Issue Position: Promoting Arts and Culture

Issue Position

The arts play a role in the quality of our lives, in the effectiveness of our education system, and even in how we are viewed around the world. Cultural opportunities in cities and towns across America help build strong social centers and diversity that allow us to reflect on ourselves and our society. Alexi wants to ensure that cultural institutions, individual artists and arts organizations receive the funding they deserve, and that artists can access quality, affordable health care and are treated fairly under the tax code.
An arts education for all students

* Study after study shows that arts education raises test scores in reading, writing and math, and fosters creativity.
* Alexi believes all students should have access to arts education. He supports the creation of an "Artists Corps" of young artists who are trained to work in low-income schools and communities. Studies in Chicago have demonstrated that low-income schools that link arts across the curriculum show more rapid rates of improvement than schools lacking such programs.
* It is important that government encourage investment in the arts through public/private partnerships. As Senator, Alexi will advocate for increased resources for the U.S. Department of Education's Arts Education Model Development and Dissemination Grants. Alexi will also engage the corporate community in an effort to find new and innovative ways to increase support for arts education through public/private partnerships.

Increased funding for the arts

* Government funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has been repeatedly cut over the past 17 years, from $175 million annually in 1992 to $144 million last year. Congress' recent action to raise NEA funding to $167.5 million is an important first step, but much more must be done.
* In the Senate, Alexi will be a strong voice for restoring NEA funding to previous inflation-adjusted levels and ensuring that the arts receive a fair increase each year. Support for the NEA enriches communities across the country by helping arts organizations and artists through direct grants and funding for state arts councils.
* Alexi will support opportunities to fund the arts through other mechanisms, including education funding bills and appropriate earmarks.

Diplomacy through the arts

* American artists, performers and thinkers have been invaluable to America's diplomatic efforts. Unfortunately, our resources for cultural diplomacy are at their lowest level in a decade. As Senator, Alexi would work to reverse this trend by improving and expanding public-private partnerships that provide cultural and arts exchanges throughout the world.

Ensuring tax fairness

* Artists who donate self-created works are only able to receive a tax deduction for the cost of supplies, not the market price of the work.
* The Artists-Museum Partnership Act would allow artists, writers, and composers to take a tax deduction equal to the fair market value of the works they donate to museums and libraries, an incentive that collectors who make similar donations already receive. The value of the canvas, pen, paper and ink do not come close to the true value of the finished work.
* By closing this disparity, we will be better able to preserve our works of art in public institutions, while properly rewarding the artists who created them.

Providing access to affordable health care

* Finding affordable health coverage has been one of the most cumbersome hurdles for those in the arts community. Many artists are self-employed or have non-traditional work relationships and often do not have access to affordable health insurance. All Americans should have access to quality, affordable health care. Alexi supports the creation of a public health insurance option that consumers would be able to purchase on a health-insurance exchange. You can read more about his plan here.

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