Candidate Survey
Candidate Survey – Special Election: Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District
Thank you for taking a few moments to address issues regarding public funding in support of our nation’s arts and creative industries at the federal level. Across the country, this industry, fueled by support by a number of federal agencies, represents a remarkably broad and diverse workforce of innovative, creative artists, educators, designers, producers, and nonprofit businesses. In Nevada, our creative industry--from musicians, dancers, architects and designers to writers, photographers, filmmakers, organizations and cultural facilities--serves residents in all 17 counties.
QUESTION 1: Did you have access to or participate in arts and cultural activities when you were growing up?
QUESTION 2: What arts and cultural activities have you personally attended in the past 12 months?
QUESTION 3: If you have children, are they personally engaged in arts and cultural activities, in school or after school?
ISSUE 1: The Arts and Economic Diversification
BACKGROUND: Today, hundreds of thousands of artists, artisans and professionals work to ensure access to arts experiences for residents and visitors to the United States. They comprise a viable and often undervalued sector of our workforce. National studies demonstrate, time and again, that the creative industry and the nonprofit arts sector are vital elements of our present economy—and they benefit economic diversification efforts. Americans for the Arts reports that the nonprofit arts industry generates $166.2 billion annually in economic activity, supports 5.7 million full-time equivalent jobs in the arts and related industries, and returns $12.6 billion in federal income taxes. Measured against direct federal cultural spending of about $4 billion, this is a return of nearly seven to one.
Throughout the country, states are developing strategies to cultivate a creative workforce to attract/foster sustainable creative enterprises. A report from the Kyser Center for Economic Research (Las Vegas Review-Journal, August 5, 2010) says companies, while interested in a favorable tax and business climate, also seek communities with a strong availability of quality cultural opportunities, from museums to performing arts.
ISSUE STATEMENT 1: Congress should provide federal funding that supports our nation’s unique entrepreneurial spirit to cultivate a creative workforce that stimulate creative enterprises, job growth, a stronger tax base and an improved quality of life for our residents.
ISSUE 2: The Value of Public Policies and Funding for the Arts
BACKGROUND: Grants through the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) are widely distributed to strengthen the nation’s cultural infrastructure and ensure broad access to the arts. NEA distributes 40 percent of its program dollars to state arts agencies, on the condition that each state devotes its own appropriated funds as well. Last year, in partnership with the NEA, state arts agencies awarded 23,000 grants to 17,500 organizations, schools, and artists in nearly 5,000 communities across the United States, The Nevada Arts Council (NAC) is the sole public funding source for small and large organizations in every county and city in Nevada (with the exception of the City of Reno). The NAC does so with a combination of general appropriations, federal funding and private donations. An average of 80 percent of NAC dollars goes directly to Nevada communities and schools through direct grants, outreach programs, workshops, conferences and specialized skills training. NAC grants and programs leverage new public and private dollars that are reinvested at the local level and expand arts and arts education programming, facility development and other forms of economic activity.
ISSUE STATEMENT 2 - National Endowment for the Arts’ funding to state arts agencies is extremely important to the vitality and livability of our country’s communities and economy.
ISSUE 3: The Value of Federal/State Partnership Funding
BACKGROUND: The 2012 House Appropriations Committee recently approved a $20 million cut to the NEA funding, setting spending at $135 million, a decrease of $20 million from FY2011 funding that puts the arts appropriation somewhere between levels last seen in 2007 and 2008. While the arts community recognizes the shared sacrifice being asked of all federal agencies to help reduce our national debt, these cuts are disproportionate and are counter-productive to growing American jobs and strengthening our economy. Because of an 8% reduction in the Nevada Arts Council’s NEA Partnership Grant (coupled with nearly 53% cuts in state funding since 2009), for the first time in history, the NAC Board denied funding to 15 grantees, many of which have been vital partners in providing arts and cultural activities in communities across the state for years. To balance the NAC budget, the board also reduced funding to most other grantees by an average of 60%, and suspended valued outreach programs specifically designed to provide culturally underserved populations in rural Nevada and neighborhoods in urban communities.
ISSUE STATEMENT 3 - Given the substantial budget reduction in NEA funding in FY11, would you support a level-funding budget approach for the NEA in FY2012 in order to support the arts and culture nonprofit businesses throughout the nation, and in particular to recognize and support the important role the arts and culture play in Nevada’s economy and quality of life?
ISSUE 4: The Value of Arts Education
BACKGROUND: Research shows that students with high levels of arts participation outperform other students on virtually every measure from standardized tests to community participation, and that learning through the arts has a significant effect on learning in other areas, particularly in the early years. Federal appropriations to the NEA, Department of Education and other federal agencies sustain arts education programs for our youth as well as our older and disenfranchised populations, and are necessary to development the workforce and creative entrepreneurs required for our economic diversification efforts. Recently, the House Education & Workforce Committee approved HR 1891, legislation that terminates 42 federal education programs, including the Arts in Education (AIE) program at the U.S. Department of Education. This bill is more serious than the annual funding measures that threaten to de-fund arts education, as HR 1891 permanently strips policy language out of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) The Arts in Education program is the ONLY source of dedicated federal education funding to support arts education, a core academic subject of learning proven to improve schools, teaching, and student success in school, work, and life. The unique federal leadership provided through direct competitive AIE grants and national initiatives cannot be replaced by any other funding source and provides essential resources to maximize the benefits of arts education for all students.
ISSUE STATEMENT 4 - Would you oppose any effort to terminate arts education as currently proposed in H.R. 1891 ("Setting New Priorities in Education Spending Act"), and work to keep an arts education grant program authorized at the U.S. Department of Education?
The Congressional Arts Congress:
As a member of the House of Representatives, would you be willing to join the Congressional Arts Caucus?
