Advocacy Alert – May 5, 2023

In this Alliance Advocacy Alert:

• Spring Appropriations Update: Potential Funding Cuts. Act Now!
• Presidential Appointments: President Biden Announces PCAH Members
• Save the Date: Plan to Participate in #InviteCongress 2023

Spring Appropriations Update – Potential Funding Cuts. Act Now!

The Congressional appropriations process is about to kick in to high gear. With complications and controversy surrounding the looming debt ceiling, there’s potential for drastic spending cuts, including to programs that benefit museums, especially in the House of Representatives. It’s now more important than ever to reach out to your legislators to urge their support for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Office of Museum Services (OMS).

Contact Congress: Support Critical Funding for Museums

Legislators need to hear from you–the people they represent–about how their decisions affect museums and museum people. Thanks to the hundreds of advocates who contacted their Representative and Senators to sign on to the House and Senate FY 2024 OMS funding support letters that circulated in March and April. On March 23 Amy Templeton, President and CEO of the McWane Science Center in Birmingham, Alabama, testified on behalf of AAM before the House Labor-HHS-Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee in support of FY 2024 IMLS-OMS funding. Watch her testimony here at the 1:15 mark and see written testimony here.

President Biden Announces President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities Members

On April 13, President Biden announced his intent to make appointments to the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH), an advisory body to the president on cultural policy. The artists, scholars, museum practitioners, and philanthropists will provide recommendations to the president and the heads of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and IMLS to advance wide-ranging policy objectives in the arts and humanities. Over the past 40 years PCAH has catalyzed Federal programs and played a vital role in the advancement of arts and humanities education, cultural diplomacy, and the creative economy. For more information on PCAH and its members, see the IMLS Press Release.

Save the Date: Plan to Participate in #InviteCongress 2023

August 14-18, 2023 is Invite Congress to Visit Your Museum week! Since 2012, #InviteCongress has empowered museums of all types and sizes to invite their federal, state, and local legislators and stakeholders into the museum for a firsthand look at the powerful work of museums and museum professionals. As Congress actively considers funding and other issues affecting museums, it is critical that museum advocates continue to make the case for federal, state, and local support for museums to legislators.

Make your plans to participate and get started today:

• Learn more about Invite Congress to Visit Your Museum
• Watch 6 Reasons to Invite Congress to Visit Your Museum (2.5 min. video)
• Get the full How-To Guide

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Your steadfast advocacy efforts make a huge difference in building needed support for museums and museum professionals.

How will you advocate for museums this year? Use our year-round advocacy ideas to make your plan today.

Visit http://www.aam-us.org/advocacy to access all of AAM’s advocacy resources.