Dear President Obama,

You have a lot to worry about–more than any other president in my lifetime.  And I can understand that ensuring the health and viability of the arts in America may seem like a pretty low priority with everything else competing for your attention.   Believe me, I get it.

And you know what?  The arts will be okay.

The Baltimore Opera Company, with whom I have sung for 15 seasons, recently declared bankruptcy and canceled the remainder of the season. (I’m married to a member of the opera orchestra, so my household lost two important sources of income.) Perhaps they’ll be back in business one day. In the meantime,  smaller, scrappier opera companies that have been languishing in the shadow of the BOC will get a little more sunshine.  Opera will go on. The arts will survive.  When times are sunnier, they will once again thrive.

In the meantime, however, artists are facing the same sort of challenges as workers all over the country. We’re losing our jobs–our jobs in the arts as well as the day jobs we often hold to supplement our incomes. We’re struggling to pay for our health insurance. We’re caring for our children and our parents. Whatever we managed to put away for retirement has evaporated and we’re wondering whether Social Security will still be there when we need it.

You can’t afford to prioritize the needs of the arts community! Instead, you need to focus on policies that will rehabilitate the economy, reduce health care costs, protect and heal the environment, increase energy independence, and ensure our national security.

Have I got a deal for you! You can make huge progress on all those fronts by making sustainable agriculture policy a major priority of your administration.    I’m sure you read the New York Times, so you probably already read Michael Pollan’s Letter to the president-elect, laying out the rationale for this far better than I can here.

Speaking as both an artist and a licensed nutritionist, I’d simply like to add my endorsement to Mr. Pollan’s argument.   The best thing you can do for the arts (and the artists) is to help make the planet and all its citizens healthier and more secure.

Best wishes,

Monica Reinagel
Baltimore, MD