Dear CAAM Fam,
As you may have heard, President Trump just released a budget proposal that would eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) , among other vital programs.
Here at CAAM, our foundation stands on supporting diverse stories and sharing them widely across platforms, at low cost or free, to the American public. CPB, along with the NEH and NEA, is the largest source of funding for CAAM, and for much of public media across the country, costing each tax payer just $1.35 a year. CPB funds more than 1,500 public TV and radio stations, including PBS, NPR and local affiliate stations like WGBH and KQED, where our films are shown and distributed. We believe storytelling from America’s many diverse communities is vital to a healthy democracy.
Films like Spencer Nakasako’s Emmy award-winning AKA Don Bonus and Loni Ding’s Ancestors in the Americas, to more recent works like Tadashi Nakamura’s Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings, would not have been possible without funding from CPB. The Chinese Exclusion Act by Ric Burns and Li-shin Yu, which just premiered at CAAMFest, is also funded in large part by CPB and NEH. Funding from CPB, NEA and NEH is critical to the survival of our organization.
Public television and public radio are the only outlets that have supported and presented Asian American stories in media consistently over the years.
We want to note that threats to cut funding for CPB, NEA and NEH are not new. Under President George W. Bush, there were proposed cuts each year. Each year, Congress restored most of the funding. The public’s support of PBS, CAAM, the NEH and NEA are vital to protecting public media.
Our stories are more important than ever, as these threats not only to funding, but to telling stories of our culture, history and telling stories of resistance that resonate today.
Join the campaign to Protect My Public Media or join CAAM as a member.
Thank you for your time, and your continued support of CAAM.
Stephen Gong
CAAM Executive Director
