March 10: Culture Stops!

In response to the proposed cuts to federal budgets for the arts and humanities, Rhode Island advocates are spearheading a national campaign to draw attention to what life would be like in America without creativity, imagination and thought.

 

Culture Stops! is a citizen-driven, peaceful day of action by individuals and organizations in the creative sector across the United States who share the simple belief that the power of creative thought is the lifeblood of democracy.

According to Americans for the Arts, the nonprofit arts industry alone generates $166.2 billion annually in economic activity, supports 5.7 million full-time equivalent jobs in the arts and related industries, and returns $12.6 billion in federal income taxes.

For the organizers of Culture Stops!, it’s not just "the potential for economic devastation that is troubling, but the prospect of diminishing the vitality of American life." They maintain that "funding cuts to the arts and humanities, heritage and preservation, arts education, public broadcasting, and a host of related federal programs that quietly seed and leverage investment in the creative sector will result in a crisis of our national conscience."

On Thursday, March 10, Culture Stops! will "put a face to the millions of individuals, for-profit companies, nonprofit organizations, and institutions who fuel and sustain the creative sector and who are the backbone of America ingenuity."

Please join CMW in supporting Culture Stops! Check out the website to learn how you can participate, visit the Facebook page, and sign the petition.

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff