From the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance…

It’s hard to believe that a little over a month ago, Senate Bill 850 appeared on our radar with the threat of losing all arts and culture funding in Pennsylvania. Since then, advocates in Greater Philadelphia and all across the state have taken serious action – tens of thousands of letters have been sent to members of the General Assembly, citizens have met with their legislators, and organizations have urged their board members and mailing lists to speak out.

This budget fight is not over. House Appropriations Committee Chair Dwight Evans announced yesterday that the Committee will hold a meeting this Monday, June 8, from 2-4pm in the Main Capitol Building to discuss SB 850. Noting that the response to the bill has been overwhelmingly negative, citizen feedback and testimony will be discussed. The Committee will decide whether to move Senate Bill 850 to the floor for consideration by the
entire House. If you can’t make it to Harrisburg, the meeting will be broadcast live on the Pennsylvania Cable Network: http://pcntv.com .

The most important request from Chairman Evans is that we continue to push all of our friends, family, and colleagues in Pennsylvania to contact their legislators. Our campaign makes it easy as 1-2-3 – just fill in your email, name, street address, zip code, hit the “Send This Message” button, and you’re done! Of course, adding your own personal stories to our form letter is encouraged. If you’ve already participated in our campaign, we strongly encourage you to follow up with your legislators with a phone call expressing your concerns on the issue. Use our Legislator Lookup to find their contact information in a jiffy: http://philaculture.org/action/legislator

Here’s some food for thought, and a quick fact to tell your legislator – for every dollar that the state spends, only half a penny goes to arts and culture, so the investment is already small! Greater Philadelphia cannot afford to lose its museums, theatres, musicians, and historical homes – but Senate Bill 850 makes that a frightening reality. We hope you continue to keep up the good fight – and it’s never too late to join!

You can take action on this alert via the web at:
http://ga1.org/campaign/FY10_PCA?rk=Id2TJzEqGf-tE