Actors' Equity Reps Attend National Arts Advocacy Day in Washington D.C. to Defend NEA Funding

Representatives from Actors' Equity Association are currently attending the 31st annual Arts Advocacy Day meeting in Washington, DC, a national arts action summit meeting. During this time, they will learn new skills needed to protect and defend funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.

Thomas Carpenter, Roy A. Gross (Greater Washington, D.C./Baltimore Liaison), Marjorie Horne (Councillor), Karen D. Howell (Atlanta Liaison), Sarah LaBarr (Kansas City Liaison) and Joel C. Sandel (Houston Liaison) are in attendance, along with over 700 grassroots advocates and more than 85 other national arts organizations.

"The National Endowment for the Arts creates seed funding for arts projects that create and retain jobs in every congressional district in the country," said Thomas Carpenter, General Counsel for Actors' Equity Association. "Our members were thrilled to continue building on our work to strengthen bipartisan support for the National Endowment for the Arts in Congress."

As part of Arts Advocacy Day, the Equity team will attend previously arranged appointments in congressional offices on Capitol Hill in order to build support for such issues as arts education policy, the charitable tax deduction and funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. Each member attending will represent a different delegation in order to cast as wide a reach as possible.

Actors' Equity Association, founded in 1913, is the U.S. labor union that represents more than 51,000 professional actors and stage managers. Equity endeavors to advance the careers of its Members by negotiating wages, improving working conditions and providing a wide range of benefits (health and pension included). Member: AFL-CIO, FIA. www.actorsequity.org #EquityWorks