Friday, January 9, 2009

Secretary of the Arts Petition

How cool is this guy?

I found out about this online petition, authored by Quincy Jones, and I'm encouraging you all to sign it. It is a request to our incoming president to create a new position for his cabinet - a Secretary of the Arts position. The US is so far behind other countries when it comes to arts funding, and I fear the pending recession will make it even more of a challenge for artists and cultural foundations to receive funding. A cabinet position would ensure that our needs are being heard and represented (Or at least give the illusion of this depending on how you look at it, but these days I'm trying to be optimistic, so what the heck, how could we lose, right?)
More information can be found at the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Government and Policy Watch section of their webpage here
To read and sign the petiton just click here: Secretary of the Arts Petition
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

We artists (musicians, dancers, actors, poets…etc.) are some of the biggest champions of individual expression and personal freedom. Yet somehow, we think it’s okay to create a cabinet position to impose our values on the rest of the country.

This is no different from a nasty special interest group lobbying government to get some preferential treatment. It’s unfair to everyone else who has to support government growth with their wallets.

Constitutionally, it doesn’t matter whether we “like” the idea or not, because this sort of thing has no place in a free society. You and I are as free to embrace art as we are to reject it. The fact that something like this can draw so much support so easily shows just how much our understanding of the role of government has deteriorated.

Think critically before jumping on the bandwagon.

January 19, 2009 at 12:26 AM

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