A STATEMENT REGARDING THE PROPOSED ELIMINATION OF FEDERAL ARTS FUNDING

A budget proposed by the President of the United States has called for the elimination of the National Endowment For The Arts.

While SFFILM will not be materially affected by any reduction or elimination of the NEA, It will have a profound effect on our many sibling organizations upon whom we rely as programming and marketing partners in the Bay Area, especially those who provide arts learning for young people and access to art and artists in underserved communities. The elimination of cultural funding dramatically undermines the bonds that make our communities strong and must be opposed.

It is also important to note that these proposed cuts are clearly motivated by political animus. That is a terrifying idea. When people in power seek to silence the creative voices that contextualize our sociopolitical life that is an attack on democracy itself.

Furthermore, the stated arguments for the elimination of the NEA are highly troubling. To deny the full potential of a child’s imagination or to suggest that people living in certain communities have less need of cultural sustenance as a direct trade-off against spending on tanks and bombs can only be characterized as morally repugnant.

We join with our peers to oppose this terrible proposal and call for the full funding of the National Endowment For The Arts to be maintained in the coming federal budget.

Noah Cowan
Executive Director
SFFILM — The 60th San Francisco International Film Festival