WHAT WE DO
In pursuit of our educational objectives The Creative Coalition:
- Sponsors forums for the discussion of central issues such as education policy, violence in America, the role of the media, campaign finance reform and other topics of broad concern. These events ensure a balanced approach that always includes concerned and informed members of the creative professions.
- Tackles issues of direct importance to the arts and entertainment community, including First Amendment rights, public funding for the arts, and arts education in the public schools.
- Testifies before Congress, sponsors awareness-building events, actively participates in the Democratic and Republican conventions, and plays an assertive role in presenting the creative community’s views on these issues.
- Offers special services to its members to help prepare them for public roles as advocates and spokespeople. The Coalition believes informed advocacy is effective advocacy, and encourages the ongoing education of its members as they exercise their rights as citizens in public settings.
PHOTO CREDITS ON THE WEBSITE:
Amy Graves Photography
Tasos Katopodis
Paul Morigi
Jeff Vespa
Laura Vogel
HISTORY
In 1989, a group of writers, actors, producers, directors, agents, designers and lawyers from the entertainment world and founded The Creative Coalition. We were not — and are not — a precisely like-minded political group, but rather people who longed to use our communication skills and political savvy in more effective ways. We debated and argued and it was finally decided that The Creative Coalition would be a place to educate ourselves on all sides of issues so as to become as well informed as possible before talking to the press, to policy makers, or to the public. We wanted to get beyond celebrity-in-politics tokenism and photo-ops to move inside the political process-to actually help shape policy.
Through a series of membership meetings at which experts from all sides of the issues spoke, we began to discover the areas where we believed we could make a difference, and that indeed still drive us: federal funding for the arts, free speech and education.
Their numbers grew and others joined their ranks. Well-briefed TCC members have regularly been asked to testify before Congressional committees, appear on TV shows like Crossfire, MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour and a host of others, as well as to lead rallies to affect and solidify public opinion on our core issues. We were particularly proud when TCC member Jane Alexander was named to be Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts.
