Advocacy and Public Policy

On June 21, 2021, AmeriCorps –the federal agency which provides support through funding and people power to more than 2,000 organizations across America and connects over 70,000 Americans each year to opportunities to engage in volunteer service to meet community needs – announced how it will use its $1 billion allocation in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds to address ongoing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a recent letter, members of the Arts Education Council of Americans for the Arts state "AFTA has much work yet to do to repair the harm caused — most directly to BIPOC-led arts and culture organizations — by decades of gatekeeping and resource-hoarding, spearheaded by their senior leadership."

"A bailout for live music and other event venues passed in the last relief bill. But one month after applications were scheduled to launch, they have not, and many venues are barely hanging on," reported recently NPR on the desperation of venue workers.

Just societies cannot grow in toxic soil. To build regenerative communities, we should look to how life flourishes in the natural world, of which we are an inherent part.

An article in The Washington Post discusses a movement of arts workers that "asserts that the arts are as foundational as farming or manufacturing" with "an aim reinforced daily by the financial devastation the coronavirus pandemic has spread throughout the nation’s creative economy."

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As the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic continue to take their toll, Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) has expanded its ongoing advocacy work to consider approaches and resources arts and cultural organizations truly need for robust, equitable recovery from this crisis.

"What should arts advocates say and do now? How can they reconceive their own roles to point to the deeper reasons for arts funding? How can they speak to the moment, rather than repeat tired and failed arguments?" asks Arlene Goldbard in a recent blog post.

A group of philanthropic and nonprofit leaders is asking Congress to increase the mandatory payout rate for private foundations and donor-advised funds (DAFs) to 10 percent, to help address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Assembly Bill 5, a California law that went into effect Jan. 1, 2020, impacts contract workers, including artists. A research paper breaks down the law and its effects on businesses of all types throughout California, including the nonprofit arts and culture sector. A recent agreement, however, signals this law could soon be adjusted to exempt music professionals.