Thread by @HESherman

I WON'T SHOUT AGAAIN, but consider everything that follows to be in an emphatic tone bordering on anger: Do you know how much the UK government provided in arts and culture grants today? £257 million. That's $331 million here.

How much special funding for the live performing arts has the U.S. government provided in this time of crisis, considering that the population of the US is five times that of the UK? $75 million, less than 25% of UK support.

40% of the US funds went to state arts councils. The other funds yielded 846 grants of $50K each to arts organizations. Since those grants? Zero. Zed. Nil. Nada. Nothing. Yet the challenges are the same between US and UK, and pandemic wears on. Angry yet?

If you're not angry about the minimal support for the arts in the U.S., here's another detail for you: the £257 million granted to arts and culture organizations today in the UK is only the first phase of their initiative. The government there has allocated $1.57 BILLION!

Sorry, I shouted again. To be clear: I'm very pleased for what UK arts groups are receiving, because the arts shouldn't be valued by national boundaries and whataboutism is counterproductive. I cite these numbers only to demonstrate what can be done if the arts are valued.

Yes, there was support for the arts written into the most recent pandemic relief bill, but that entire bill has come to a halt and there is no support expected in the near term. But how many artists and workers, how many organizations will fall to catastrophe in the meantime?

We are all watching, hoping, & praying either for reliable therapeutics or an effective, widely distributed vaccine. But in the meantime, it is virtually impossible for arts organizations to mount work – and hire artists – because operating at 25% capacity isn't feasible.

The performing arts, at least the overwhelming majority, will not restart in any fashion until doing so is safe. Arts organizations put their people – their workers and their audiences – first. They will not become superspreader sites. That would be craven and counterproductive.

But remember, performing arts are not a work from home field. Collaboration is essential, audiences are vital. What the arts produce, with enormous success, is predicated on humans in a room together – and as many note, breathing together. But breathing together is now a danger.

Maybe we do have to wait until after the election for a solution. But we must continue to raise our voices wherever, whenever, however we can in the meantime. At moments like this, when there is so much need in some many ways, the loudest voices often have the greatest success.

If the performing arts cannot be very loud, creatively and effectively, through word, voice, music, and song, we run the risk of being silenced. Write, tweet, Facebook, call your representatives in Washington and your local officials as well.

Tell your local, regional, & national media outlets they have to report these truths. We need these stories told not as a cute kicker at the end of a broadcast, or just on the arts pages. The arts are business. This crisis will affect every community if the arts can't survive.

Saving the arts isn't about something nice, something to just enjoy. This is about lives and livelihoods. The live performing arts are already woven into the American economy. We know all fields are in need. We don't ask for more. But we certainly shouldn't accept less.

If there is a desire in America to be Number 1, so be it. Then let's be Number 1 in insuring the arts and its people survive this crisis, because to echo Joni Mitchell, god forbid you only learn what you've got when it's gone.

#SaveOurStages
#BeAnArtsHero
#ArtsHero
@BCEFA
@TheActorsFund
@nytimesarts
@culturemonster
@KQEDarts
@WNYC

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