U.S. Rep. Miller moves forward with arts hearings

Here’s an update on the Congressional-level arts hearings I mentioned back in February:

The economic role of the U.S. arts industry and the disproportionate job losses it may be suffering in the current recession will be examined by the House Education & Labor Committee in hearings starting Thursday, March 26.

Titled “The Economic and Employment  Impact of the Arts and Music Industry” and chaired by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.),  the initial hearing will investigate how American communities are affected economically by arts activity. The committee will also examine the the arts and music industries in light of media reports about heavy job losses and endangered institutions, economic troubles reflected by a National Endowment for the Arts study that found unemployment in the arts to be substantially greater in 2008 than the national unemployment level for that year.

U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), who co-chairs the Congressional Arts Caucus, will provide testimony, as will Robert Lynch, head of Americans for the Arts; Michael Spring, director of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs; Michael Bahr, education director of the Utah Shakespearean Festival; and Tim Daly, co-president of the Creative Coalition, an arts, education and First-Amendment-rights advocacy organization co-founded by the late Ron Silver.

I expect to have more to report on this soon.