February 2019
Following the release of the Arlington County Manager’s proposed draconian cuts to the arts budget in fiscal year 2020, Embracing Arlington Arts sent out a Press Release detailing how devastating these cuts will be and how disproportional they are when considering the overall budget that is earmarked for the arts. ArlNow published a story using that release which can be read here.
March 2019
In cooperation with Encore Stage and Studio, Embracing Arlington Arts organized a Strategy Session on how to fight the proposed cuts and over 100 people attended! Local NBC News also covered the story.
Also the Washington Post included an Opinion Piece in its Metro Section drafted by Embracing Arlington Arts Chair Janet Kopenhaver about the cuts and how they will decimate the arts in Arlington.
ArlNow also published a Community Post submitted by Embracing Arlington Arts on how Arlingtonians can weigh in with the County Board and urge them to REJECT these cuts.
April 2019
Continuing the fight against the draconian cuts to the arts in Arlington proposed by the County Manager, Embracing Arlington Arts and Encore Stage and Studio organized a Rally/Celebration on the Courthouse Plaza immediately preceding the public budget hearing. ArlNow picked up the story and plugged the event.
June 2019
Following the grassroots advocacy work of Embracing Arlington Arts, the County pulled back on its recommendation to impose cuts to arts budget which was applauded by the arts community. ArlNow published our Press Release.
July 2019
Arlington Magazine published an in-depth article about the state of the arts in Arlington, featuring many arts organizations, artists and the work Embracing Arlington Arts did to fight the budget cuts, as well as our continued efforts to advocate and make the arts more visible and vibrant in the County.
However, in this article, a statistical table was included comparing levels of arts funding from three jurisdictions (Arlington, DC and Montgomery County) which upon review we believed was not accurate and appeared misleading. Therefore we submitted this Letter to the Editor in an attempt to clear up the discrepancy.
ArlNow also published a column written by Embracing Arlington Arts about the many, many benefits of the arts in Arlington.
October 2019
Embracing Arlington Arts is producing a podcast series with very successful regional Artistic Directors to talk about the industry, their experiences and pros and cons of a career in arts management. The series will then be shared with high school students who are interested in this type of career to provide them with some resources to help them decide. InsideNova covered this initiative in this article.
December 2019
Embracing Arlington Arts President Janet Kopenhaver and Board Member Sara Duke served on the Arlington Community Arts Advisory Committee set up in response to the outcry from Arlingtonians about County Manager’s proposed draconian cuts to the arts budget. The recommendations were presented to the County Manager and Embracing Arlington Arts announced its support of this report, with the caveat that work still needs to be done for the Joint Use theater scheduling process with local schools. InsideNova covered the release in this article. ArlNow also included coverage in this article.
Embracing Arlington Arts 