President Biden, Vice President Harris, and U.S. Congressional Members:

We, the workers in the professional dance industry, write to you today with an urgent request.

In solidarity with our fellow Creative Workers across the country, the professional dance industry urges you and your colleagues to do the following:

• Publicly recognize that arts and culture in America are vital not only to the mental and emotional well-being of our nation’s families and local communities, but to our nation’s global economic competitiveness;
  

• Establish a federal Secretary of Arts and Culture, a cabinet-level position within the current administration and future administrations; and
  

• Provide proportionate and dedicated economic relief for the arts and culture sector, per the Putting Creative Workers to Work, and as part of any major economic recovery proposal, including the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan - which are currently being considered in Congress.
  

We are the dance artists and dance professionals, including choreographers, independent artists, artistic directors, executive directors, presenters, agents, dance educators, dance administrators, dance students, and dance archivists, who make DANCE - this great art form in the United States - possible.

We need your support and help.

We are living in extraordinarily challenging times. As a result of the current pandemic, the arts and cultural sector, in particular the dance industry, has been one of the hardest hit industries. In compliance with various government public health and safety directives, we were among the first to shutter our venues for public performances and events and we will be among the last industries to resume and recover. As creative workers, millions of us were and continue to be adversely impacted by being laid off and/or unable to find work inside or outside of our craft.

According to a recent report by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, under the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the National Endowment for the Arts, the unemployment rate for dancers and choreographers rose significantly in the third quarter of 2020 to 54.6 percent or 8,000 professionals. This significant number is compared to 10.7 percent or 3,000 professionals, the unemployment rate in 2019.

Additionally, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Argonne National Laboratory, and the National Endowment for the Arts released a report in January 2021 that specifically notes that within the arts and culture sector, “Nowhere has the effect been more direct, deep, and immediate than on the performing arts.”

The overall arts and cultural sector, including the dance industry, will be an integral part of any future economic recovery effort at the national, state, and local levels.

We are part of an economic engine that directly employs more than 5.2 million workers with a total compensation of $447 billion, and contributes a total approaching $919.7 billion to the nation’s gross domestic product (based on 2019 economic data). This economic contribution remains greater than the value added by such industries as construction, transportation and warehousing, mining, and agriculture.

However, as our industry starts to reopen, we need significant and dedicated support to do so effectively, safely, and in ways that are sustainable now and beyond the pandemic.

Dance is a powerful form of human expression that tells stories, preserves histories and cultures, honors traditions, addresses important social justice issues, inspires us, entertains us, heals us, and connects us all. Dance is embedded and intertwined with this country’s history and culture and touches every community across the nation.

Dance is a vital part of life and the arts and culture sector in America and is one of our nation’s greatest assets, exports, and economic engines.

We look forward to working with you and your colleagues as our nation moves past this current pandemic and the arts and cultural sector can return to providing important economic and societal contributions to our nation’s local communities and families.

Thank you for your consideration.


Sincerely,

Dance/USA, National Dance Education Organization, & Be An #ArtsHero

The undersigned