(A new weekly post summarizing the state of arts advocacy)

I’m going back a little more than a week because there are a few things worth highlighting:

• Amid much chatter over earmarks, Obama signed the Omnibus Appropriations Act on March 11, increasing the NEA’s funding by $10 million to a total of $155 million in fiscal year ’09. The Arts in Education program at the Department of Education also had its budget increased slightly, from $37.1 to $38.1 million.
• Also on March 11, New York governor David Patterson dropped his proposed 8% sales tax on theater tickets. NYSArts reports more than 35,000 emails were sent to Albany protesting the increase, but unsurprisingly, it seems like the majority of lobby power here came from Broadway
• For those arts advocacy lovers in the crowd, the Nationa 2009 Arts Advocacy Day is just around the corner.