Support WALA On Arts Advocacy Day – April 27, 2011

By Robert Bettmann

Arts support in the District is disappearing. Local artists and arts organizations in the District are like the character in the movie Hustle and Flow who says, “I’m sitting here trying to squeeze a dollar out of a dime and I ain’t got a cent.”

Funding for DC’s arts agency, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) has been gutted in the last three years, from over $14 million in FY 09 to under $5 million in FY 11, and the proposed FY 12 budget contains further cuts. The current proposal is $3.92 million for the DCCAH to support all of the arts organizations, artists, and arts education providers in the District. As a recent report from the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies argues, “The arts comprise a very small portion of state spending, less than one tenth of one percent. Reducing expenditures that modest won’t appreciably affect state budgets, but will damage the cultural sector’s ability to provide jobs, goods and services to communities.” DC arts support is now just $3.92 million within a total District FY 12 budget of $10.8 billion. Increased funding for the DCCAH is necessary to maintain access to the arts for all DC residents.

The DC Chamber of Commerce 2011 Policy Agenda states, “The past year has proven to be a test for many of our members as they work to survive the economic downturn. And over the past year, the Chamber has been able to stave off legislative and regulatory initiatives that could harm our members’ ability to operate successfully and help grow our economy, create more jobs, and improve the District’s competitiveness regionally.” And that is where the DC Advocates for the Arts find ourselves as we prepare for Arts Advocacy Day – April 27, 2011. We are fighting to ensure that the District will restore a basic level of support so that artists and arts businesses in every ward have a fighting chance.

To support WALA and the artists and organizations it serves, on Wednesday April 27, 2011 – Arts Advocacy Day – please take a minute to tell policy-makers to support the arts in the District’s FY 12 budget. Contact Mayor Gray via email at eom@dc.gov or by phone at (202) 727-6300, and Council Chair Kwame Brown at kbrown@dccouncil.us or (202) 724-8032. Please ask the Mayor and the Council Chair to support the arts in the DC budget by restoring funding for the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities to the FY 2010 level of $5.16 million.

After you’ve done that, please consider becoming a member of the DC Advocates for the Arts (please link our org name to http://www.dcadvocatesforthearts.org), and donating to support WALA’s ongoing service to the District (link to wala donate page).

Robert Bettmann is the Board Chair of the DC Advocates for the Arts. Incorporated as a non-profit in 2010, the DC Advocates for the Arts provide informational and administrative resources facilitating advocacy and public policy solutions for the District of Columbia. He is also Artistic Director of the dance company Bettmann Dances (http://quis.bettmanndances.com), managing editor for Bourgeon, a DC arts magazine written by artists (http://www.bourgeononline.com), and a consultant. You can contact him at rob@dayeight.org.

WALA BRINGS IN MAY WITH A SPRING BASH!

For participation in the ultimate May celebration, we're giving you free WALA membership with every ticket! Free delectable Spring cocktails courtesy of Hennessy Privilege to refresh the palette while the rock, funk, 'n' soul melodies of GODISHEUS and Marcell & The Truth kiss your ears. Did we mention a mini-fashion showcase by Jody Davis Designs to dazzle your eyes? Can you stand to hear more? We'll be giving out a series of community service awards to the firms and lawyers who generously make all WALA does for the DMV Creative Community possible, culminating in our highest award of distinction going to Professor Susan R. Jones, J.D. of George Washington University Law School Small Business Legal Clinic. And, locally renowned art legend "Art Man" Bryant K. Adams will receive our very first Janos Enyedi WALA Artist of the Year Award. Whew! All of that for just $75 a ticket, one that automatically includes a free $35 WALA membership. Membership gives you free access to all WALA educational sessions and pro bono legal services throughout the year. How can you beat that? By buying a ticket for a friend too! Spread the love. Spread the joy. "Celebrate Our Arts Patriots!" WALA style at the newly revitalized The Atlas on H Street NE, one of DC's hottest emerging arts districts, on May 5th from 6-9pm. Valet and plenty of safe parking nearby!. We'll be waiting for you. Click right here to get your tickets and support the arts now!

Does it Matter? What do you say?

At the Kennedy Center last night, Kevin Spacey made a compelling case for the Arts to a packed theater of artists, non-profit administrators, educators and advocates. “Does it matter?” he asked.

Spacey artfully crafted his personal narrative about the role that arts education and community arts programs shaped his career and juxtaposed it with the perspectives of presidents, renowned artists and thinkers on the importance of arts and culture in society.

It DOES matter. Every day WALA volunteers work to ensure that arts programs and artists get the legal support needed to operate their businesses through lawyer referrals, legal clinics and educational programming. WALA helps our arts community to create the building blocks needed to offer arts education and affordable arts programs within the neighborhoods where people work and live. We have connected motivated artists with inspirational ideas and lawyers passionate about the arts for three decades. Our role in filling this need has had a major impact on the cultural landscape of our city and the metropolitan area.

On May 5, we will celebrate our Arts Patriots with a reception at the Atlas on H Street. We invite you to support our mission and enjoy the evening in a community transformed by the presence of creative entrepreneurs. As we countdown to our event, we invite you to link to us on Facebook and Twitter to learn about just a few of the great organizations that came to WALA and have made a difference.

If my words do not inspire you to action, I leave you with an account from Spacey’s speech last night:

In the midst of World War II, Winston Churchill’s ministers came to him and proposed cutting arts spending to cover the mounting costs to fight the war. Churchill’s response:

“Then what are we fighting for?”

I welcome your comments and your perspectives on whether or not YOU think it matters.

New "Link With A Lawyer" Opportunity @ WALA

FROM THE LEGAL SERVICES DESK:

WALA is proud to announce that we now offer “Link with a Lawyer,” an opportunity for our members to speak with an attorney for free, for about an hour, over the phone, about their legal issues and questions. If you have a legal issue that is non-adversarial, can be resolved or answered in under an hour, and regards a copyright issue, a review of a brief contract, license agreement, or the like, please contact us at legalservices@thewala.org to discuss your request.

We are very pleased that in addition to the law firm of DLA Piper, the law firm of Patton Boggs now participates in the Link with a Lawyer program. We would like in particular to thank Thomas Zutic and Trinette Bolden of DLA Piper, and Lodie White of Patton Boggs, for their participation in this WALA program offering. We will make every effort to Link you to a Lawyer in about a week.

WALA is also seeking member submissions that describe member experiences with WALA programs, including legal referrals, educational programming, and clinics. Your feedback helps us to improve our services and we welcome both success stories and recommendations. Please email legalservices@thewala.org and describe the service you received, the attorney that you worked with, and your satisfaction level with WALA.

Finally, we are very pleased to announce that WALA members can attend two DC Independent Film Festival legal events on March 13^th, for free (if you pre-register on our website). One panel discussion will focus on production company formation, pre-, mid-, and post-production legal issues as well as distribution. The second panel discussion will focus on music in film issues such as sources of music, selection of music, licensing issues, the role of performing rights societies, and strategies for right acquisition. Please stay tuned to our Facebook page and blog for more details.

Maggie Gladson

WALA Legal Services Director

Arts Participation Amongst Football Players Spikes

By Charles Phaneuf

In the week leading up to the Super Bowl, when most of the story lines about star players and genius coaches were exhausted, we started to hear about fascinating avocations. Running back Rashard Mendenhall was in the news for taking dance lessons, which he said made a big difference on the field. Star quarterback Aaron Rodgers is a regular at open mic nights, where he plays guitar and sings, and several of the Green Bay Packers take piano lessons together.

While it’s encouraging to hear about these examples of adults participating in the arts, it also highlights how we don’t hear these types of stories often enough. The 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts by the NEA tells us that 10% of adult respondents had participated in creating art by performing or making work. The trend is positive, growing by 2% over the previous survey in 2002, but this group is disproportionately white, female and educated, which means that it roughly represents what we already know about arts audiences.

Why is this lack of diversity and participation not a larger part of the conversation about the health of the field? Rocco Landesman recently made a statement about the oversupply of live theatre, which seemed to initially espouse the idea that the arts audience is static. Isn’t there clearly a connection between people participating in the arts, as both children and adults, and arts audiences? When he issued a response to the ensuing controversy on the Arts Works blog, Mr. Landesman mentioned arts education first in his response to the question about how best to develop future audiences. But he talked about it only in terms of as getting exposure to the arts at a young age. This is a limited way of thinking about arts participation.

If football players—young men in their 20s and 30s—can find their way to piano lessons and become part of this crucial but growing 10% of adults that participate, there is no reason to look at arts audiences as a static or shrinking part of the population. Rather, increasing the arts participation rate could be the greatest challenge and opportunity that currently faces the field.

In my experience, there are benefits beyond simply “butts in seats.” I play saxophone every Monday night with the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra, and it’s one of the best parts of my week. Even when the workday is at its most challenging and frustrating, I know that I can enter this venerable institution, take my horn out of its case, see some friends and play great music for three hours. I only wish that more people participated in activities like this. We’d be a happier, healthier and more compassionate community.

Who will join Woody Allen the clarinetist, Grant Hill the art collector, and Bill Clinton the saxophonist as successful public figures that exemplify arts participation? Here’s hoping we hear more stories about the likes of Rodgers, Mendenhall and the Green Bay Packers in the coming year.

Charles Phaneuf

Managing Director

Joe’s Movement Emporium

Links

Mendenhall story: http://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/Pittsburgh-Magazine/August-2010/Rashard-Mendenhall-Thinks-He-Can-Dance/

Rodgers story: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2010/columns/story?id=6076694

Packers piano lessons: http://www.npr.org/2011/02/04/133474167/can-music-predict-the-super-bowl-winner

NEA study: http://www.nea.gov/research/2008-SPPA.pdf

Landesman: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/landesman-comments-on-theater/

Arts Works blog post: http://www.arts.gov/artworks/?p=5402