On the heels of Arts Advocacy Day, this year's Nancy Hanks Lecturer - Norman Lear - wrote to The Hill about how the arts can help solve our nations problems, both here at home and abroad. He highlights arts and diversity and the power of art in the face of recent events in North Korea.

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives Interior Appropriations Subcommittee approved legislation on a voice vote to fund the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and other cultural institutions like the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Smithsonian Institution.

The NEA is proposed at level funding - $146 million for FY 2016. If approved by Congress, this would be the 5^th year of level funding for the NEA. All the cultural institutions also are proposed at level funding.

On June 1, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee announced his “Shared Prosperity for the Arts Package,” which will provide $7 million to city arts programs over the next two years. 

Several bills are making headway in the Louisiana House and Senate to reform the state’s film tax credit program. The current film tax credit program covers 30 to 35 percent of filmmakers’ costs when they choose to film in Louisiana. Last year, the program cost the state $226 million with independent analysts reporting that the state only made 20 cents in tax revenue for every dollar invested in tax credits.

Today, the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) will expand its successful Turnaround Arts initiative into five additional school districts, as the program continues to successfully help turn around low-performing schools, narrow the achievement gap, and increase student engagement through the arts.

The Georgia Department of Education announced on June 1 that it created a new fine arts specialist position. The fine arts specialist will focus on the disciplines of music, dance, theatre and visual arts and will provide assistance for fine arts staff throughout Georgia’s school districts.

This year, Americans for the Arts is honoring Ann Marie Miller with the Alene Valkanas State Arts Advocacy Award. Since 2007, the Alene Valkanas State Arts Advocacy Award has honored an individual whose arts advocacy efforts have dramatically affected the political landscape at the state level.

On May 18, the North Carolina House of Representatives released its budget plan. In the plan, the House has proposed to revive the state’s tax credit for restoring historic and cultural buildings, which was allowed to expire last legislative session. 

Governor Jerry Brown has increased the California Arts Council‘s state appropriation with an additional $5 million from his original $1.1 million proposal. While the California Arts Council received a $5 million boost in 2014, the governor specified that it was a one-time only increase. Yet, this year’s raise in the governor’s budget revisions has been designated as permanent. 

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti proposed to raise the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs budget from $9.8 million to $11 million—an increase of 12.2%. This will mark the largest funding increase Cultural Affairs has received since the Recession. With the proposed funding increase, the department’s staff will rise from 41 to 49. Some of the positions include two new regional managers, 3 new arts instructors, and three new employees for the public art division.

In Missouri, Rep. Kathy Swan (R-Cape Girardeau) is championing House Bill 803 (HB 803) to breathe new life into the state’s film tax credit program, which ended in 2013.

This January, Americans for the Arts and the United States Conference of Mayors presented The Honorable Annise Parker, Mayor of Houston, TX with the Mayors National Award for Local Arts Leadership for cities with a population of 100,000 or more, during the United States Conference of Mayors Arts Breakfast in Washington, DC.

On February 26, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled - in a split (3-2) vote and along party lines - to reclassify broadband as a utility. The action gives the commission more regulatory power over Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

Although reflective of many of the record number of public comments, the ruling has resulted in some members of Congress developing an alternative legislative response.

On April 28, New York City joined the ranks of Chicago, Houston, and Denver when the city council passed its first, fully comprehensive cultural plan on a vote of 49 to 0. The bill was introduced and championed by city council members Jimmy Van Bramer (Queens) and Stephen Levin (Brooklyn).

In early March 2015, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker proposed in his state budget to eliminate the state's film tax credit program. With the elimination of the film tax credit program, the governor would divert the funds to double the state's Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income working families with three or more children.

In his State of the City address on Tuesday New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio introduced plans to create 1,500 affordable living spaces and 500 affordable workspaces for artists across the city, according to the New York Times.