Trump Budget Confirms Arts Cuts

Today, President Trump released the full version of his FY 2018 budget proposal, A New Foundation for American Greatness. As you may recall, the FY 2018 "skinny budget" was released in March and called for a total elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and other cultural grant-making agencies. Today's full budget proposal was no different. We saw nearly a $2 million increase to the NEA's budget for FY 2017 in the recent omnibus but, as you can see below, those increases could be zeroed out if the President's budget is accepted by Congress. (The minimal funds provided to the NEA, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are to bring about full closure of the agencies.): Take action now by contacting your Member of Congress and Senators telling them to #SAVEtheNEA. Be sure to include your own stories of how the NEA has brought the arts to your community. You can find specific examples for your state by clicking here to see a breakdown of NEA grants for 2016. Short on time? You can tweet at your Member of Congress and Senators too!  Your voice can make a difference. Speak out to Congress and #SAVEtheNEA! Congress will now officially begin hearings on this request, so your message to your elected officials is timely!   Help us continue this important work by also becoming an official member of the Arts Action Fund.  If you are not already a member, play your part by joining the Arts Action Fund today - it's free and easy to join.

1000 Vermont Avenue NW 6th Floor Washington DC . 20005 T 202.371.2830 F 202.371.0424   One East 53rd Street . 2nd Floor New York NY . 10022 T 212.223.2787 F 212.980.4857   info@artsusa.org www.AmericansForTheArts.org www.ArtsActionFund.org

OldTone Music (and dance) Festival announces new site plan; early bird tickets expire at midnight

Oldtone Roots Music Festival 
September 7-10, 2017
Cool Whisper Farm, N. Hillsdale, NY
has announced its layout for 2017

For those who attended this tiny gem (as they say, "Think Winterhawk/Nobett Hill!") last year, you will see a huge improvement this year. The main stage is being moved away from the farm compound, to the area occupied last year by day parking. The workshop stage will be moved to the former main stage location.

But the best news is camping has been added closer to the main grounds, above the main stage! This means campers will be able to see and hear main stage acts from their sites!


Love the new layout!

Note: map is stylized and not to scale.

From the festival:

Dear Friends and Family,

We wanted to take a moment to make sure all those that want to come to Oldtone 2017 have saved the dates & telling their friends! 

We are having a lot of fun planning this years festival, and it is challenging and time-consuming to found a Roots Arts Organization. We are dedicated and working very hard to make sure Oldtone is successful and we thank everyone we know personally that has helped Oldtone so in the last year. It has been amazing to have so many wonderful people pitch in and support our vision.

We wanted to let you know that the time to get tickets is now. Early Bird Day & Camping Tickets save substantial buckaroos! So please take advantage of it, it’s a great way to support the festival and save money too. You can get your tickets here:

Another great way to help is to be an Oldtone Volunteer, which gives you comp tickets, and makes you a part of our growing Oldtone Family. Volunteering is actually really fun, and having reliable people we know take on those simple jobs is a huge help for us! Please contact Beth if you would like to Volunteer: beth@oldtonemusicfestival.com or click on this link: Volunteer at Oldtone!!

In addition this year we are adding the option to be a personal sponsor and financial supporter of Oldtone Roots Music Festival and join us in our mission to preserve, teach, and create experiences of the American Oral tradition that is Roots Music. Contact Beth about sponsoring a band, having your name in the program, or having your name burned into the main stage posts for the life of the stage. More info coming soon.

We’ve had so much fun planning this year’s line up. And there are some big improvements such as moving the main stage to a much better spot, with the main camping in a horseshoe shape all around it! Think Winterhawk/Nobett Hill! 

Please Spread The Word. Facebook shares, posts, and forwarding an email or two about Oldtone really does help, and we rely on you helping us spread the word.

Video Preview of Oldtone Roots Music Festival--Click HERE! 

Also: Look for SuperTONE-July 22nd, which has launched!

Thank You to all our good friends and family members that have given us such strong support, we are so grateful! 

Cheers,
Kip, Matt, Jim, Beth and the Hundreds of Wonderful Volunteers!
Oldtone Roots Music Festival 
Foghorn Stringband, The Revelers, Jesse Lége, Bill and The Bells and much more...
September 7-10, 2017 Cool Whisper Farm, N. Hillsdale, NY

www.oldtonemusicfestival.com 

www.facebook.com/OldtoneMusicFestival/

Good news from Americans for the Arts - Congress Finalizes Current Budget with Arts Increases

Congress Finalizes Current Budget with Arts Increases

We wanted to share the latest breaking news from Washington this morning and another great example of how all of your grassroots arts advocacy efforts of sending thousands of letters, emails, phone calls, personal visits, op-eds, news articles, targeted advertising, and research proved effective. Congress has reached a bipartisan agreement on a bill to fund the nation’s federal agencies and programs for the remaining balance of the current Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 budget, which ends on September 30, 2017.  None of the nation’s arts and cultural agencies nor programs incurred a budget cut. In fact, many of them received funding increases for this year (see chart below). Key Federally Funded Arts & Culture Agencies/Programs FY 2016 Enacted Appropriations (in millions) FY 2017 Omnibus Proposal (in millions) National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) $148 $150 National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) $148 $150 Assistance for Arts Education grant program through U.S. Department of Education $27 $27 New ESSA Well-Rounded Education grants -- $400 21st Century Community Learning Centers (after-school program) $1,140 $1,190 Corporation for Public Broadcasting $445 $445 Office of Museum Services $31 $32 Save America's Treasures $0 $5 Smithsonian Institution $840 $863 U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum $54 $57 Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts $36 $36 U.S. Commission of Fine Arts $2.65 $2.8 Nat’l Capital Arts & Cultural Affairs Program $2 $2 National Gallery of Art $148 $155.5 Special thanks goes to House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ken Calvert (R-CA) for initiating a funding increase for many of these cultural programs in the House Interior bill last summer along with ranking member Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) and to Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) for matching the funding increases in the final Senate version of the bill. Many thanks to Congressional Arts Caucus co-chairs Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ) and Senate Cultural Caucus co-chairs Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) for keeping pressure on Congressional leaders to increase funding for these critically important cultural agencies. None of this could have happened without you. The grassroots calls to action that you promoted and pushed out led to arts advocates from all across the country sending over 165,000+ emails to their elected representatives. As you know, Arts Advocacy Day in March drew new record numbers (712 attendees!), larger than we have ever seen before in the 30 years of Arts Advocacy Days.  Every Congressional and Senatorial office was hit with messages of the value of the arts and there were over 400 face-to-face meetings with Congressional leaders and staff! Next Steps: FY2017:  Both chambers of Congress will next vote on this bipartisan Omnibus Appropriations bill before it proceeds to the President’s desk for him to sign/veto by this Friday, May 5th.  Despite the President recently proposing funding cuts to many of these cultural programs (i.e. $15 million cut to NEA), it appears that he will sign the bill that was held over from last year's congress. FY2018:  Please note that the FY2018 appropriations bill for funding the federal government from October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018 is still very much in play and going through the legislative process. This is the bill that the President recommended eliminating the NEA, NEH, IMLS, CPB, etc.  We remain focused on getting all of these agencies fully funded in the coming months. As we turn our focus to FY 2018, the success of securing increased funding for the arts for FY 2017 is great testimonial to the impact of advocacy! Thank you!

1000 Vermont Avenue NW 6th Floor Washington DC . 20005 T 202.371.2830 F 202.371.0424 One East 53rd Street . 2nd Floor New York NY . 10022 T 212.223.2787 F 212.980.4857 info@artsusa.org www.AmericansForTheArts.org www.ArtsActionFund.org