Life as Art and Art Strong in our Lives

I’m a strong believer that art makes a difference in lives.  Humans have physical needs for food, shelter, and clothing; our spirits are supported through love and beauty and expression for our spirits is through the arts.  Arts feed our spirits.  A song can cheer our mood.  A color can lift our spirits.  We tap our toe or gently sway when a piece of music comes to our ears.  The written word in the form of a poem or piece of prose can open our thinking to different dimensions.

I experience this every day.  One of my mantras is ‘Create Every Day’.  I reflect that mantra through the clothing that I wear, the food that I eat, the music that I listen to, the way I move my body through space, and the books that I read.   I share that with my friends through theatre, dance, paintings, and music.  Life is a rich tapestry of art that goes on all around us.  What blessed creatures we are to be humans and have so many choices.

 Americans for the Arts has put some information together about the presidential candidates and their support of the arts.  Here’s how Obama and Romney are weighing in on support for the arts.

		Barack Obama Joe Biden Democratic Nominees		Mitt Romney Paul Ryan Republican Nominees
Candidate would maintain or increase federal support of the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities.		Yes Proposed increase of $9 million for National Endowment for the Arts. -FY 13 NEA budget request, Rpt p.2 / PDF p. 6 -FY 13 NEH budget request, Rpt p.11/PDF p. 14	No “Reduce subsidies for the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities.” -Romney/Ryan website -Los Angeles Times article
Candidate would maintain or increase federal support of museums and libraries.		Yes Proposed increase of $9 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities and level funding of $232 million for the Institute of Museum and Library Services. -FY 13 IMLS budget request, Rpt/PDF p.12	Unknown Congressman Ryan’s House-passed budget calls for eliminating the Institute of Museum and Library Services, but it is unclear what Gov. Romney’s position is. - Ryan’s FY2013 budget, Rpt p.88 / PDF p.96
Candidate would maintain or increase federal support for public broadcasting.		Yes Proposed level funding of $445 million for Corporation for Public Broadcasting. -FY 13 CPB budget request	No “Reduce subsidies for…the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.” -Romney/Ryan website -10/3/12 presidential debate transcript

Candidate would maintain or increase Title I funding, which includes eligibility for arts education.	Yes Proposed to reauthorize current Title I program, with level funding. -FY13 budget request, Rpt p18 / PDF p 22	Unknown Proposes to change Title I funding by expanding choice for eligible students to use federal funds to pay for public, charter, or private schools. It is unclear what impact this would have on arts education Title I funding. -Romney education plan, Rpt p.23 / PDF p. 24
Candidate would maintain support of national and community service, which includes eligibility for arts and music service.	Yes Proposed increase of 1 percent to $1.1 billion for Corporation for National & Community Service agency budget. -FY 13 CNCS budget request	Unknown Congressman Ryan’s House-passed budget calls for eliminating the Corporation for National and Community Service, but it is unclear what Gov. Romney’s position is. - Ryan’s FY2013 budget, Rpt p.88 / PDF p.96
Candidate maintains current incentives for charitable giving to 501(c)(3) organizations, such as a local nonprofit arts institution.	No The Obama plan maintains the ability for households to deduct charitable gifts, but he proposes reducing the value of the deduction from 35 percent to 28 percent for those households that make more than $250,000. -FY 2010-13 budget request, blog statement	No Gov. Romney has suggested maintaining a deduction for charitable gifts, but he has also proposed combining those charitable deductions with other tax deductions, such as mortgage interest, all of which would be limited by an overall cap that could jeopardize incentives to donate. - 10/16/12 presidential debate transcript
National party platform includes a positive position on the arts & arts education.	Yes “We will continue to support public funding for the National Endowment for the Arts… and for programs providing art and music education...” - 9/4/12 DNC platform, p.16	No GOP platform was silent on these issues. - 8/28/12 GOP platform

Americans for the Arts Action Fund is a bipartisan national advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring that all Americans have the opportunity to appreciate, value, and participate in the arts. ArtsVote2012, a program of the Americans for the Arts Action Fund, was created to secure policy proposals in support of the arts and arts education in America from candidates running for federal office in the 2012 election.

For further information, visit www.ArtsActionFund.org or call 202-371-2830.

Please take time on Tuesday to vote.  It’s really important to have all of our voices heard.   

Thank you.