Arts Advocacy Day Feb 1

The 2018 Virginia General Assembly convened on January 10, 2018 with our newly-elected Governor Ralph Northam. Every other year the legislature meets for 60 days to develop the Commonwealth’s biennial budget and will be doing this during the 2018 session. This is important for our arts and culture community, as it determines the funding available for the Virginia Commission for the Arts.

Currently the budget includes $250,000 in 2019 and $1,500,000 in 2020 for the Virginia Commission for the Arts (VCA) – an increase in funding that has been consistently cut since 2008. This funding will enable the VCA to award grants to more organizations which in turn generates important revenue for the Commonwealth. 

Since the proposed budget includes increased funding for arts and culture, Virginians for the Arts (VFTA) will be actively working with the Senate of Virginia, the House of Delegates and the Executive Branch to encourage sustaining the proposed funding. VFTA is a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to adequate funding for the arts and broad education of Virginia’s citizens about the importance of arts and culture to Virginia’s communities economically and from a quality-of-life perspective.

We encourage you to join us and Virginians for the Arts on February 1st for Arts Advocacy Day.  The day begins at 7:30 at the Dominion Arts Center with light breakfast, and a Legislative Meet-And-Greet accompanied by collegiate music students from Virginia’s universities thanks to the Virginia Music Educators Association.

Registration is required.  Visit www.vaforarts.org to learn more and to register.