You did it!

We did it! YOU did it. ESSB 5834 just passed on the House floor.  Now on to the Governor for her signature. 

Now relax, take a breath, pat yourself on the back and stay tuned for information on how we are going to celebrate! It's time to party and toast this HUGE accomplishment.  One that wouldn't have been possible without the incredible advocacy done by the Advocate4Culture Coalition!

Thank you to our legislators that voted YEA! We won't forget your support at voting time.

No news just may be good news

SHB 1997 is waiting to be considered by the Senate Committee on Ways and Means Committee and SSB 5834 is awaiting a vote in the House Committee on Ways and Means. We will of course let you know if things start looking really good or really bad.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IN THE MEANTIME?

1) Keep the pressure on our legislators, so they vote favorably for these bills, each time they have an opportunity to do so. If you haven't lately (or ever) please write, call and send emails, and attend meetings or town hall events or parties for them and urge them to keep arts and heritage in King County alive by voting YEA for SSB 5834 and SHB 1997.

2) Let's educate ourselves on the issues in and around these two bills so we can write and respond to legislators, friends, and the media with confidence.

3) Let's respond to incorrect, negative media by commenting on blogs, writing letters to the editor and calling in to radio programs. We need to dispel myths about these bills and about who we are. Take down the stereotypes of lazy, livin-on-the-dole artists, reprogram the notion that the only people that care about history and preservation are retired people with nothing better to do. Lets remind legislators and the public that we are tax paying, home-owning, grocery-buying, citizens that spend much of our days working very hard to draw tourists to our region and make our communities stronger.

There have been some negative pushes in the press lately that are simply not true. We will try to attack these with facts. If you don't feel confident... read up, or simply write or call in response of the arts and heritage component of the bill and speak from the heart. You don't have to know everything. All you have to know is how you feel about 4Cutlure getting supported and passed THIS YEAR. It doesn't have to be much. Just "I actually thing SHB 1997 is a great idea and it's important to me."

We will post an FAQ in the next day or two with some of the common misconceptions and negative talking points in the press and how we suggest countering them. Until then... assume no news is good news.

Stay active and we’ll keep you posted on the latest!

Advocates: We need you again - NOW!

How a Bill Becomes a Law

The two bills that can save 4Culture (HB 1997 and SB 5834) have made it through two committees and are now ready for full floor votes, perhaps by the end of the week!

We know many of you have contacted your legislators already to ask them to support arts and heritage funding through 4Culture. We need you to contact them again and urge them to support these bills when they are asked to vote on them.

These bills have been moving through the legislative process quickly. We know it's because legislators are hearing support from you. If we are successful at this stage, the bills will move to the opposite chamber for review through their committees. We need to keep the pressure on at each step of the process. Thank you for writing and calling, and encouraging your contacts to do the same.

CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS:
Ask your Representatives to VOTE YES and support HB 1997 and your Senator to support SB 5834. Tell them why arts and heritage in King County matters to you. CLICK HERE to find their contact information.

SAMPLE TEXT
Dear Representative ____:
I contacted you recently, asking you to support HB 1997. As you may know, the bill will be coming up for a floor vote in the next few days. Again, I urge you to please support HB 1997. This bill, which supports arts and heritage funding through 4Culture, is important to me because ___________________________.

Sincerely,
Your Name

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Dear Senator _____:
I contacted you recently, asking you to support SB 5834. As you may know, the bill will be coming up for a floor vote in the next few days. Again, I urge you to please support SB 5834. This bill, which supports arts and heritage funding through 4Culture, is important to me because ___________________________.

Sincerely,
Your Name


Thank YOU!

save the date: rally for success in 2011!

Advocate4Culture Leadership Rally

Monday, August 30, 6-8pm

ACT Theatre, 700 Union Street, Seattle

You are invited -

Local arts and heritage leaders are hosting a casual gathering that promises to wonk the house! Enjoy beer and chips (provided by said same local leaders) and learn what you can do to ensure that funding for arts and heritage is secured. We promise both geekiness and silliness. You'll walk away fully informed and ready for action. Please join us!

Hosted by the Advocate4Culture Coalition: Convened by Great City.

First Thursday Laptop Rally

Please join us for a laptop rally tonight during First Thursday Art Walk in Pioneer Square.

Bring your laptop or borrow one of ours to write your legislators in support of 4Culture and it's funding of arts and heritage in King County.

We'll show you how to find your legislator and give you tips on how to send them a quick email. Click here for details.

Art Walk and Advocacy - Tonight!

John Sutton at the Georgetown Laptop Rally

hello hello advocates are you there?

I've kind of grown fond of Hearing Room C. That's where many advocates4culture have spent some quality time this legislative session.

After the hearing for ESSB6051 in House Finance yesterday, many of us felt pretty good. Great testimony from advocates and smiles from legislators. But what does this all mean? Will we succeed? These trips to Olympia, the calls and letters - are they for nothing? Will 4Culture start shutting down in a couple of years?

Advocates, tell us you still have a fight left in you. We need to know you're out there and this matters. If you've written to your legislators - thank you, if you haven't please do.

You can reach us at Advocate4Culture@gmail.com (pep talks welcome)

Photo: Courtesy of Scott Squire

holy cow! another hearing

Rock solid! The house finance committee has scheduled ESSB6051 for a hearing this Tuesday. If you can join us at the hearing and need a ride, please email advocate4culture@gmail.com ASAP (by 3pm on Mon 2/22.) If you can't make it, please take 5 minutes to send a few emails or make a few calls (see below for instructions.)

TO ATTEND:
Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 1:30pm
House Finance Committee
House Hearing Rm C
John L. O'Brien Building
Olympia, WA

TO WRITE/CALL:
There are 9 committee members in the House of Representatives “hearing” ESSB6051 on Tuesday. Many of these are most likely to be in favor of this bill... but with so many pressures and a lot of stress down there in Olympia, we want to make sure they don't change their minds! Can you draft a super short email and individually send it to some or all of a few key legislators we've identified below asking them to pass ESSB6051 out of their committee and telling them why King County's arts/heritage community rocks your world? By the end of the day Monday would be perfect.

Here is contact information for key legislators “hearing” these bills who might need a little convincing. Their last name is followed by their first.

SELECT HOUSE FINANCE COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Hasegawa.Bob@leg.wa.gov * (360) 786-7862
Conway.Steve@leg.wa.gov * (360) 786-7906
Ericks.Mark@leg.wa.gov * (360) 786-7900
Santos.Sharon@leg.wa.gov * (360) 786-7944
Springer.Larry@leg.wa.gov * (360) 786-7822
*Thank this legislator for recently voting for passage of HB2912 that had similar support for arts and heritage in King County!


TIPS FOR YOUR EMAIL:
When you write, be brief and be sure to reference specific bill numbers. Here are some things to include in your email:

· Begin your letter formally with “Dear Representative [last name]

· Say that you are a resident of King County and that the arts and heritage funding through 4Culture is important to you.

· Ask them to please support ESSB6051 that includes funding for the arts and heritage program in King County.

· Thank them for recently supporting ESHB2912 and ask for their continued support of any bills that come before them (like ESSB6051) that would secure future funding for 4Culture.

· Add a short personal statement about how the arts and/or heritage or specifically 4Culture’s programs are valuable for you personally, your business, your employees, your neighborhood, your children, your quality of life, or your organization.


Thanks for your help!

Februrary 20th: Stand Up and Make a Difference

It is time to show powerful legislators that we are powerful too! Please attend a Town Hall meeting in Seattle to tell key legislators to support arts and heritage and preserve funding for 4Culture.

Saturday, February 20, 2010
1:30 – 3:00 p.m.
Seattle First Baptist Church
1111 Harvard Avenue, Seattle (at Seneca on Capitol Hill)

Speaker Frank Chopp, Representative Jamie Pedersen and Senator Ed Murray are coming together to offer this town hall meeting, which is free and open to the public. They will provide an update on the 2010 Legislative Session and hold a discussion about the major issues facing our district and state this year.

PLEASE ATTEND. This is a rare and important opportunity to show legislators we care about the preservation of arts and heritage funding! Prepare a question or two you’d like to ask them and plan to participate in the conversation.

Currently, active bills in Olympia that support arts and heritage funding include HB2912, which is now on the Floor of the House, and Senate Bill SB6051 on the Floor of the Senate. Both are waiting for a vote.

In addition to attending the Town Hall meeting on February 20th, please write:

• Your Representative and urge them to support funding for 4Culture in HB2912.
  
• Your Senator and urge them to support SB6051, which preserves 4Culture’s funding.

Read the bottom of this post for some great tips for writing your legislators.

Image courtesy of Ervega

Update from Olympia

The Advocates showed up in force last Thursday for hearings in the Senate and House on the bills that would dedicate a portion of future lodging taxes to arts and heritage in King County. Almost 75 people attended the hearings and signed-in in support of the bills SB6661 and HB2912.

Many others sent emails to legislators asking for support of these bills. We are waiting to hear whether these bills will be voted out of committee and passed along to the next stage in the approval process. We are hearing that HB2912 looks to be on track and may move ahead quickly. SB6661 is having more difficulty. It was passed out of the Senate Economic Development, Trade and Innovation Committee without a recommendation (bills can be given a “do-pass” recommendation; killed in committee; or moved without a recommendation).

February 2nd was Arts Day in Olympia and more than 175 people showed up to meet with legislators. Thanks to many friends of Advocate4Culture and the organizers, Washington State Arts Alliance for a productive day!

Reaction to the bills that support 4Culture and arts and heritage in King County, was generally positive. Many legislators expressed reluctance to support the bills as long as “publicly-owned stadiums” was included in the list of activities that King County would be allowed to fund when stadium bonds are retired. The list includes tourism promotion, youth sports fields or activities, community development authorities, performing arts centers, public health and human services, in addition to low income housing, which is specified in the two bills.

The 60-day legislative session is one-third over and there may be one more hearing in Olympia before the session ends. We may need to call on you one more time to make the trek! Until then, please write these legislators and ask them to support arts and heritage funding in King County!

Photo by advocate, Scott Squire