Who was gathering in Washington, DC, this week, claiming the economic impact of their creative activities, stressing their value in global diplomacy, and canvassing federal legislators for support? See if you can guess from this quote:
“We tell a lot of stories … but we never really tell our story cohesively as an industry…. This is going to be one of the few times we come to Washington and really explain our view of how critical our industry is, why it deserves the attention of the government, why it deserves the protection of the government.”
Nope, it wasn’t the nonprofit arts — Arts Advocacy Day is next month, when the arts do essentially the same thing. It was Hollywood (the Motion Picture Association of America to be exact), bringing star power (Will Smith and Clint Eastwood, among others) and gravitas (the event was held in a museum) along for the ride.
The MPAA even rolled out a new economic impact study, claiming that the film industry generated more than 1.3 million jobs and contributed $60.4 billion to the country’s economy.
So there.
As a public school music educator, I welcome any help in supporting the arts….
Usually when an industry brags about how many jobs they generate, they are seeking some sort of protection or special treatment. I don’t think any industry deserves protection by the government, just protection from it. Like the blog . . .