The Creative Coalition Applauds Arts Funding in the American Rescue Plan

The Creative Coalition has applauded passage of the American Rescue Plan, which includes $135 million in funding for both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. These funds will support arts and cultural organizations to address layoffs, budget cuts, and implementation of public health protocols to safely reopen. The historic package also includes $1.25 billion for Shuttered Venue Operators grants through the Small Business Administration. The purpose of the funds is to assist concert venues and performing arts centers that have been forced to cancel performances.

"We know that the arts can be the most powerful, transformative, and effective change agent available to our citizenry. We commend Congress for investing in the power of the arts," said actor and President of The Creative Coalition, Tim Daly.

"The arts are essential to America's economic and cultural recovery," said The Creative Coalition CEO Robin Bronk. "Passage of this historic American Rescue Plan increases critical arts funding that will help revive our nation's cultural institutions and ensure every American has the #RightToBearArts."

In 2020, The Creative Coalition offered testimony to the United States House of Representatives Interior Appropriations Subcommittee calling on Congress to increase funding for the NEA. In part, The Creative Coalition CEO Robin Bronk and the organization's president, Tim Daly, testified:

"The United States was born from the idea of freedom - freedom which has been expressed through the arts throughout our nation's history. George Washington said, 'To encourage literature and the arts is a duty which every good citizen owes to his country.' It is the duty of Congress to defend the Right to Bear Arts, and one of the most effective ways to fulfill this duty is to provide additional federal funding for the arts, especially through the National Endowment for the Arts." View the full testimony transcript here.

Last April, Bronk and Daly penned an op-ed for The Hill, urging Congress to increase federal funding for the arts, writing in part:

"Federally funded arts programs, such as the NEA, must be strengthened for the sake of our economic and creative well-being, not gutted as the Trump administration has proposed. A failure to protect and bolster such federal programs would imperil not just our economy but also our very ability to define what it means to be an American."

Each year, The Creative Coalition leads a delegation of artists to Capitol Hill to meet with Congress, focus lawmakers' attention on the efficacy of the arts, and advocate for more federal funding for the #RightToBearArts. Past delegation members include Shiri Appleby, Patricia Arquette, Justin Bartha, Beth Behrs, Troian Bellisario, Karamo Brown, Anthony Carrigan, Jennifer Coolidge, Rosario Dawson, Sean Giambrone, Ginnifer Goodwin, Steve Howey, Jason Isaacs, Victoria Justice, Keegan-Michael Key, John Leguizamo, Kevin McHale, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Alyssa Milano, Joe Morton, Rob Morrow, DEAN NORRIS, Emily Osment, Josh Radnor, Anthony Rapp, Emily Ratajkowski, Sara Rue, Caterina Scorsone, Gabourey Sidibe, Darby Stanchfield, Sharon Stone, Michelle Trachtenberg, Alfre Woodard, and Constance Zimmer, among others.

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