Clip on Arts Advocates

You should go if you're interested in advocating for the arts, educating yourself about what we talk to legislators about during that time. And if you're an artist, if you're an arts advocate, if you're part of an arts organization, it's really great to have all of those voices working together at the Capitol, talking to the legislators, humanizing the arts, because you can send legislators great information about what the arts do to impact quality of life as well as economic impact. But if they don't connect people behind the arts, it's harder to get that message across. And so, Missouri Citizens for the Arts Day or Citizens for the Arts Day is organized by the Missouri Citizens for the Arts, which is a grassroots nonpartisan not-for-profit to advocates for the arts and arts funding in Missouri, as well as funding for the Missouri Arts Council as well as Missouri Fine Arts Academy. And they organize this every year. And so, if you're not a member already, you should become one. And then they put together an entire day for you. You can register online.

Registration is free. 9.30 a.m. is when it starts. You will meet together with other arts advocates. There's free coffee right afterwards at 10.30 a.m. after everyone has, you know, signed in. Kina Iman, who is the lobbyist that the Missouri Citizens for the Arts pays to lobby for the arts. She will give kind of a briefing and marching orders for everybody. She will go over the Missouri Citizens for the Arts Agenda, you know, securing more funding for the Missouri Arts Council or at least keeping the funding that's already there. And then everyone will pick up packets for their legislators. So, you'll go pick up, you know, a packet for maybe one to three different legislators. And then you'll take that, which will have the Missouri Citizens for the Arts Agenda in it. All this great information about the arts and what they do for our communities and statewide. And then that's all put together for you. And then you take it to your legislator and have a conversation with them so they can kind

of see, like, why are you supporting the arts? Just kind of tell your story.