Something Slightly Political: the NEA, the NEH, & budget cuts Part II

After posting about the possibility of the presidential administration cutting the budgets of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, I've had a few people ask for more information and what they can do to help save the NEA and the NEH.

The number one thing you can do is contact your congressional representatives and express your concerns. Here is a great link to find out how to contact your respective representatives. From what I have seen, phone calls are best but emails work also.

The second thing you can do is talk about it! Tell your friends about what the NEA and the NEH do and why they should be saved. Share articles on social media about it. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Do whatever you are comfortable doing. Word of mouth is a powerful force. Use it!

Picture from Mrs. Osborn's Class“The arts are essen­tial to any com­plete national life.
The State owes it to itself to sus­tain and encour­age them….
Ill fares the race which fails to salute the arts with the
rev­er­ence and delight which are their due.”
-Winston Churchill,
speech to the Royal Academy, April 30, 1938

Here are some talking points about what the NEA and the NEH do:

• "It was a National Endowment for the Humanities grant that helped pay for the “Treasures of Tutankhamen” exhibition to travel to six American cities from 1976-79. That groundbreaking exhibition, heralded as one of the first museum blockbusters, drew 1.36 million visitors to the Metropolitan Museum alone." (New York Times article from January 30, 2017)

• "The agencies [NEA, NEH, and Public Broadcasting] are particularly proud of programs they run to benefit veterans, such as the National Endowment for the Arts’ creative arts therapy project for military personnel at a hospital at Fort Belvoir in Virginia." (New York Times article from January 30, 2017)

• "Some 40 percent of the arts and humanities agencies’ budgets go directly to state and regional arts councils across the United States." (New York Times article from January 30, 2017)

• "The NEA is the single most important source of institutional support for the nonprofit literary field, which includes independent presses, literary magazines, book festivals, literary centers, service organizations, and reading series." (Elliot Figman, Executive Director Poets & Writers)

• "Each year, the NEA also offers creative writing fellowships to individual writers; since its founding in 1965, the agency has granted over $45 million to more than 3,000 individual writers." (Elliot Figman, Executive Director Poets & Writers)

More talking points- these came in an email I received from Humanities Nebraska Executive Director, Chris Sommerich:

• State humanities councils like Humanities Nebraska play a key role in our local communities through programs that promote literacy and other employment skills, boost local economies and our quality of life, and explore history/culture.

• State humanities councils reach people of all ages and walks of life with programs in libraries, schools, museums, senior centers, cultural centers, and other places.

• State humanities councils are independent nonprofits governed by local boards who determine appropriate programming in each state.

• State humanities councils receive essential funding from the NEH, which enables them to reach rural areas, urban centers, and everything in between.

• Total FY 2016 funding for NEH was $148 million. This is only 0.003% of federal spending, but makes a big difference in the cultural health of our nation.

• Please thank your representatives for their service and support for the humanities!

More places to check out:

• LitNet: The Literary Network
• Humanities Nebraska (or if you don't live in Nebraska, your state humanities organization)
• National Endowment for the Humanities (of course)
• National Endowment for the Arts (this one too)