Whoa! A Letter Reveals The Need to Cultivate Congress

Twenty-five signatures on this important letter is 25 more than we ever had before. Next year during Museums Advocacy Day, we will aim for all 435 Representatives on the letter in support of the Office of Museum Services, and that's how we will begin to see a real increase in funding. We are fortunate to have found two museum champions in Congress, and I applaud Reps. Paul Tonko and Louise Slaughter for their tremendous leadership on this issue.

It turns out, the email then said, that this is the first time such a letter has been circulated. Still, 25 signatures, which include those of Slaughter and Tonko, is pitiful support for something as uncontroversial as the IMLS.  

Analyzing the list to assess the geographical spread is also enlightening: seven signatures came from New York, two each came from New Jersey, Ohio, and California -- almost half from four states. The other signers came from 11 states and Puerto Rico. Three were Republicans; the rest, Democrats.

More money for the arts isn't everything; there are lots of ways the government can support culture. And maybe I'm leaping to conclusions here. But it seems to me that the failure of this letter to attract more support -- despite the fact that it highlighted the many educational and other vital services museums provide --shows that the cultural world shouldn't be placing all its bets on the White House. There's much more work to be done building broader support.