Funding for the Arts

It is hard for me to get incredibly involved and invested in the election since I am not a US Citizen and therefore do not have voting rights. To be honest I am sick of hearing the political views of everyone from Joe to Plumber to Paris Hilton and the over-analyzing of every speech, article, and rally. Voting is a personal issue, and as much as I see that lobbying to encourage people to get to the polls important, I find excessive lobbying for your candidate and backhanded remarks about your opponents both offensive and obnoxious.

With this particular election, nothing annoys me more than people who are looking at it as black/white or male/female. Is this nation really as ignorant as it seems? Do we really, after all these years, still base decisions on race and gender? Give me a break. Vote for the ISSUES, not the genetic makeup of the candidate.

As I do, most of you reading this (all two of you!?) have some kind of vested interested in the arts, or at least support the importance of them in our schools and society. Given the opportunity to vote, I would absolutely take into consideration the candidates' arts platform.

I got an e-mail this afternoon detailing McCain and Obama's stances on the arts in education and arts funding at the federal, state and local levels. Thanks, Mum & Dad, for passing this on to me. It got me fired up, of course, as we know I am very passionate about this topic as both an artist, and an arts fundraiser. When I began writing this post, I wanted to get on my high horse about the importance of arts funding, and the merit of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). But I'm not going to do that. You're not dumb. You can read, and make decisions for yourself. You don't need to know my opinion in order to determine your own stance on the issue. I'm including links to articles pertaining to arts platforms at the end of this post.

I ask nothing of you all, but to get out there and vote, and vote for the candidate that best represents your views. I don't care that Sarah Palin is a woman, a mother, has a pregnant teenage daughter, or likes to hunt. I don't care the Barack Obama is black, a male, young, or likes the Godfather movies. Who they are doesn't matter - where they stand on the issues that are important to you does.

Arts Positions of the 2008 Presidential Candidates

Obama/Biden Arts Statement

McCain/Palin Arts Statement