Site under construction
Please excuse our transition look while our new website is being completed:
www.ricitizensforarts.org coming in 2010!
Governor Proposes Severe Cuts to the Arts
The Governor's FY11 recommended budget announced at a press conference on Tuesday, Feb 2 recommends elimination of the public art program, the film tax credit and state discretionary grant funds, a total cut of 58%. If enacted, these cuts will have a devasting affect on the creative community and beyond. They will cause a severe hit to the many arts and cultural institutions in our state that liven our cities, attract businesses and jobs, hire locally, buy locally and contribute largely to our economic well-fare.
The Providence Journal released these details in the Tuesday, February 2nd, article "Details of Carcieri’s Budget Emerge".
See community leaders' reaction in the RI CFA press release (pdf).
We need you NOW! This cut serves as a wake up call to the creative community. To all employed in and/or supportive of the arts and creative sectors in Rhode Island: We must act quickly to fend off similar fate in the Assembly. Become a member today and help us do this work!
SIGN UP!
1. Attend an advocacy training! Join us in Pawtucket or Newport for a 3-hour advocacy training, facilitated by our consultant, Lori Fresina of M+R Strategic Services. At these sessions, you'll learn the tools and tactics we will use to fight these cuts. Sign Up Online »
2. Sign Up to meet with your legislator! In person meetings will be the most effective - we want to be sure they take the time to absorb our arguments, and learn from you as their constituent on the importance of the creative sector to Rhode Island's economy, future and magnetism - an asset not many other state's can claim. Let us know if you are willing to make the call and schedule the meeting on your sign up. We'll group you with others in your area and help you coordinate. Sign Up Online »
RI Citizens for the Arts will be working with members of the Assembly to right this wrong and our effectiveness depends on YOU - our grassroots advocates, coalition partners, business leaders, artists, designers, patrons, organization leaders, and more. We will be the hub of information, training and mobilization.
AND we need your friends! Right now, we need to identify citizens in each and every legislative district who care about protecting the arts. Help us triple the size of our list by asking your friends, relatives and colleagues throughout Rhode Island to sign up with us.
We Have the Facts:
- Every $1 invested by the state through RI State Council on the Arts leverages another $21.55 in outside funds.
- Nonprofit arts and cultural organization in Providence alone generate $111.8 milion annually in local economic activity: hotel stays, restaurants, shopping. That's the ripple effect of the arts!
- There are 2,250 creative industry businesses in Rhode Island registered with Dun & Bradstreet.
- These businesses employ more than 11,842 people.
- The sector grew between 2007 and 2008 by 5.1% while other sectors declined.
- These are businesses and jobs at stake.
Now let's get together and bring our message to the Assembly.
Read more facts about "Making the Case for the Arts and Creative Industries Sector" (pdf). Let's get together and bring our message to the Assembly.
We'll be calling you to action soon - be sure to be signed up for our email alerts and to check back here often for updates!
email alert sign up | become a member
More Advocacy Tools:
Tell your story and share it with us. word document | pdf
Know how to talk with your legislator:
Tips for Speaking with your legislator »
2009 Success in Arts Advocacy
View last year's legislative activity and arts
education policy work »
Our Strategy in Advancing the Arts for RI
RI CFA has a guiding document for our work. Check out the Sustaining
the Arts in Rhode Island: A 5-Year Plan to see what we are working on. While a comprehensive document here,
we will have status on specific initiatives outlined on our new site
in a couple of months. In the meantime, be sure to let
us know what
you think and if there are specific initiatives you want to take part
in.
Become a Member!
RI CFA is building coalition to advance Rhode Island's creative communities. By
this, we are able to move our policy agenda forward. We are the only statewide
advocacy organization for the arts in RI. We have a consistent
presence at the State House; organize and educate citizens on the political
process; and through this, work to strengthen the voice for the broad creative
community so that it is strong and heard.
In building advocacy coalitions and empowering a network of advocates
throughout the State, we affect positive change for the arts industry
in progressive and grassroots ways. We can only do this work with the
support of our members. Add your voice to the effort and become
a member today!
Celebrate Creativity –
A great night of connecting creative minds
Thanks to all who came out to Celebrate Creativity on October 22. We
had a great crowd with over 80 creative folks sharing drinks and connecting
at Everyman in Providence! The event marked what we hope to be the start
of ongoing gatherings throughout Rhode Island. RI CFA sees bringing the
community together as a way of strengthening the creativity in our State
as well as the voice towards affecting positive change politically. Stay
tuned for more connecting!
Thanks to the City of Providence Dept of Art, Culture and Tourism for partnering
with us and making the event a great success. As well as Narragansett
Beer and Everyman Bistro.
Our Identity
At the Celebrate Creativity event, RI Citizens for the Arts did a 'soft-launch'
of our new identity. The design was
created by Amanda Snyder of SOAK Design in Providence, in collaboration
with Heather Snyder Quinn (her sister) of Brookline Street Design and
Josh Vizzacco also in Providence. Our challenge to the designers was
creating a fresh identity that said all of these things: 'creative',
'citizens', 'movement', 'cause', and 'political', while also being simple,
clean and sophisticated. The
final identity is pretty close to all of this for us. The designers
help explain: The green/gray color scheme lends to the feeling of
a progressive cause, a citizen's cause. As RI CFA is continuously working
to un-define or re-define the term 'arts', separating the letter A
in the main logo helps us start to play with this concept. It opens
up possibility in the future of altering that letter with different
design or color treatment based on the different areas that are represented
under this broad term, that will enforce a concept that 'arts' is flexible
and evolving. Further
in pulling out the A in the large A graphic, we begin to engage in
the letter's meaning. At this point, it could be A for Arts, or A for
Advocacy, or A for Active, etc. For RI CFA, we especially like it as
it becomes an iconic image that will carry the identity in various
areas - including stickers and decals.
We are pretty happy with the results and hope you are as well.
Let us know by sending us an email.
Next: While we had hoped we would have our new site
up in time for our soft-launch, these things do not always happen so
perfectly. We
are excited though to have recently received a grant from the RI Foundation
that will now help us build an even more dynamic site! In some way,
perhaps the delay was a blessing, as these funds will help take the
site to a new level. The site (www.ricitizensforarts.org)
aims to be THE advocacy portal for the arts in Rhode Island. It will
include interactive features, an advocacy toolkit and deeper integration
with our members. We'll let you know when it's up and running!
Rhode Island's Creative Community Video
In our statewide advocacy for the arts, there are few key messages we share. Check
out this video to get a sense of what we often share to legislators, decision-makers
and the like.
