There
has never been a more important time for the arts and culture
sector to make its voice heard in Harrisburg. Act
now before state funding for arts and culture is eliminated
entirely from the FY2010 Pennsylvania budget!
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TODAY TO HELP SAVE STATE FUNDING FOR ARTS
AND CULTURE? |
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| Thank
you Arts Advocates! On July 14, 2009, over 50 individuals from
the local cultural community joined members of the Greater Pittsburgh
Arts Council Staff on a bus to the Save the Arts in Pa rally
in Harrisburg. |
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| Pennsylvania
Arts Champions |
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We
salute the following Arts Champions, members of the Pennsylvania
General Assembly who are demonstrating strong support for arts
and culture in the Commonwealth: |
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Members
of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives |
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Rep.
Dan Frankel (23rd District, Part of Allegheny County) |
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Rep.
Joseph Markosek (25th District, Parts of Allegheny and Westmoreland
Counties) |
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Rep.
Harry Readshaw (36th District, Part of Allegheny County) |
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Rep.
Matthew Smith (42nd District, Part of Allegheny County) |
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Rep.
Chelsa Wagner (22nd District, Part of Allegheny County) |
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Rep.
Tim Briggs (149th District, Part of Montgomery) |
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Rep.
Dwight Evans (203rd District, Part of Philadelphia County) |
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Rep.
Mike Gerber (148th District, Part of Montgomery County) |
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Rep.
Babette Josephs (182nd District, Part of Philadelphia County) |
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Rep.
Thomas Killion (168th District, Parts of Chester and Delaware
Counties) |
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Rep.
Jennifer Mann (132nd District, Part of Lehigh County) |
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Rep.
Bob Mensch (147th District, Parts of Berks and Montgomery
Counties) |
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Rep.
Mike O’Brien (175th District, Part of Philadelphia
County) |
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Rep.
Frank Oliver (195th District, Part of Philadelphia County) |
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Rep.
Cherelle Parker (200th District, Part of Philadelphia County) |
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Rep.
Tony Payton (179th District, Part of Philadelphia County) |
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Rep.
John Perzel (172nd District, Part of Philadelphia County) |
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Rep.
James Roebuck (188th District, Part of Philadelphia County) |
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Rep.
Steve Samuelson (135th District, Parts of Lehigh and Northampton
Counties) |
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Rep.
Josh Shapiro (153rd District, Part of Montgomery County) |
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Rep.
Rick Taylor (151st District, Part of Montgomery County) |
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Members
of the Pennsylvania Senate |
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Sen.
Jay Costa (43rd District, Part of Allegheny County) |
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Sen.
Jim Ferlo (38th District, Parts of Allegheny, Armstrong,
and Westmoreland Counties) |
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Sen.
Wayne Fontana (42nd District, Part of Allegheny County) |
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Sen.
Edwin Erickson (26th District, Parts of Chester and Delaware
Counties) |
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Sen.
Larry Farnese (1st District, Part of Philadelphia County) |
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Sen.
Vincent Hughes (7th District, Parts of Montgomery and Philadelphia
Counties) |
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Sen.
Shirley Kitchen (3rd District, Part of Philadelphia County) |
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Sen.
Daylin Leach (17th District, Parts of Delaware and Montgomery
Counties) |
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Sen.
Mike Stack (5th District, Part of Philadelphia County) |
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Sen.
Christine Tartaglione (2nd District, Part of Philadelphia
County) |
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Sen.
Leanna Washington (4th District, Parts of Montgomery and
Philadelphia Counties) |
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Sen.
Anthony Williams (8th District, Parts of Delaware and Philadelphia
Counties) |
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We
know there are more Champions out there, and we want to be sure
we recognize them all. If you know of other current Arts Champion
in the PA General Assembly, send an e-mail to rfreytag@pittsburghartscouncil.org. |
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| What's
at Stake |
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Funding
for grants through the the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
(PCA). |
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$14
million in Grants to the Arts through the Pennsylvania
Council on the Arts. |
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Grants
through the Pennsylvania
Historical and Museum Commission. |
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$100,000+
in funds to cultural organizations that provide educational
programs through the Educational
Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program. |
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Funding
for museum grants through the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum
Commission (PHMC). |
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Eliminated
in the Governor's initial budget proposal. |
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Remained
eliminated in the Senate's proposed budget bill (SB 850). |
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Remained
absent in the Governor's revised budget proposal. |
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The
Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program (EITC), which
makes tax credits to eligible businesses contributing to a Scholarship
Organization, an Educational Improvement Organization, and/or
a Pre-Kindergarten Scholarship Organization. Learn
more. |
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Eliminated
by the Senate's proposed budget bill (SB 850). |
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Back
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| Take
Action |
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There
are a number of things that you and/or your organization can
do to help ensure that funding for the Pennsylvania Council
on the Arts (PCA) and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum
Commission (PHMC) is included in the final Pennsylvania State
budget bill. |
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Contact
your State legislators today. Letting the policy makers
in Harrisburg know that supporting funding for arts and culture
in the state budget is important to you as a constituent is
imperative. |
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Engage
your audiences in the fight to save funding for arts and culture.
Make curtain speeches, print gallery cards, include inserts
in your programs or have links to online petitions on your organizations'
website and social networking ventures (Facebook, myspace, etc.). |
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Circulate
this message as widely as possible. Send this call to action
to your staff and board members, your organization's members,
ticket buyers, email lists and any other outlets that you can
think of. Harrisburg needs to hear from more than just the arts
and cultural organizations. |
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Stay
informed. Sign up to receive e-advocacy alerts and become
part of the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council's Advocacy Action
Squad. |
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Sign
the Petition to Save the Arts in Pennsylvania. |
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Remain
vigilant! |
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Sample
Letters to State Legislators in Support of Arts and Culture
Funding |
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Sample
letter from a grantee Open Stage Theatre |
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Sample
letter from Sweetwater Center for the Arts |
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Sample
email sent from the Pittsburgh Glass Center |
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Sample
email sent by an individual |
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| Creative
Methods to make the Case for state funding for Arts and Culture |
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In
the battle to keep funding for arts and culture in the FY09-10
Pennsylvania state budget it is important that we find creative
ways to tell our stories and make our arguments. We have included
the following as examples of creative ways to make the case
for arts and culture. |
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Save
the Arts in PA has
information related to
artless
wednesdays in PA
on their website. Starting 9/9/09 and continuing every Wednesday
until a state budget is passed, arts groups and arts supporters
from across the state are encouraged to participate in artless
activities. |
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Greater
Philadelphia Cultural Alliance (GPCA) produced SPARK,
a powerful and emotional short film about humans, and the profound
impact that Philadelphia museums and cultural institutions have
on their and hearts and minds. GPCA also collaborated with the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania to come up with this newspaper
ad that will run on June 12, 2009. |
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GPCA
also created postcards for members of the community to send
to local legislators. |
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Greater
Pittsburgh Arts Council has produced the animated gif at
the top of this page. We also produced these
information
cards to assist folks in making a case for arts and culture
funding |
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State
Advocacy Program Ads in a variety of sizes. Download
the PDF |
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Pittsburgh
City Council passed a resolution (6/19/2009) view
the Proclamation |
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Letter
to the Governor from City of Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl
(6/19/2009) view the letter
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At
the 2009 Work of Art Awards the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council
used the Audience to help to illustrate the impact that an elimination
of state funding for arts and culture would have on the workforce
of the creative sector. |
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Handmade
in PA has
a web image and has made the code available for everyone on
their website. |
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Pennsylvania
Council on the Arts has created two web stickers that can
easily be added to your website. Download
instructions.
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Curtain
Speech to encourage audiences to contact legislators. |
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Pittsburgh
Filmmakers created Arts
and Citizenship, a video now showing on YouTube.com and
vimeo about the arts. In this video, called "Arts and Citizenship",
individuals are interviewed about how they and their communities
are affected by the arts and about what might happen if arts
funding ceases to exist. |
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Pittsburgh
Center for the Arts has designed and sent postcards
to a variety of populations.
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JumpStreet,
in Harrisburg, is developing an advocacy campaign called ARTS
=. Contact Bob Welsh, executive director of JumpStreet at rwelsh@jumpstreet.org
for more information. |
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Other
Ideas for Outreach |
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Collect
images similar to the one at the top of this page showing what
life would be like in your organization without state funding. |
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Identify
people served by your organization and ask them to contact their
legislators. |
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Include
action steps in your email signatures leading people to the
citizens for the arts website or other state funding advocacy
resources. |
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Sign
the Save the Arts in PA petition. |
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Back
to Top
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| News |
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Arguing
dominates state budget process
- (10/6/2009) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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Rendell
calls special budget talks - (10/6/2009) - Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette |
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Rendell:
State budget deal 'meeting roadblocks'
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(9/24/2009) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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Arts
groups up in arms over sales tax on tickets -
(9/24/2009) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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Rendell
urged to scrap arts-tax plan - (9/24/2009) - Pittsburgh
Tribune Review |
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Report
shatters myths about cultural activities -
(9/22/2009) - Philadelphia Inquirer |
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Entertainment
tax riles theater officials - (9/22/2009) - The Daily
Times |
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Arts
leaders rage against new state sales tax -
(9/22/2009) - Philadelphia Inquirer |
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Editorial:
Singling out the arts -
(9/22/2009) - Philadelphia Inquirer |
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Arts
groups decry ticket tax - (9/22/2009)
- Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette |
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Already
impacted by the economy, performing arts now hit with Pennsylvania
sales tax - (9/22/2009) Patriot-News |
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Pennsylvania
Budget Accord Leaves Pension, Road Work Unresolved
- (9/21/2009)
- Bloomberg.com |
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You've
Got To Be Snuffing Kidding Me - (9/21/2009) - Philadelphia
Inquirer |
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Governor,
Legislative Leaders Announce Budget Deal - (9/21/2009) -
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center |
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Arts
community shocked by new tax burden - (9/20/2009) - Philadelphia
Inquirer |
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Rendell
optimistic of accord on state budget -
(9/17/2009) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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Rendell
says he won't sign latest version of budget -
(9/17/2009) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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A
Pennsylvania tax idea goes up in smoke - (9/16/2009) -
Philadelphia Inquirer |
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Pennsylvania
budget stalemate called worst ever - (9/14/2009) - Pittsburgh
Tribune Review |
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Budget
proposal likely to pass both House, Senate -
(9/15/2009) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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Rendell,
lawmakers confer on budget - (9/14/2009) - Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette |
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Pennsylvania
lawmakers stand by state budget agreement - (9/14/2009)
- Pittsburgh Tribune Review |
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Rendell
scorns what he calls 'get-out-of-town' spending plan - (9/13/2009)
- Pittsburgh Tribune Review |
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Lawmakers
say deal near on state budget -
(9/11/2009) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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Protests,
prayers mark 70th day without a state budget
- (9/9/2009) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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GOP
leaders trade barbs with Rendell over budget
- (9/4/2009) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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Legislators
resume state budget negotiations
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(9/1/2009) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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Arts,
cultural groups look to RAD for help -
(9/1/2009) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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State
budget talks 10 miles past the middle of nowhere - (8/27/2009)
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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Rendell,
legislators close in on budget spending figure - (8/24/2009)
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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Our
state can't cut its way out of this budget crisis - (8/23/2009)
- The Patriot News |
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Open
Stage Theatre goes homeless ... and on hiatus. - (8/20/2009)
- Pittsburgh City Paper |
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Balancing
act: Local arts groups struggle to survive on tight budgets
- (8/17/2009) - Philly.com |
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Valley
arts programs teeter on brink - (8/17/2009) - Pittsburgh
Tribune Review |
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Westmoreland
Museum goes dark to demonstrate budget's impact - (8/12/2009)
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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Budget
facing Rendell vetoes
- (8/4/2009) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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State
House passes budget that allows workers to be paid
- (8/4/2009)
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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Proposal
to hike Pa. income tax 'off table' - (8/4/2009) - Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette |
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Straw
budget before Pa. House - (8/3/2009) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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At
$14 million, the arts are a bargain for state's budget -
(8/2/2009) - Pittsburgh Tribune Review |
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Blue
Dogs to Unveil New Budget Proposal Monday - (8/2/2009) -
Pennsylvania Legislative Services |
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Private
meeting on state budget ends with no progress - (8/2/2009)
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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Two
lawmakers to meet Rendell on budget crisis -
(7/30/2009) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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Meet
the Pennsylvania Budget Makers - (7/29/2009) - Morning
Call |
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Conference
Committee FAQ -(7/28/2009) - Capitol Ideas Blog |
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Conference
Committee Begins Work Tomorrow - (7/28/2009) - Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette |
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Stopgap
budget would let state pay its workers - (7/28/2009) -
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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Legislature
may consider 1% sales tax plan - (7/27/2009) - Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette |
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Senate
Republicans refuse to buckle under Rendell's pressure (7/26/2009)
- Pittsburgh Tribune Review |
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Rendell
sells budget via media spree - (7/24/2009) - Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette |
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State
House, Senate resume budget debate -(7/20/2009) - Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette |
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Arts
Fans Rally in Harrisburg Capitol - (7/14/2009) - PennLive |
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Hospitals,
Arts groups protest state budget cuts - (7/14/2009) - Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette |
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Region
artists plead with lawmakers to continue support of arts
- (7/14/2009) - Pittsburgh Tribune Review |
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Rendell,
GOP lawmakers meeting on budget impasse - (6/29/2009) -
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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Lame
duck? Rendell powers on - (6/16/2009) -pennlive.com |
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Legislators
far apart on next state budget - (6/9/2009) - Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette |
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Conservatives
bash Rendell tax proposals
- (6/9/2009) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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State
House Dems dump Senate GOP budget - (6/8/2009) - Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette |
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Rendell
looks at all ways to balance state budget - (6/3/2009) -
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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Rendell
and GOP far apart on budget solutions - (5/28/2009) -
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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AS
I SEE IT: Keeping state programs alive - (5/22/2009)
- Indiana Gazette |
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State
funding of arts important
- (5/22/2009) - Erie Times-News |
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Future
of state arts lies in our hands - (5/17/2009) - Hanover
Sun Times |
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Back
to Top
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| Background
Information and Resources |
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On Wednesday,
May 6, 2009, the
Pennsylvania Senate passed its version of the FY 2010 state
budget
(SB
850) with a 30-20 vote. The bill, introduced on May 4,
eliminates all arts and culture grants in the state through
the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) and the Pennsylvania
Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC). While this is an
unfortunate occurrence, the budget process isn’t complete
yet.
Appropriations Chair Dwight Evans introduced the House budget
bill (HB
1416) which includes funding for both the PCA and the
PHMC. The House will act on this piece of legislation later
this month, so it is important for anyone who cares about
arts and culture to continue to communicate with their legislators
about this issue. The two bills will then go into what will
likely be a contentious conference committee before its final
passage in the General Assembly.
The Greater
Pittsburgh Arts Council would like to thank everyone who took
the time to contact their legislators over the last few days.
Your efforts did not go unnoticed. We would also like to thank
everyone who assisted us in disseminating the call-to-action
through their listservs, personal contacts, and other means.
We urge you to keep up the pressure. If you have already sent
a fax, send an email. If you have already sent an email follow
it up with a phone call.
We have
shown our local legislators that the arts and culture sector
are a force to be reckoned with, but advocacy is about more
than contacting your legislators’ offices when there
is a crisis. It is about building a relationship through personal
contacts, regular updates on you or your organizations success
and letting them know not only that you exist, but that you
are watching what they are doing. Be sure to thanks them when
the vote favorably for issues that are of importance to you.
At the same time, it is equally important to let them know
when the vote in a manner that is not representative of your
views.
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| House
Committee on Appropriations Public Hearings on Senate Bill 850 |
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On
May 21 & 22, 2009, PA Representative Dwight Evans of the
House Appropriations Committee held public hearings on Senate
Bill 850 in Harrisburg. He also accepted written testimony related
to the potential negative impact of that Senate budget bill.
The Arts Council encouraged the local arts community to send
written testimony, and provided examples. |
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Back
to Top
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| Links |
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Some
other ways to follow the state budget situation. |
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Capitol
Ideas Blog
- From John L. Micek of Harrisburg |
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Save
the Arts in PA website - updated news, links and resources
on the situation. |
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Save
the Arts in PA twitter stream. |
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Save
the Arts in Pennsylvania facebook cause. |
