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Dear Cultural Partners, Allies, and Supporters,
Inspire Washington aims to represent you in every space where public policy decisions are made and resources are being distributed. While the Trump Administration attempts to reshape the scope and role of the federal government, we are dedicated to representing your voices, concerns, and ideas during this critical time of upheaval and change.
From March 1-7, we will be in DC and meeting with your Congressional representatives to advocate for continued cultural support, freedom of expression, and a hands-off approach to your programming. This is critical work, so we need your support to fuel and fortify our efforts!
I've heard from so many of you. National news is confusing and explosive. You're anxious, worried, and our cultural sector feels incredibly vulnerable. You’re understandably nervous about losing state or federal funding for your cultural programs, restrictions that will prohibit your outreach and DEI efforts, and any type of government overreach that may stand in the way of your community-focused vision. You're not sure where to turn or who represents you.
Inspire Washington aspires to rally our coalition so that we are confronting every threat with unity, clarity, and insight. In fact, we have spent years developing political relationships and the governmental affairs chops needed for this type of situation.
We have a powerful and broad ground game.
We aren't doing this work alone. We will be advocating under the banner of the Arts Leadership Advocacy Seminar. Convened by Creative West (formerly WESTAF), Inspire Washington will be part of a 100-member advocacy force representing the 13 Western States and the 3 Pacific Jurisdictions. We have spent over 6 months developing our legislative agenda and will add new stories to represent the threats that have emerged over the last month. An incredible amount of energy and time has gone into planning and developing our congressional strategy. We are deeply grateful to Creative West for leading the seminar and their generous contribution to our basic travel costs. Right now, we need our Washington community to make up the difference.
Please contribute to Inspire Washington to help us offset the tremendous staffing time this federal advocacy work entails. You can do this in a variety of ways:
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Individuals may make a tax-deductible donation here. We encourage donations of any size and frequency. We recently added monthly recurring giving options to our donation platform and we're so grateful for the individuals that have taken that up!
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Cultural Businesses and allies may join Inspire Washington as a dues-paying partner here. Our advocacy has delivered tangible results like Working Washington 5 grants and our five Cultural Access Programs (Tacoma Creates, Inspire Olympia, Doors Open King County, Inspire San Juan County, and City of Vancouver), to name a few. If half of the organizations that benefit from our work joined Inspire Washington, we'd have all the financial resources to get through this year with strength and certainty. That's less time fundraising and more time advocating!
We hope you will support our efforts. It is an honor to advocate for Washington's cultural sector and the need for a unified voice to push back on threats is more important than ever. While we are deeply passionate about supporting you, we cannot succeed without increased support. Please stand with us so that we may protect all of Washington’s valuable and uplifting cultural programs.
In solidarity,
Manny Cawaling
Executive Director
manny@inspirewashington.org
Share your story!
We've been in conversation with Washington's Congressional delegation, and they asked us to collect information on any funding that may be in jeopardy. If you receive federal support, please fill out this survey. We encourage you to share this with other cultural providers in your network that may be affected. We are only collecting information on cultural funding.
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