Press Releases

In case you missed it, Reps. Leger Fernández and Jay Obernolte (R-CA) introduced the bipartisan Creative Economy Revitalization Act. This legislation will help revamp the creative economy through the creation of a workforce grants program to employ artists and writers to create publicly available art.

Due to the pandemic, 63% of creative workers have experienced unemployment and the U.S. has lost an estimated 15.2 billion dollars in the arts and cultural sector alone.  This bill inspired by the WPA has received endorsements from over 175 organizations.

See coverage and highlights below:

KOAT: Getting Artists Back to Work

Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez introduced the Creative Economy Revitalization Act. She hopes it will get independent artists back to work.

“It will be a grant program that will work through the Department of Labor, because it’s a jobs program, but working with the National Endowment for the Arts to create public art,” said Leger Fernández.

KUNM: Creative Economic Revitalization Act Aims To Assist Artists

[...] The coronavirus pandemic has slammed the arts and creative industries. One study by Americans for the Arts found over 90 percent of respondents lost income since it began.  A new bill introduced by New Mexico Democratic Rep. Teresa Leger-Fernandez looks to the New Deal from the 1930s as a blueprint to support artists and spur economic revitalization.

[...] Congresswoman Leger-Fernandez is confident her bill will find the support it needs. 

“This is a bipartisan bill. I'm very proud of my Republican sponsors," she says.

Julia Mandeville at the Harwood Art Center says the arts have become even more important in the pandemic. 

“Arts show us everything that we're capable of healing within ourselves and with each other," she says. "This era has really illuminated the critical exercise of self investigation and social reinvention.”

Santa Fe New Mexican: Creative Economy Revitalization Act introduced to Congress

[...] New Mexico creative businesses lost $493 million in 2020, and an estimated 15,000 creative workers were left unemployed, more than half with no savings, the nonprofit Americans for the Arts reported in December.

But New Mexico wasn’t alone. A new bill hopes to revitalize the nation’s creative economy, saying the road to economic recovery cannot ignore the arts and the vital role it plays in the well-being of a community. 

[...] The Creative Economy Revitalization Act would create a competitive workforce grants program totaling $300 million through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2014. Grants would be administered to eligible government, nonprofit and for-profit organizations, and state and local workforces through the Department of Labor in coordination with the National Endowment for the Arts.

Eligible grantees are required to create works that are accessible to the public, such as free concert series, murals, published stories, festivals and dance performances.

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