Save the Arts in PA

Tomorrow is week two of artless Wednesdays in Pennsylvania.  How will you be participating?  For tips visit http://bit.ly/4r8vX.

The media is reporting that the PA General Assembly may be close to agreeing on a state budget for FY09-10.  An announcement is expected at 11 AM during a press conference at the State Capitol.  The press conference can be followed online at http://www.pcntv.com .  Stay tuned.

I was on a conference call this afternoon with U.S. Congressman Todd Platts.  He represents the 19th Congressional District in PA which includes York, Adams, Cumberland and parts of Perry County.  The point that he kept pressing home about advocacy was the need to make personal contact with members of Congress.  He suggested that we invite the members to our arts events made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as making frequent visits to district offices.

His comments sounded very familiar to me and could easily apply to the advocacy that we do in Pennsylvania surrounding the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.  Frequent and personal contact with legislators and their staff could only help our case.  Inviting legislators and staff to events that are funded with PCA grants helps create friendships.  So I urge you to contact your legislators today and tell them that funding $14 million for the PCA grants to arts organizations and $1.2 million for the administration of the Council is a priority to you and tell them why.  What do you do with the funds that you receive from the PCA?  Do you fund a artist residency in an elementary school?  Do you provide free admission to your event to senior citizens?  Please visit or call your legislators TODAY!

Contact information for your legislators can be found at http://capwiz.com/artsusa/pa.  Or give me a call at 717-234-0959 and I’ll locate the information for you.

Thanks,

Jenny Hershour
Managing Director
Citizens for the Arts in PA

Today is the launch of artless Wednesdays in Pennsylvania.  Web badges and a splash page have been developed  for our use on websites.  We’d like to have the web badges go viral and are asking you to do the following:

The Strategy – Please post a web badge to your website.  Also post it as your profile picture to your social networking sites like facebook, twitter, myspace, etc.  Add a web badge to your signature on your e-mail.  The web badges can be found at http://www.savetheartsinpa.com/artless/badges.html .  The more times this appears on the Internet, the higher our ranking will be with Google search.  There’s one other request to you – ask your grantees, your friends and family, and business associates to do the same.

Thanks so much for your help,

Jenny Hershour

Citizens for the Arts in PA