases which
have resulted in approximately 160 awards to
school districts in 180 Congressional Districts
throughout
the country.
Thanks for your help. If you have any
questions, please contact Nikki Sparks, Government
Affairs and Grassroots Manager, at 202-371-2830,
or nsparks@artsusa.org.
Click here.
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