Hello, friends and advocates!
Big thanks to those of you who joined our “Advocacy 101” session this week, as we look ahead to our April 15 Advocacy Day! If you were unable to be with us in real-time, you can watch our meeting recording.
The slide deck from our session is available here. You can access the additional resources we discussed in this folder, including a summary of CACO’s legislative priorities for this session, a one-pager on the OAC funding increase (HB3189), details on the current slate of CREF projects (HB3191), and the full ECOnorthwest Literature Review. ECO is distilling this into a one-page format that we share with you on (if not before) April 15.
The next important way to take action is to register to attend Advocacy Day on April 15. As part of your registration, you will be asked to provide the ZIP code of your residence and your place of work/organization. This will enable our NW Public Affairs lobbyist team to set up meetings with the legislators who represent your districts. We will share more details about meeting times and groups of attendees in the first week of April; part of our time on the morning of April 15 will be spent connecting with other advocates from your district(s) to prepare for your group meetings.
Between now and then, you can prepare your own brief (1-2 minutes) personal story that illustrates:
- A powerful learning moment you’ve witnessed
- A powerful moment of connection between unlikely people
- An example of healing or contribution to a person’s well-being
- An example of how people saw the world differently after an encounter with art or history
Ryan Fisher at NW Public Affairs has provided a basic template for meetings with legislators:
- Vision: We want to live in a state where kids can visit museums and be inspired by music, theater and dance; where artists can thrive and create; and our communities can have cultural and artistic anchors with thriving economies.
- Problem: Right now museums and the arts are important to Oregonians, but there’s a disconnect between the tremendous value Oregonians see in the arts and the small investment the state makes in the arts and culture sector.
- Solution: By raising the Oregon Arts Commission’s budget to $10 million, we can move Oregon’s per capita ranking from 39th to 23rd—boosting investment from just $0.51 to $1.18 per person. This funding increase will ensure that Oregon’s vibrant arts and culture sector can grow and thrive. Funding the Cultural Resource Economic Fund (CREF) slate of 14 capital construction projects will boost local economies and strengthen the resilience of the arts and culture sector across every corner of our state.
- Next several people in the group can share their brief personal stories.
- Ideally, someone in the group can talk about economic impact using one of the talking points provided in the ECOnorthwest one-pager.
You can also register to attend and testify at sessions of the Ways and Means Roadshow, with six stops around the state over the next month. This could be a great spot to practice your 1-2 minute impact story, and it will also give you a sense of the many priorities that our legislators are confronting this session.
If you are newer to advocacy work or don’t have an existing connection with your elected officials, you can use this tool to find your legislators, including their email addresses and websites.
Here’s a rough outline of this year’s Advocacy Day activities, so you can plan accordingly:
- Monday, April 14 – 4:30-6:00 PM – Community Reception at Willamette Heritage Center, presented in partnership with the Oregon Arts Commission and the Oregon Cultural Trust
- Tuesday, April 15 – 8:30-10:30 AM – Advocacy Day kickoff at the Elsinore Theatre
- Tuesday, April 15 – 11:00 AM-1:00 PM – Floor sessions at the capitol; lunch on your own
- Tuesday, April 15 – 1:00-5:00 PM – Meetings with individual legislators
Thank you, all, for your dedication to the well-being of our sector! If you have questions or are looking for additional resources, please contact me at cassie@cassiegreer.com.
Best,
Cassie Greer
Advocacy Day Committee Chair