My letter to President Obama

Dear President Obama,

Welcome to your new job. I know that you have many pressing concerns to deal with and that those I am addressing may not be at the top of the list today. But I ask that you make time in coming years to improve the health of both our arts community and our media environment.

You have said you support increasing funding for arts education, and I hope you will follow through on this commitment. In addition, I hope you will boost funding for public broadcasting. Many classical radio stations are noncommercial and depend in part on federal support. Likewise, much programming produced for classical stations is supported with public funds. Public broadcasters have suggested that your economic stimulus package include $550 million to support their work. This would create new jobs, and it would extend public broadcasting’s reach to new audiences, helping even more people discover and learn about classical music. And support the expansion of the system in the long term by increasing the annual appropriation for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Finally, keep in mind the importance of two issues. Under your leadership, the Federal Communications Commission ought to preserve and even enhance diversity of ownership in media, which has declined drastically over the past decade. Consolidation in commercial media has made niche formats such as classical music less viable and narrowed the range of music people hear on the radio.

Also, please maintain your stated support for net neutrality. Corporations involved in Internet transmission should not hold sway over the content made available online. Net neutrality will guarantee that musicians and broadcasters of all kinds will be able to find an audience without hindrance from gatekeepers.

Thank you, and best wishes to you as President.

Sincerely,

Mike Janssen
Inside the Arts