UPDATE - 4/19/07:
KERRY
WASHINGTON SPEAKS TO THE U.S. HOUSE
Statement of Kerry Washington, Board Member of The
Creative Coalition
House Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related
Agencies
Thursday, April 19, 2007
B-308 Rayburn House Office Building
Good morning Chairman Dicks, Ranking Member Tiahrt and
members of the Subcommittee. My name is Kerry
Washington. I’m an actress and a member of the Board of
Directors of The Creative Coalition.
The Creative Coalition is a nonprofit, nonpartisan
advocacy organization of the entertainment industry.
Founded in 1989 by prominent figures in the creative
community, The Creative Coalition works to educate and
mobilize leaders in the arts community on issues of
public importance. Our members are actors, actresses,
writers, producers, directors, and others involved in
America’s creative arts. I thank you for having me here
today to speak briefly about the importance of federal
arts spending, particularly funding for the National
Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for
the Humanities.
As you know, in real dollars, funding for the NEA and
NEH has been cut substantially in the last 13 years. On
behalf of The Creative Coalition, I urge you to restore
NEA and NEH funding to the levels of the early 1990s. We
urge you to appropriate $176 million to the NEA and $177
million to the NEH for Fiscal Year 2008. Taking
inflation into account, this still represents a dramatic
decrease in federal arts funding over the past 13 years.
I know funds are tight, and I know there are many worthy
programs seeking limited federal dollars. Even in this
era of belt tightening, however, we should not lose
sight of the tremendous return on investment that our
society receives from the arts.
From a purely economic perspective, it’s clear that
support for America’s arts institutions yields
spectacular returns. Non-profit arts organizations spend
billions of dollars each year and create millions of
jobs for Americans. And these organizations generate
many more tax dollars than they receive. Roughly 1 in 50
Americans is employed in an arts-related field, and
studies even show that kids who play an instrument or
act in plays perform better on standardized tests. The
statistics are staggering. But I know that you hear
these facts and figures each year from advocates for the
arts.
So today, rather than simply focusing on cold data, I’d
like to share with you the story of one little girl
growing up in the Bronx and the impact that the
non-profit arts community had on her life. This is my
story. In my family, with my mom and dad both working,
community arts programs were my third parent. My options
were to stay at home and be a latchkey kid, to hang out
on the streets and get in trouble, or to find something
worthwhile to do and somewhere to do it. That’s where
the arts came in. Monday was ballet. Children’s theater
on Tuesday. Wednesday was art class. And so it went, the
calendar of my youth.
These opportunities opened my eyes to a broader world,
gave me something to reach for and a reason to reach for
it. I can still remember my third grade trip into
Manhattan to see a non-profit theater production of A
Midsummer Night’s Dream. Imagine it, a busload of kids
from the Bronx on a magical journey, introduced to
languages, to sounds, cultures, and dreams that were
completely foreign.
I didn’t grow up dreaming of being in Hollywood. As a
girl, I read the great children’s book The Mixed-Up
Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler until the pages were
dog-eared and dreamt of spending the night in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Museums gave me a place to
learn in three dimensions. And as a high school student,
I’d explore the world outside my own world by going to
the museum on my own, giving 25 cents or a dollar
donation as the price of admission.
I am the real-world beneficiary of the federal arts
dollars that this Committee has appropriated over the
years. Federal dollars for community theaters and dance
troupes and museums are vital. For non-profit arts
organizations, ticket sales generally make up only half
of what it takes to operate. The shortfall is made up
largely by corporate and individual contributions. And
now that I can afford to give more than the 25 cent
donations of my youth, I’m doing my part. But local,
state and federal dollars are essential. And anyone who
thinks there’s money to spare and that the federal
contribution doesn’t make a difference, I invite them to
come with me to community theater in the Bronx and show
me where to cut the fat. Every dollar you allocate
counts.
This story of the little girl in the Bronx, however,
isn’t just my story. It’s the story of the boy in
Brownsville and the family in Bismarck. So many
Americans benefit from our non-profit arts institutions.
And the real benefits are rarely as obvious as they are
in my life. Of course not every kid who does community
theater is going to end up in movies.
The real genius of America’s investment in the arts is
that it fosters the creativity we need as a country if
we’re going to make this another American Century. We’re
not going to match China and India engineer for
engineer. What we can do – what we have done – is raise
and attract the most creative thinkers in the world: the
most creative doctors, biologists, chemists. The
creative spark lit by an art class, a theater
performance or a trip to a museum can grow into an
inferno of creativity that burns across a broad swath of
intellectual endeavors. We need to keep that flame lit.
I urge you to return funding for the arts and humanities
to the levels of the early 1990s.
Thank you again for giving me this opportunity to
address you this morning. I would be happy to answer any
questions.
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