Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance

Support the Arts -- Join us in Advocating for the Arts Today!

Today, GroundSwell and Artistic Rebuttal Project are hosting our third annual “Go Forth by Phone” phone bank event for those who can't make the trip to Washington, DC for National Arts Advocacy Day. We’re very excited this year to be in the center of the action at the Philadelphia Flower Show -- we even have a table set up in the middle of the show to encourage attendees to advocate for the arts!

You can still drop by and join us today from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in room 107-A of the Pennsylvania Convention Center, right behind the event’s Will Call booth (enter at the west 12th and Arch entrance). It’ll be a great chance to connect with your fellow advocates and network with arts and culture sector workers. Plus, we’re raffling off some great prizes (including Flower Show tickets!), and everyone who joins will get a custom “I Advocated for the Arts Today” sticker! We even have a special guest speaker, Erica Hawthorne of Small But Mighty Arts, who will help get you excited to advocate for the arts!

If you can’t make it to the phone bank today, we still need you to stand up for arts & culture. And the good news is: We’ve made it easy for you to advocate from anywhere!

We urge you to contact your legislators about these key issues:

  • Support for a $155Million appropriation for the National Endowment for the Arts in FY 2017. In 2014, more than 50 NEA-funded projects served Southeastern Pennsylvania.

  • Support an appropriation of $30 million for the Assistance for the Arts in Education Program of the Department of Education, in the FY2017 Labor-HHS-Education appropriation bill.

  • Preserving incentives for charitable giving and protect the full scope and value of the charitable gifts tax deduction.

Click here for an email template you can use to send a message to your U.S. Senators and Representative. We’ve pre-written a message for you, but it’s always a good idea to add your own custom subject line and a story about how the arts have directly impacted you and your community.

And if you’re on Twitter, join the thousands of advocates all over the country tweeting about National Arts Advocacy Day with #AAD16! You can find a list of Southeastern PA Legislators at http://twitter.com/GroundSwell_PA/lists/sepa-legislators/members.

Here are some tweets you can send to show your support:

It's Nat'l Arts Advocacy Day! Let #SEPA legislators know why #PHLarts matter. Find yours on Twitter here: http://bit.ly/SEPALegis #AAD16

#ArtsMATTER. Send an email to your Senators & Representatives today via @GroundSwell_PA: http://bit.ly/AAD16  #AAD16

I advocated for the #arts today! Show your support& send an email to your legislators  via @GroundSwell_PA: http://bit.ly/AAD16 #AAD16

.@SenToomey @SenBobCasey #ArtsMATTER. We need YOU to support $155M appropriation for @NEArts in FY16 #AAD16

.@SenToomey @SenBobCasey #ArtsEd is important! Please support funding for @usedgov Arts in Education Program #AAD16

Thanks for your support!

Today, GroundSwell and Artistic Rebuttal Project are hosting our third annual “Go Forth by Phone” phone bank event for those who can't make the trip to Washington, DC for National Arts Advocacy Day. We’re very excited this year to be in the center of the action at the Philadelphia Flower Show -- we even have a table set up in the middle of the show to encourage attendees to advocate for the arts!