Plan to attend Arts Advocacy Day at the Capitol with SMAC!This year Arts Advocacy Day is on Tuesday, March 12th, 2019. Make your voice heard about why we value the arts in Minnesota! Depending on the number attending, SMAC can provide transportation from Marshall to St. Paul Monday evening, March 11, as well as partial or full support of supper and lodging that night. In the morning, travel with SMAC members to meet with legislators and other advocates throughout the day. Attendees should plan to arrive back in Marshall around 5pm.
Please contact SMAC prior to March 1, 2019 by 4:30 pm if you would like to be on the list to take advantage of car pooling, supper, and/or lodging with us. We would also be happy to register you for Advocacy Day at the MN Capitol if needed. Please email us at info@swmnarts.org.
If you would like to register yourself, please visit: http://artsmn.org/act/events/arts-advocacy-day/
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Advocacy Day 2017 with Senator Gary Dahms.
What is Arts Advocacy Day?Every year, Minnesota Citizens for the Arts works to increase arts funding by bringing arts advocates to the State Capitol to talk to their legislators about the importance of the arts to our lives and our economy. Every year 500 arts advocates join together for a rally at the Minnesota History Center Auditorium in the morning, split up into teams with experienced leaders and walk together to legislator offices to educate them about the arts in their communities and ask them to support arts funding. Previous Arts Advocacy Days have resulted in significant increases in state arts funding (that goes out in grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board and Regional Arts Councils). The Legacy Amendment, which tripled arts funding in 2008, was passed on Arts Advocacy Day! In 2018 the Minnesota State Arts Board (MSAB) and Regional Arts Councils (RAC) system awarded over 2,000 grants, which reached all 87 counties, helping to make the arts accessible to all Minnesotans. The awarded grants come from two sources in the “General Fund” and “Arts Legacy Fund” that will be included in the upcoming session budget. This year we will be working to support those two funds and protect them from being cut or diverted. Because the Minnesota State House flipped from Republican to Democratic support this year, there will be a lot of new legislators that need to hear about the importance of the arts to their districts and the impact the MSAB and RAC grants are having in their hometown. In the last several years arts advocates and supportive legislators had to fight off legislative suggestions that the Legacy Arts & Culture Fund be diverted away from the arts. With this uncertain political climate and increased polarization, we need to show a unified front to ensure that arts funding continues to be protected. |
