<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Dear Listers,<div><br></div><div>This came through the Fund for Women Artists. If you think it appropriate, please follow the (second) link below to urge our members of Congress to include the arts in the bailout package. </div><div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div><div>Deb<br><div><br><div>Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>From: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">The Fund for Women Artists <<a href="mailto:info@WomenArts.org">info@WomenArts.org</a>></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Date: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">January 30, 2009 11:04:14 AM EST</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>To: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><a href="mailto:smmslt111@gmail.com">smmslt111@gmail.com</a></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Subject: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><b>Action Alert: Tell Your Senators Today to Support the Arts </b></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Reply-To: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><a href="mailto:info@WomenArts.org">info@WomenArts.org</a></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "></div></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div><table width="650" style="position: static; z-index: auto; "><tbody><tr><td width="650" valign="top"><table width="650" cellpadding="6" style="position: static; z-index: auto; "><tbody><tr><td width="640" align="left" valign="top"><table cellpadding="6" width="650" colspan="2" style="position: static; z-index: auto; "><tbody><tr><td align="left" width="500" valign="top" cellpadding="2"><div align="left"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><b><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); ">Tell Your Senators Today to Include the Arts<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>in Our National Economic Recovery Plan</span></b></span></span></p><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(20, 79, 174); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: -1; ">The Obama administration is moving quickly on its economic recovery plan, and we need to advocate for artists to be included in as many programs as possible. Since women artists have traditionally been paid less than their male counterparts, we also need to make sure that women's needs are met.</span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="font-size: smaller; ">Several initiatives have emerged in recent months, and on Wednesday<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><font color="#333333"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">the U.S. House of Representatives passed their version of the Economic Recovery Package by a vote of 244 to 188 which<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><strong><b>included $50 million in supplemental grants funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)!</b></strong> </span></font></span></span><font color="#333333"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><o:p></o:p></span></font></p><div></div><div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: smaller; "><font color="#333333"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">Now the package will go to the U.S. Senate, where they will start their debate on the bill today (Friday, January 30) and will continue through next week. The Senate Appropriations Committee<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b>did<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>not</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>include the arts funding provision<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>in their version of the bill. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><b><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">We need to make sure that our Senators put it in.</span></b></font><br></span></p></span><p><span style="font-size: medium; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><b><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); ">Take Two Minutes To Send An Email Now!</span></b></span></span><br><br><span style="font-family: Arial; "><font color="#333333"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><a title="http://capwiz.com/artsusa/utr/1/FEARJRPRVN/EBHXJRPSKD/2845984751" href="http://capwiz.com/artsusa/utr/1/FEARJRPRVN/EBHXJRPSKD/2845984751" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="font-size: smaller; ">Please take two minutes today to ask your legislators to support the arts in this Economic Recovery package.</span></span></a></span></font></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="font-size: smaller; "><font color="#333333"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></font>Americans for the Arts has set up a web page that makes it easy for you to email your legislators.<font color="#333333"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>You can use their text or paste in your own letter. Your help in this effort is critical. Click the link below or paste it in your browser:</span></font><br></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><a href="http://capwiz.com/artsusa/issues/alert/?alertid=12426636&type=CO"><span style="font-size: smaller; ">http://capwiz.com/artsusa/issues/alert/?alertid=12426636&type=CO</span></a></span></p><span style="font-size: smaller; "></span><span style="font-family: Arial; "><p><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="font-size: smaller; ">Americans for the Arts has also drafted a set of nine proposals for ways that the Obama administration should include artists in the economic recovery. Basically they recommend including artists in every federal program that receives recovery funds. Whether it is community development, economic development, rural development, transportation initiatives, job training programs, or aid to schools, they argue that artists can make important contributions. They are also asking Obama to create a senior level official in the President's office to coordinate arts and cultural policy. You can read the full report at:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br><a href="http://www.artsusa.org/pdf/information_services/recovery/0109_EconRecoveryAndTheArts.pdf">http://www.artsusa.org/pdf/information_services<br>/recovery/0109_EconRecoveryAndTheArts.pdf</a></span></span></p><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><span style="font-size: smaller; "></span></span><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><p><span style="font-size: smaller; "><font color="#333333"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">Part of Obama's platform was a proposal to create "an Artists Corps of young artists trained to work in low income schools and their communities." The idea of hiring artists to work in the schools is great, but we see no reason to limit this to "young" artists. Many women artists have lost their teaching jobs in recent years due to budget cuts. We need to make sure that these excellent and experienced teachers have a chance to return to their classrooms.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></font><br></span></p></span><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="font-size: smaller; "></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; "><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="font-size: smaller; "></span></span><span style="font-size: smaller; "><span style="font-family: Arial; "><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="font-size: smaller; "><p><b><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); ">OTHER INTERESTING READING ON FEDERAL ARTS PROGRAMS</span></b></p></span></span><p><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="font-size: smaller; "><b><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); ">NEA Statement</span></b><font color="#333333"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>- The National Endowment for the Arts has issued a statement about Arts and Economic Recovery that gives statistics about the economic impact of the arts and says, "The arts and culture industry is a sector of the economy just like any other with workers who pay taxes, mortgages, rent and contribute in other ways to the economy." You can read the full statement at:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br></span></font></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><font color="#333333"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><a href="http://arts.endow.gov/news/news09/arts-and-economic-stimulus.html"><span style="font-size: smaller; ">http://arts.endow.gov/news/news09/arts-and-economic-stimulus.html</span></a></span></font><span style="font-size: smaller; "><font color="#333333"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><br></span></font></span></span><font color="#333333"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><o:p></o:p></span></font></p><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div></div><div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><span style="font-size: smaller; "><b><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); ">National Campaign to Hire Artists to Work in Schools</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>-<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b><font color="#000000" class="size10 Helvetica10">The National Campaign is a 50 state effort to promote the use of federal funds to hire artists in the schools and community centers. They draw on the historical precedents of Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration (WPA) jobs program of the 1930's and the national Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA) Arts Program of the 1970's. See<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></font></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><a href="http://www.nchaws.org/"><span style="font-size: smaller; ">http://www.nchaws.org/</span></a><span style="font-size: smaller; "><br><br><b><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); ">Quincy Jones Requests a Secretary of the Arts</span></b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>- Grammy-winning music legend, Quincy Jones, is asking Obama to create a cabinet level "Secretary of the Arts." Two New York musicians were inspired by Jones' idea and set up an online petition which now has over 200,000 signatures. To sign the petition, go to:<br></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><a href="http://www.petitiononline.com/esnyc/petition.html"><span style="font-size: smaller; ">http://www.petitiononline.com/esnyc/petition.html</span></a></span></p></div></div></td></tr><tr><td align="left" width="650" valign="top" colspan="2"><hr><div style="margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; "><span style="font-size: smaller; "><span style="font-family: Verdana; "><em>Please feel free to reprint any portion of this newsletter, but please give credit to The Fund for Women Artists. (©WomenArts.org 2009) This newsletter was originally published on January 30, 2009.</em></span></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div></td></tr><tr><td><hr><p><font face="Verdana" size="2"><strong>The Fund for Women Artists</strong><br>3739 Balboa Street #181<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>San Francisco, CA 94121<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>Phone: (415) 751-2202<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>Website:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.womenarts.org">www.womenarts.org<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></a><br>Email:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:info@womenarts.org">info@womenarts.org</a></font></p></td></tr></tbody></table><br><p><font face="Verdana" size="2"></font></p></td></tr></tbody></table><img width="1" height="1" src="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/TrackImage?key=885921065"><diaemailid='885921065' thread="7741"></diaemailid='885921065'></div></span></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>