Ra Joy Joins Art and Political Power Discussion

The best way to move the needle on arts policy issues (whether it’s Barry’s NEA budget or Arlene’s WPA 2.0 idea) is to create strong grassroots and grasstops networks that transcend age, race, ethnicity, geography, and other factors.

I give credit to Bob Lynch and our friends at Americans for the Arts for working to create an arts advocacy network that’s built to last. An empowered and informed network enables the arts sector to appropriately “thank” or “spank” policymakers based on their actions and our priorities. In the end, the stronger our network—and the better our organizing tactics become—the more policy wins will be achieved.

Here in Illinois, building our network of arts advocates is strategic direction number one for Arts Alliance Illinois. Some of the network building goals we’ve established include:

• Increase our e-list subscribers to 50,000
• Increase online followers on Facebook to 25,000 and Twitter to 5,000
• Engage 15% percent of network in advocacy action

Last month the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy released a report titled “Cultivating the Grassroots.” While the report is geared to environment and climate funders, it offers best practices in grassroots organizing relevant to advocates in any field.