MATT SORUM Calling For US Arts Funding
April 10, 2013, 11 years ago
According to Huffingtonpost.com, drummer Matt Sorum (VELVET REVOLVER, ex-GUNS N' ROSES) joined cellist YO-YO MA on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to urge lawmakers to increase funding for the arts in a year of deep federal budget cuts.
The rocker and classical musician played a jam session briefly together for a gathering of legislators and arts advocates from across the country who planned to visit congressional offices. They performed with bagpiper Cristina Pato and dancing star Lil Buck.
Sorum said his mother was a music teacher and that his high school classes in orchestra, jazz and marching band were critical in launching his career in music and in business. More recently he has started a charity to support arts education in Los Angeles. Guns N' Roses was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland last year.
Sorum said he was excited to visit Washington to press Congress for funding.
"This is the coolest thing I've done since Madison Square Garden, I've got to say. Slash is going to be really jealous," he said, referring to the lead guitarist from Guns N' Roses and now the group Velvet Revolver. "If I can navigate the music business, I'm going to have fun navigating Congress."The group Americans for the Arts is pushing for funding to be restored to $155 million each for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Last year each agency received about $146 million and lost about $7 million of that due to Congress' automatic budget cuts.
Read more at Huffingtonpost.com.
