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