Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Opinion: Arts Advocacy Day testimony from Linda Ronstadt

This well-known singer delivered testimony to Congress telling them how important it is to have all the arts taught in school. We agree. - - Donna Poisl

Linda Ronstadt, Special to the Mercury News

Editor's note: The following is the full testimony Linda Ronstadt is delivering today to a Congressional subcommittee as part of Arts Advocacy Day. Ronstadt, a Grammy-award winning singer, is artistic director of the San José Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival.

Mr. Chairman and Distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to be here. My name is Linda Ronstadt, I am a singer, and I am pleased to be a part of the Americans for the Arts delegation and to come to our nation's capitol for Arts Advocacy Day. I am also here to testify in favor of a Fiscal Year 2010 appropriation of $200 million for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

Before I discuss the topic of my remarks, I would like to share a bit about my personal background, which informs my conversation with you today.

I grew up in the desert in Tucson, Arizona on what was then a rural route. My grandfather's cattle ranch had been whittled down considerably in size as a result of the financial storms of the last depression, but we were pretty happily established there amid the cactus and the cottonwoods. My family had built a little compound with my grandparents in one house, my father and mother and the four of us kids in the other.
Be sure to read the rest of this testimony! This is only a small part of it.

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