Defund This!
As we go through another round of arts on the chopping block I’ve got a question for you.
What do artists mean to America? What do a group of people that some think don’t even count, know about making this country great? More than you think. See, we actually know something about making things, with our hands, with our neighbors. We rebuild places many have given up on, and we stay, even when they tell us to leave.
And we like to think we know something about fighting like hell for a thing called democracy. (video, action step and more ranting below)
TAKE ACTION FOR THE ARTS
See, our art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which we shape it.
Now we sit with the battered, the immigrated, the imprisoned, the unemployed, and we hear about the desire they have to see something better, to make sure their young people have the same shot many of us had.
We come from places where the markets people are worried about, are supermarkets, and the futures people care about, belong to our nieces and nephews, not some scheme smart guys on Wall Street or K Street or Pennsylvania Ave cooked up to prop up their friends.
Now they might think that we will go away, as part of some crass political calculation.
But, know this, you can’t defund the spirit of creativity and freedom.
They might think they know what we do, and where we work.
Maybe it would work a little better to spend less on drones and a little more on giving people a taste of a part of America that been underestimated that was forged over hundreds of years in poverty and grit in our towns and cities.
See, what artists in this country do is shine a bright light on inequality. Shouting the great story people sometimes don’t want to hear. It isn’t our job to sell you anything.
We don’t talk about freedom from some padded backseat, we fight for it, and chances are you’re not going to read about us or know our names.
We take on what most have never encountered. We put our shoulders to it. We do the heavy lifting.
And we know the narratives that make this country great and we share them, boldly. So yeah, go ahead, defund this.
TAKE ACTION FOR THE ARTS