Obama's Arts Plank

Hey, I just ran across this in Artforum

Obama and McCain on the Arts

11.03.08

"Jeremy Gerard reports for Bloomberg that the arts plank in presidential candidate Barack Obama’s platform includes everything from increased support for arts education and the National Endowment for the Arts to changing the federal tax code for artists. “It is unprecedented,” said Robert L. Lynch, president and chief executive officer of Americans for the Arts, a Washington-based arts-advocacy group, explaining that no presidential candidate in recent times has addressed cultural issues in such detail. Obama began forming his culture plank in the spring of 2007, long before winning the Democratic nomination. He brought together a committee of artists and arts professionals, headed by Hollywood writer, director, and producer George Stevens Jr. and Broadway producer Margo Lion. The committee's members include novelist Michael Chabon, Broadway director Hal Prince, musicians Eugenia and Pinchas Zukerman, and Museum of Modern Art president emerita Agnes Gund, as well as Lynch, of Americans for the Arts."

"According to Gerard, the committee developed a program that advocates the creation of an “Artists Corp” of young artists trained to work in low-income schools and communities, the expansion of public-private partnerships to increase cultural-education programs, increased funding for the NEA, a commitment to “cultural diplomacy,” attracting foreign talent in the arts, and providing health care to artists. Obama also backs the Artist-Museum Partnership Act, introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat. It would amend the Internal Revenue Code to allow artists to deduct the fair market value of their work, rather than just the cost of materials, when they make charitable contributions. Senator John McCain, who has consistently voted for cuts in the NEA budget, says arts funding is a local issue. A brief statement on his website says that where “local priorities allow, he believes investing in arts education can play a role in nurturing the creativity of expression so vital to the health of our cultural life and providing a means of creative expression for young people."

And in summation (this is me talking now) Obama: good, McCain: fuckyerself.