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December 30, 2008

Opinion: Preserving Arts Organizations

Two arts and cultural leaders weigh in on how the federal government could help arts and cultural organizations during these dark economic days.

In an opinion article in The Washington Post, Michael Kaiser, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, suggests Congress pass legislation to provide arts groups with emergency grants and allow immediate tax breaks for corporate giving to arts organizations. In addition, he urges government officials to take action to prompt foundations to spend more than the minimum 5 percent of their endowments now required by federal law.

William R. Ferris, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, writes in an article in The New York Times that President-elect Obama should create a cabinet-level position, a secretary of culture, to provide cohesive leadership for groups such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian Institution. The secretary would also make sure those types of groups get the financing from the federal government that they deserve, Mr. Ferris writes.

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