Last month I gave you a heads-up that advocacy season had officially begun. Within a day of that writing came news of a proposal to cut the National Endowment for the Arts. Since that time, more cuts have been proposed for arts in education through the Department of Education. At the state level, Governor Brown’s budget includes deep cuts in education and social services and calls for an extension of the tax increases that were passed a few years ago. To paint the picture of what will happen to public education if the tax extensions fail to pass (or get on the ballot), school districts have adopted “doomsday budgets.” Meanwhile, municipalities are vigorously advocating to “mend, not end” Community Redevelopment Agencies, many of which support public and community art as part of their project areas.

In this climate, it’s no surprise that Arts for LA’s overarching objective for the next two years is to maintain existing cultural infrastructure. We are pleased to release its 2011-13 Policy Framework, which outlines three core issues: Arts Education, Cultural Economy and Civic Engagement, as well as the goals, strategies and success indicators to protect the policies, funding streams and programs that support our arts ecology.

We know that as the Public Sector (government, local, state & Federal) continues its economic recovery efforts, arts programs, as well as every other social service, will be impacted. In partnership with our-- our members and subscribers -- our collective goal is to maintain these vital resources and prepare the arts sector for growth.

My job is to make advocacy (the issues we care about) and taking action on those issues easy to digest and to participate in. It may feel like we are being impacted on many different levels, and in a sense we are. In an effort to unpack the levels and outline current campaigns, check out the snapshot grid below, take action and mobilize your networks.

Advocacy is a verb: a strategic and collaborative movement forward. Arts for LA is a conduit that increases the momentum of our regional collaboration. Hop on board.

Onward!