Advocacy Policy Updates

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OPERA America represents the interests of the opera community before Congress, the White House and federal agencies. As a founding member of the Performing Arts Alliance, OPERA America works with the performing arts field to advocate for the development of national policies that recognize and strengthen the contributions that the arts make to America.

For more information on OPERA America’s advocacy activities, please contact OPERA America’s Government Affairs Office at 202-375-7523.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013
How to Entice People to Buy Symphony Tickets

Monday, March 25, 2013
Behind the Cover Story: Chip Brown on Peter Gelb and Opera Nuttiness
Chip Brown, a contributing writer for the magazine, is the author of this week’s cover story about Peter Gelb, the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera. Brown last wrote for the magazine about the oil boom in North Dakota.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Sequestration to Impact NEA / Visa Processing
Congress was unable to find an alternative to the across the board spending cuts, known as sequestration, which took effect March 2, 2014. Sequestration became law with the Budget Control Act of 2011 and was supposed to encourage members of Congress to reach a consensus about dealing with the deficit. At the New Year, Congress postponed the spending cuts for two months, yet were unable to find an alternative solution during that time.

The 5% cuts may have an impact on your organization:

The National Endowment for the Arts will implement cuts tot he grant programs for FY13. the NEA is currently funded through a continuing resolution at $146 million - level with FY12 funding. Arts advocates are once again asking Congress to reinstate funding to the NEA at $155 million for FY14. Advocacy to reinstate the NEA budget is important during this time of mandatory cuts.
The U.S. Department of State warned that sequestration may have an impact on the turnaround time for obtaining visas, particularly in consular processing times. If your organization works with foreign artists, it is important to plan ahead and submit your visa application early. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has not yet released a statement, however OPERA America will post additional information as it is learned.
The U.S. Department of Education will also see spending cuts due to sequestration, which means potential cuts to the Arts in Education program. The program already saw a reduction in funding in recent years, dropping from $40 million t $25 million.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013
House Hearing on Tax and Charitable Deduction
On February 14, 2013, The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee hosted a hearing on Tax and the Charitable Deduction. As lawmakers look to increase revenue, incentives for charitable giving continue to be part of the conversation. Questions asked by lawmakers demonstrated that the nonprofit community should remain concerned over potential proposals to limit the deduction. OPERA America submitted written testimony on February 28 that highlighted the impact member companies have on communities.

Other links that provide additional context for this issues: Alexander Reid (Morgan Lewis Bockius LLP) submitted testimony that beautifully demonstrates why the history of the charitable deduction is relevant to current policy-making; Nonprofit Quarterly provided an overview of the February 14 hearing with an analysis of the advocacy efforts to preserve charitable giving incentives.

Monday, November 05, 2012
NEA Partners with U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
For the first time, the American creative sector will be measured on a macroeconomic level by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), a federal agency of record on the U.S. economy and a part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The partnership will develop an "Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account" (ACPSAP). This new account will identify and calculate the arts and culture sector's contributions to the Gross Domestic Product, a measure representing the final dollar value of all goods and services rendered in the U.S. BEA and NEA will release preliminary estimates on relevant creative and cultural industries in 2013 and final estimates in 2014.

Monday, November 05, 2012
American Music Abroad Now Accepting Applications
The State Department, in partnership with the Association of American Voices, is now accepting applications for American Music Abroad, a program designed to communicate America's rich musical contributions to the global music scene as it fosters cross-cultural communication and people-to-people connection to global audiences. Opera ensembles are eligible. The deadline to apply is January 18, 2013.

Monday, November 05, 2012
NEA Announces Our Town Grants
The National Endowment for the Arts announced that the guidelines and application materials for Our Town, the creative placemaking grants program, are now available online. Pending availability of funding, grants will range from $25,000 to $200,000. The NEA will host webinars on November 6 and 13, 2012 at arts.gov. The application deadline is January 14, 2013.

Monday, November 05, 2012
P-1 Visas and Opera
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a long-awaited memo confirming P-1B classification for individual foreign artists performing as a member of a U.S.-based performing group (as opposed to only individuals with foreign groups). While this has immediate benefits to the dance and symphony disciplines, it is not yet clear how this will or can impact opera. Technically, a foreign artist should be able to join a U.S. company on a P-1 visa, however it is still a requirement that 75% of the members need to have been part of the group for at least a year and also have international recognition. the P-1B visa generally requires less documentation than and O-1 petition and coulud be a great tool to bring in non-principle artists. If your company plans on testing this opportunity out, please inform OPERA America's artistic services or government affairs office. To learn more about the P-1B visa, visit www.artistsfromabroad.org.

Monday, November 05, 2012
Central Withholding Agreement Update
Effective Monday, October 1, 2012, all request for Central Withholding Agreements (CWAs) must be sent to the following address/fax number:

Central Withholding Agreement Program
Mail Stop: 1441
2001 Butterfield Road
Downers Grove, IL 60515-1050
Fax: (603) 493-5906

Effective January 1, 2013, CWA requests received less than 45 days prior to the first event that would be covered by the CWA will not be processed and those events will be subject to withholding at 30% gross income.

The IRS also posted a Q&A about CWAs.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012
NEA Research Grants Available (Deadline Nov 6, 2012)
In May 2012 the National Endowment for the Arts awarded grants to 15 research projects to investigate the value and impact of the arts in the United States. These grants, totaling $250,000, support projects designed to use existing, high-quality datasets to examine novel and significant research questions about the arts. Of the fifteen grantees, there were six projects that focus on a variety arts education topics, including a statewide analysis of the access, equity, quantity, and diversity of arts education in California schools; a study to identify the long-term social and cognitive impacts on children and teenagers who received music training; and a study of the impact of arts programming on the social skills and mental health outcomes of at-risk youth. The May 30, 2012 press release announcing first round of research grants can be found at http://www.arts.gov/news/news12/Research-grants.html

Guidelines for the second round of research applications are now available on the National Endowment for the Arts' web site at http://www.arts.gov/grants/apply/Research/index.html. The deadline for submitting an application is November 6, 2012. The Arts Endowment anticipates awarding up to 25 grants ranging from $10,000 to $30,000. Grants do not require matching funds.
If you have questions, please contact the staff at nearesearchgrants@arts.gov.

Tuesday, April 03, 2012
New U.S. Dept of Ed Arts Education Research
On April 2, the U.S Department of Education released the Fast Response Survey System report on Arts Education. The majority of the data highlights instruction in music and visual arts (as many states do not yet have databases that support dance and theater data collection). Some highlights include:

94% of elementary schools reported instruction designated specifically for music and 83% specifically for visual arts in 2009-10 school year;
Only 3% and 4% of elementary schools reported instruction specifically designated for dance and drama/theater – a decrease from 20% for both compared to data from 1999/2000 school year;
In 2008-09 school year, 91% of secondary schools offered music, 89% offered visual arts, 12% offered dance, and 45% offered drama/theatre – these numbers changed very little when compared to the 1999/2000 school year;
However, there are clear equity gaps as the research shows that schools with increased percentage of student eligibility for free or reduced-priced meals also have the lowest percentage of music programs.

Tuesday, April 03, 2012
New NEA Research on Arts Ed for At-Risk Youth
On March 30, the NEA released an updated study, led by James Catterall, called The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth. The study uses four separate longitudinal studies to track children, teenagers, and young adults who had high or low levels or arts engagement in or out of school. In addition to supporting the cases for academic success and career goals, the report also finds that young adults with intensive arts experiences in high school are more likely to be civically engaged, including high levels of volunteering, voting, and engagement in local and school politics.

Tuesday, April 03, 2012
NEA Webinar: Our Town Community Indicators
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) will host a public webinar, Thursday, April 12, 3:00 to 4:00 pm EST, to describe the goals and research methods of the Our Town Community Indicators Study. This study leverages the NEA’s involvement in Our Town projects to advance public understanding of how creative placemaking strategies can strengthen communities. The NEA’s Office of Research & Analysis, which is directing the project, will report on the study’s progress to date, and will solicit ideas about next steps. The webinar is thus an opportunity to make suggestions on how best to achieve the study’s intended outcome – a national indicators system that can become a valuable tool for defining, measuring, and conveying the dimensions of livability most relevant to creative placemaking.

Tuesday, April 03, 2012
House Passes FY13 Budget Resolution
Last week, the House of Representatives adopted the FY13 Budget Resolution Blueprint. The proposal cuts spending more than the President’s budget proposal and replaces the current 6 rate individual income tax rate structure with a two tax rate structure at 10% and 25%. It also proposes eliminating many deductions and credits, though does not specify which ones.

Included along with many of the budget cuts, the budget resolution calls for eliminating funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, suggesting that they would be better supported with private funds; the proposal also suggests that funding from the NEA goes to support arts programs enjoyed primarily by wealthy individuals.

The Performing Arts Alliance (OPERA America is a founding member) sent out an update last week on this issue. Please note that this budget resolution is nonbinding. Spending is still ultimately determined by the Appropriations Committee and this resolution is likely going to be killed in the Senate.

Monday, March 26, 2012
Public Financing for the Arts in Europe Takes a Hit
Tell me if you have heard this one before.

In the midst of an economic downturn, a country desperately searches for cuts in spending anywhere it can, as calls for budget austerity grow louder. In the end, it’s the more vulnerable programs that are hit the hardest, which often includes education programs, safety net measures, and the arts community.

While that above paragraph would describe the arts community in the United States in recent years, the trend is now playing out across Europe as debt-ridden countries turn to austerity measures in the face of the European debt crisis. While European countries spend significantly more on the arts than we do in the United States, the dangers of budget austerity in the coming years for the arts community in several European countries are very, very real.

I have been thinking a lot about this issue of arts funding in Europe vs. the United States over the past week, and two events in particular heightened my interest. First, this past Friday, we sponsored a Carnegie Mellon Master of Arts Management Speaker Series event with the Consulate of the Netherlands, who were in town for the annual Dutch Festival in Pittsburgh. We started talking about the difference in the way the arts are funded in a country like the Netherlands versus the way it is funded here at home. More on that in a minute.

Monday, March 19, 2012
The Role of the Arts in Economic Development
As it pertains to funding for local arts projects, the past few years have not been too kind to the arts community. Budget cuts, austerity measures and changing priorities have meant less funding, and with it less jobs for artists and fewer arts opportunities and events for communities all across the country.
As the economy starts to grow (slowly) and optimism about future growth increases, state and local budgets are facing smaller budget deficits and the increasing likelihood of budget surpluses in future years. With these new resources comes the decision over how to spend resources in the best possible way to stimulate growth.

In recent years, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and other groups have given out millions of dollars in grants to local arts groups to help foster economic growth and assist arts communities in struggling areas of the country. As the money available to these groups continues to grow, and cities and states pondering the decision to invest again in the arts, the question is: what role do the arts play in economic development, and how vital is it to future growth?

I have written before about the tough budget constraints that governments are dealing with at the local level and the pressure this is putting on existing arts programs. Unlike the federal government, cities, counties and states are often required to balance their budgets on an annual basis; if sales tax receipts or other forms of revenue are down from the year before, as has often been the case during this economic downturn, governments have to turn to existing programs for cuts or outright abolition. With tax increases politically unfeasible, it’s often the most vulnerable programs that face the chopping block, and this includes the arts community.

Friday, February 17, 2012
President's FY13 Budget Proposal
On Monday, President Obama released his FY13 Federal Budget Proposal to Congress. The President's budget proposal includes funding the National Endowment for the Arts at $154.255 million, an increase of almost $8 million dollars over the current funding level and almost level with the FY11 budget. However the President continues to propose eliminating the Arts in Education program at the U.S. Department of Education and including the arts in the broader fund Effective Teaching and Learning for a Well-Rounded Education. Once again, the President has also proposed capping the charitable deduction at 28%. For additional information on the budget:

Friday, February 17, 2012
NEA Webinar on Arts and Human Development
On Wednesday, February 29 (2:00-3:00 pm, EST), the National Endowment for the Arts will host a live webinar with the new Federal Interagency Task Force on the Arts and Human Development. Featuring the Gamelan Project and collaboration between and ethnomusicologist/composer and neuroscientists that explore cognitive development. The webinar is open to the public and no registration is required. To join the webinar, go to http://artsgov.adobeconnect.com/artsdev1/ and check the "Enter as Guest" radio button. Type in your name and click hit "Enter Room" to join.

Friday, February 17, 2012
NEA National Medal on the Arts Nominations Open
On Monday, February 13, President Obama awarded the 2011 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal. Already, the National Endowment for the Arts is accepting nominations for the 2012 Medal of Arts recipients. To view recent honorees, see photos of the 2011 ceremony, download the transcript, or learn how to nominate for 2012, visit the NEA’s website.

Friday, February 17, 2012
IRA Charitable Rollover Action Alert
On Thursday, February 2, the Performing Arts Alliance sent out an action alert about reinstating the IRA Charitable Rollover, which expired on December 31, 2011. This tax incentive, which allows individuals 70 ½ or older to rollover money from their Individual Retirement Accounts to nonprofit organizations, has proved to be a wonderful source of new revenue for many organizations. Already this year, OPERA America has joined others from the nonprofit sector (including Independent Sector, United Way Worldwide, American Red Cross, YMCA of America, and others) in visiting Congressional offices, urging them to reinstate this incentive. On Tuesday, January 31, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on all tax extenders to determine what path to take. The witnesses viewpoints ran the range of reinstating all extenders to letting them all remain expired. To voice your opinion, visit the Performing Arts Alliance and urge your legislators to reinstate this important tax incentive.

Friday, February 17, 2012
Arts Education Standards & Assessment
The NEA released a report, Improving the Assessment of Student Learning in the Arts – State of the Field and Recommendations, in advance of a webcast held on February 14.Topics covered included: How the arts can drive innovation, arts learning standards, and the current state of – and innovative practices in – arts assessment. No registration is necessary. The webcast was recorded and will be available for viewing on February 21.

Friday, February 17, 2012
9/11 Community Service Grants
The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) recently announced that they would be offering grants for the 2012 September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance. The grants, ranging from $50,000 to $150,000, are made to eligible organizations engaged in service activities that meet vital community needs and honor the sacrifice of those who lost their lives in on September 11, 2001 or who rose in service as a result of that tragedy. Successful applicants will have the ability to increase participation in service to community. The application deadline is Tuesday, March 13, 2012.

Friday, February 17, 2012
New IRS Search Tool
The Internal Revenue Service launched a new search tool to find an exempt organization and check information about its federal tax status and filings, called Exempt Organizations Select Check. Previously, potential donors and funders had to search through multiple databases to find this information.

Sunday, January 29, 2012
Pulling Out All the Stops on Arts Funding
Performing arts organizations face a general funding crisis. Opera Boston closed its doors this January after a number of successful seasons because one donor (who singlehandedly gave more than 15 percent of its budget by himself) pulled out. That's a sign of the times. Ballet San Jose, which SFCV has recently reported on, also has relied too heavily on one donor to balance its budget.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Digital Culture Wars SOPA and the Fight for Control of Online Content
The recent congressional battle over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) has provoked unprecedented digital political activism in the United States. Libertarians, progressives, and technologists have formed a creative alliance to fight the bill. SOPA would grant sweeping, unprecedented powers to copyright and trademark owners, deny due process to alleged infringers, and menace free expression. Having researched “fusion centers,” a shadowy new law enforcement apparatus joining corporations and police forces, I fear that SOPA will accelerate surveillance by an unaccountable industry-government partnership.