Early and Often

Did everybody read Chris Jones’ blog piece over the weekend? If not, do it right away. I hope this mayoral election has you jazzed. Actually I hope all elections have you jazzed. We are working on some ideas and initiatives to put into play once the candidates announce and I know Arts Alliance Illinois is working hard on it too. Elections are a unique opportunity for us to talk about ourselves and it’s not all about increasing funding. It is an opportunity for us to tell our story from top to bottom, to talk about our partnerships in schools and with local businesses, to talk about ourselves as good citizens and to talk about ourselves in the context of our neighborhoods, to point out that we are a tourist attraction, an economic generator, a cultural asset and a cultural resource.

I hope you will all be as active and vocal as Chris has been and encourage all of your constituents to be as well. We can have real influence over this election. I’m talking about this early and I will talk about it often. You will be getting many more communiqués from the League and from the Alliance. But, you can start now, write a letter to the editor, learn something about the potential candidates, AND if you see Rahm at an el station, ask him about his arts policy platform.

Deb