Arts Positions of the 2008 Presidential Candidates

Americans for the Arts Action Fund is pleased to present you with its just released summary of the Arts Positions of the 2008 Presidential Candidates. (Also see side-by-side comparison table below.)

As you may know, Americans for the Arts Action Fund launched its ArtsVote2008 initiative in May 2007 in order to educate presidential candidates on issues impacting the
arts and arts education with the goal of securing—for the first time ever—formal position statements from the top candidates.

To date, we have shared with you Senator
Barack Obama’s comprehensive arts policy proposal that he began issuing in February 2008. Unfortunately, the McCain campaign has not been as forthcoming, despite numerous formal requests from the Arts Action Fund and Senator McCain’s own supporters over the last year. However, we are pleased to report that Senator McCain has now issued a short statement that he released in an article for today’s Salt Lake City Tribune.

With this information in hand, we ask you—the arts advocate—to take action by doing the following things:

  1. Share this side-by-side comparison of the presidential candidates with your friends, family, and colleagues.
  2. Blog about this issue on any sites that you are affiliated with.
  3. Post the comparison chart on your social network sites, such as Facebook, MySpace, and others.
  4. Send a Letter to the Editor of your local newspapers and journals. We’ve made it easy for you by drafting a customizable letter at our E-Advocacy Center that you can personalize. You will then automatically be given the choice to e-mail your letter to all the key media outlets in your area based on your zip code.
  5. Ask questions about policies on the arts and arts education to both your Congressional and presidential candidates in any kind of town hall forums, online chats, or any other
    public forums.
  6. Vote for the candidates that you feel will best advance the arts and arts education in America.

With only a few days left to Election Day, now is the time to act and show your support for the arts!

Arts Positions of the 2008 Presidential Candidates
 

Sen. Barack Obama
Democratic Nominee

Sen. John McCain
Republican Nominee

Campaign has met with Americans for the Arts Action Fund to
discuss policy issues.

 Yes
Meeting held 4/1/08

Yes
Meeting held 4/1/08

Campaign has published policy proposals on the arts and/or arts education.

Yes
Read policy proposal 2/28/08

No

Candidate has made statement on federal support of the arts.

Yes
View Pennsylvania speech on 4/2/08

No

Candidate has made statement on federal support of arts education.

Yes
View Texas speech on 2/28/08

Yes
Read Statement 10/03/08

National party platform includes statement on the arts and/or arts education.

Yes
Read platform statement on
page 49

No

Candidate has pro-arts Congressional record.

Yes
Co-sponsored S. 548, Artist-Museum Partnership Act, 2/25/08

No
Voted to cut funding or terminate the National Endowment for the Arts (see listing of votes*)

*Roll call votes on 7/12/00, 8/5/99, 9/15/98, 9/18/97, 9/17/97, 7/25/94, 9/15/93, 9/15/93, and 9/14/93.
Source:  Americans for the Arts Action Fund, as of 10/03/08

Americans for the Arts Action Fund is the bipartisan advocacy arm of Americans for the Arts, engaging citizens in ensuring that all Americans have the opportunity to appreciate, value, and participate in the arts. Arts Action Fund members are citizen activists who are committed to helping make certain that arts-friendly public policies are adopted at every level of government and in the private sector. ArtsVote2008, a program of the Arts Action Fund, was created to secure bold, new policy proposals in support of the arts and arts education in America from candidates in the 2008 presidential campaign.

For more info visit www.artsvote.org, or call 202-371-2830

Published by Pete Ippel

Pete Ippel, the son of a dancer and a musician, was born in Oak Park, Illinois and has been surrounded by the arts since birth. He moved to Morris, Illinois in 1989 and started to participate in athletics rather than dance. After high school, Pete attended Cornell University where he received a BA in psychology and a BFA in photo / digital art making. He continued to follow his sporting dreams in the high jump, which culminated in a school record leap of 7 feet 1/2 inch in 2001. In May 2004 he attained an MFA degree in the New Genres department of the San Francisco Art Institute. Presently Pete is a practicing artist whose work is in numerous private collections and has been exhibited in New York, California, and internationally. Mr. Ippel resides in Working Artists Ventura, a sustainable artist community in southern California. In addition, he teaches art, is a web developer, an active blogger, and still high jumps from time to time. As a passionate problem solver and a pragmatic optimist, Pete’s art and his life are full of exciting challenges.

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