A Little Good News for Federal Arts Funding
So, good news! According to the Americans for the Arts Organization, Congress has reached a bipartisan agreement on a bill concerning funding for certain agencies and programs. Shockingly, none of the funding for art programs were cut; in fact, the budget for these programs was increased by upwards of two million dollars. Although the bill won’t officially be passed or vetoed until Friday May, 5th, chances are likely that the President will be in favor of it, despite threats to cut funding for many of these programs. Below is a report detailing the specifics of what the bill will be funding: Â
Source: Americans for the Arts
So many budget cuts have been made since the start of Trump’s presidency, so it’s amazing an exception was made for these programs. Often, art programs and organizations are seen as an unnecessary expense, but the passing of this bill would help show the President thinks otherwise, especially since American innovation was in much of his campaign rhetoric. I encourage you to get involved, as much of the success of these bills and various other shutting down of inappropriate legislation is because of the efforts of those who contact their representatives to speak up about concerns (think, Immigration Ban, the first of which, crazy as it was, was shut down because of protests and representatives getting involved). There is no need to accept inappropriate and misguided legislation that we can speak up about. Getting involved with Americans for the Arts is a great way to get important information on where to act and how to generally support the arts in relation to government-funded programs.
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