Dear Cultural Partners, Supporters, and Allies,
The 2022 State Legislative Session ended yesterday. It's a new day in Washington and tremendous public support is coming your way. When the final gavel hit the podium, the supplemental budget headed to the Governor's office for signature. The investment in the cultural sector is simply historic and staggering. Every cultural organization and business stands to benefit. This success comes at the end of a two year advocacy journey. I'm overwhelmed, grateful, and exhausted. But mostly, I'm hopeful for all of our cultural programs, within every Washington county, and all of the communities they serve. This is your win, Washington!
The State Legislature is providing $50 million for cultural recovery grants. Additional funding expands state investment in arts facilities, the Motion Picture Industry, and rural museums. PreK-12 students will be provided expanded options for creative learning. And, other policies will drive more science, heritage, and arts programming throughout the state. We still have a lot of work to unpack and clarify, so stay tuned as we launch our state-wide Cultural Futures share and listening tour to communicate all the resources and how you may access them.
This was a team effort and everyone played a vital role. We are grateful for all of our statewide strategists for crafting and driving the objectives, like ArtsWA, WA State Historical Society, Humanities WA, ArtsFund, WA Filmworks, WA Museum Association, and ArtsEd WA, to name a few. We are grateful for all of our cultural partners, the organizations and businesses that amplified our objectives and focused their communities to support them. We are so deeply grateful for our advocates. Our objectives came to life through their storytelling and they engaged the lawmakers in such a personal and vital way. Of course, there was a whole array of legislative partners and lobbyists negotiating in the background and helping us navigate the complicated government space.
Join me and look towards the future. What may we accomplish next? If you didn't participate in our coalition this year, I hope you are inspired to join our team. With a bigger and broader community, anything is possible. We must be more and do more because Washington communities, from Aberdeen to Spokane, are counting on us to reconnect Washington and reignite curiosity, creativity, critical thinking and community.
In solidarity,
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Manuel R. Cawaling
Executive Director
manny@inspirewashington.org
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2022 Legislative Session Review
Budget Provisos - New Funding!
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$20 million for organizations/programs within the cultural sector
- $25 million for organizations/programs within the cultural sector (correction from FY 22)
- $5 million for COVID related expenses to arts organizations with budgets over $5 million
- $1.5 million for Arts-Based Services for Veterans
- $71,000 for Goldendale Arts Revitalization
- $120,000 for ArtsWA's Constituent Management System
- $150,000 for the State Poet Laureate Program
- $257,000 to maintain State-Owned Public Art
- $15 million for Film Incentive bill
TOTAL: $67,737,000 for the Cultural Sector!
Bills - New public policies!
- HB 1058: Councilmanic authority for Cultural Access - DID NOT PASS
- HB 1647: Building for the Arts increase - PASSED!
- HB 1914: Film Incentive - PASSED!
- SB 5756: Quincentennial committee - PASSED!
- SB 5856: Firearms in museums - PASSED!
- SB 5878: Clarifying Arts Education - PASSED!
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So now there's all this money and all these bills have passed.
What does it mean and how do I get money for my program?
Come to Cultural Futures and find out!
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Inspire Washington is hitting the road and heading to communities across the state with our Cultural Futures share and listening tour! We will breakdown the wins from this year's Legislative Session and ensure you know how to claim funding for your organization or program.
This is also an opportunity to hear from you! What does your community and organizations need? How can we help and support you advocate for public funding?
Tour locations include: Bellingham, Everett, Wenatchee, Tieton, Spokane, Tri-Cities, Vancouver, Olympia, Tacoma, South Seattle, North Seattle, East King County, Gray's Harbor county, and Port Angeles.
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Olympia: Vote YES for Prop 1 on April 26th! |
Olympia is the next community up to receive a Cultural Access program! Inspire Olympia! is an initiative that will be put to the voters on April 26th to increase access to arts, culture, heritage, and science experiences throughout Olympia by reducing barriers to access and expanding offerings for all people in the region - especially youth.
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We are so thankful for our advocates who showed up for culture statewide and spoke to their lawmakers during Arts, Heritage, & Science (AHS) Week! The work does not stop when the session ends. Whether you're a seasoned advocate or are brand new to advocacy, you can cultivate a relationship with your lawmakers at any point in the year.
Advocacy opportunities include: meeting with your lawmakers (in-person or on Zoom), letter writing, taking your lawmaker on a tour of your cultural program's campus, and more! If you're interested, please fill out our Off-Session Advocacy Form.
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Cultural Access Washington and the Washington State Arts Alliance have joined forces. With an energized vision and new name, Inspire Washington aims to build a broad and powerful statewide coalition to champion advocacy and resource development for Washington's cultural sector. Our powerful union of science, heritage, and the arts, creates extensive reach, spreads profound impact, and pioneers innovative opportunities.
Our Mission:
Inspire Washington nurtures the human spirit and strengthens communities by increasing access to science, heritage, and arts programming through advocacy, resource development, education, and coalition building.
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Inspire Washington
info@inspirewashington.org
P.O. Box 806, Seattle, WA 98111
Manuel R. Cawaling, Executive Director
Jessi Wasson, Programs and Operations Manager
Madeline Dalton, Outreach Coordinator
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