Arts Day 2012 - March 13-14, 2012
Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center and State Capitol, Madison
Why is advocacy so important?
Making the case for the arts and creativity
2012 Arts Legislative Agenda
Activists "to do" list on, during and after
Arts Day
Arts Day 2012 Schedule
Arts Day 2012 Partners and Sponsors
Arts Day 2012
FAQs
Arts Action
Toolkit
Arts Day 2011 press
State Legislators' Contact Information
More ways to connect with
your elected officials!
If you can't make it to Arts Day, you can still speak up for the arts!
Join our Legislative Action Center E-list!
Links to other websites on the arts, advocacy and the creative economy
What is Arts Day?
Each year on Arts Day, hundreds of representatives of Wisconsin’s
extraordinary arts community come together for one day to:
- Celebrate all that's happening in the arts across Wisconsin
- Connect with old and new friends
- Educate legislators about the importance of investing in the arts, to strengthen Wisconsin’s economy, educational system, and social infrastructure.
Each year, representatives of the arts from around Wisconsin -- small rural choirs and suburban community theaters, presenters and big organizations, museums and art centers of all sizes, painters, tenors, dancers, cellists, french horn players, arts administrators, board members and YOU --join together for this big day. Past participants have enthusiastically reported two things about Arts Day:
- First, they feel empowered by gathering together with like-minded people. Each year, hundreds of Wisconsin arts leaders participate in Arts Day.
- Second, they say that Arts Day is the best arts networking event of the year. This is one of the only times that Wisconsin’s diverse, multi-layered and fabulous arts industry gathers together in one place, to show what a strong, vital arts community we have in Wisconsin. Events like Arts Day, combined with advocacy at home, lead to greater understanding by decision-makers of the power of the arts to transform Wisconsin’s communities. Now, we’re looking for significant increases in state arts funding. The unified voice of the arts community is critical to this success.
This year, in the face of local, state and global change and what promises to be a very "interesting" year politically for Wisconsin, elected officials and decision-makers must hear from as many arts advocates
as possible about the public value of the arts for Wisconsin's future.
If there ever was a time that we needed the arts, it's now.
This is our moment, because creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship
- all qualities inherent to the arts - are the qualities needed to move
our economy, educational systems, and civic infrastructure forward.
Join us in person yourself, and bring as many colleagues, friends and
relatives to Madison as you can. Simply put: the greater our
numbers, the louder our voice.
Decision-makers need to be educated about the importance of the arts to
everyone, everywhere in Wisconsin, every day of the year. It’s especially
important this year to be out in full force to come to Madison on Arts
Day to say, "please invest in the arts for your community
and for Wisconsin!"
It's a great day for the arts and for Wisconsin!
Advocacy is being able to speak to where your audience is listening
from.
~ Ben Cameron, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
The arts are essential to Wisconsin's cultural and spiritual quality of life, to our economic development, and to the education of our children-- arts and cultural opportunities should be a priority when public policy is made!
- Arts Advocacy is democracy in action.
- Arts Advocacy is all about relationships.
- Arts Advocacy is a discipline.
- Arts Advocacy requires teamwork.
- Arts Day and other activities throughout the year advance advocacy for the arts on the local, regional and statewide levels.
- Encourage expanded state investment in the arts, arts education and creative economy through the Wisconsin Arts Board (and its New Economy Funding Initiative) and investment in other state agencies
- Support arts and creative involvement and opportunities to provide 21st century education for all Wisconsin students.
Read talking points here: Making the Case for Arts and Creativity.
Activists "to do" list on, during and after Arts Day
Arts Day 2012 Partners
Sponsoring Partners
- Arts Wisconsin
- Broadjam, Inc., Madison
- UW-Parkside College of Arts and Sciences
- Wisconsin Art Education Association
- Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC)
- Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets
- Wisconsin Counties Association
- Wisconsin Presenters Network
- Wisconsin Visual Artists
Donors
- American Institute of Architects (AIA) Wisconsin
- Association of Wisconsin Symphony Orchestras
- Hilton Madison Monona Terrace, Madison
- PortalWisconsin.org
- Ward-Brodt Music, Madison
- The Widget Source, Middleton
- Wisconsin Alliance of Artists and Craftspeople
- Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities
- Wisconsin Federation of Museums
- Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce
- Wisconsin Music Educators Association
- Wisconsin Writers Association
- Wisconsin School Music Association
Endorsing Partners
- Arts @ Large, Milwaukee
- Leadership Wisconsin
- Robert E. Gard Wisconsin Idea Foundation
- Theatre Wisconsin
- Tourism Federation of Wisconsin
- Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters
- Wisconsin Advocates for Music Education
- Wisconsin Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus
- Wisconsin Business Incubator Association
- Wisconsin Dance Council
- Wisconsin Downtown Action Council
- Wisconsin Economic Development Association
- Wisconsin Entrepreneurs Network
- Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts
- Wisconsin Main Street Program
- Wisconsin Nonprofits Association
- Wisconsin Screenwriters Forum
- Wisconsin PTA
- Wisconsin Rural Partners
- World Academy for Entrepreneurship & Enterprise (WAE2)
Special thanks!:
- Footlights.com for printing the program
- Scott Pauli and Drew Garza - Art and Sons for graphic design
Meeting with Your Legislators
How to be an
effective advocate for the arts, arts education, creative economy, in
your community on Arts Day and every day.
Legislators'
Contact Infomation
Phone number, e-mail
and office location of all legislators, by district (find
your district here).
Information on hotels, dining and things to do in Madison.
Check out:
-
Arts Day 2011 press
"Budget cuts to arts adds new urgency to annual 'Arts Day' lobbying event"
Wisconsin State Journal, 3-4-2011Walker's proposed budget would reduce arts funding
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 3-2-2011Arts Beat: Walker’s budget slashes arts funding
Isthmus, Madison, 3-3-2011La Crosse arts groups say Walker budget could lead to fewer local programs
La Crosse Tribune, 3-3-2011Creativity Under Attack
Volume One, Eau Claire, 3-5-2011
updated 2-23-12