January 28, 2021 at 9:48am
The mayors of ten major US cities have penned a letter to the Biden-Harris administration asking it to take an integrated federal approach to supporting the arts. In their missive, the mayors noted that the September unemployment rate for those in the arts ranged from roughly three to six times that of the overall national unemployment rate of 8.5 percent, according to the National Endowment of the Arts.
The mayors who signed the letter are London Breed, San Francisco; Lori Lightfoot, Chicago; Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles; Jenny Durkan, Seattle; Kate Gallego, Phoenix; David Martin, Stamford, CT; Sylvester Turner, Houston; Ted Wheeler, Portland, OR; Jim Kenney, Philadelphia; and Cassie Franklin, Everett, WA.
Governor Gavin Newsom presents his 2021-2022 state budget during a news conference in Sacramento, California
With the coronavirus ravaging the arts industry across the US, two state governors have released ambitious plans to bring culture back to the country’s top arts hubs. In Gavin Newsom’s 2021-2022 budget plan released this week, the California governor is dedicating $25m for a grant programme aimed at small museums and theaters, as well as $15m to the California Arts Council for the creation of a statewide pilot programme called the California Creative Corps, to be funded through dollar-for-dollar matching donations from private donors.