During the push for health care reform, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked MSNBC host Rachel Maddow to visualize “an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance.” But how, exactly, that might happen was unclear. Just days earlier, Pelosi had said, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” read more

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Primer: The 2009 inauguration of Obama — plus Democratic majorities in Congress — meant a shift in the power dynamic in Washington, DC. How are creative industries faring so far in this administration? Rumor has it that music is enjoyed and revered in the White House, but these are also trying times for policymakers. Can a pro-arts agenda be balanced with pressing economic and infrastructure concerns? Does the cultural community have a role to play in recovery? What legislation will make it out of committee and onto the floor? Top staffers from the House and Senate will discuss the key music-technology-policy issues playing out on Capitol Hill, and how musicians are engaging.

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It’s DC Policy Day for the Future of Music Coalition - where staffers from the Judiciary and Commerce committees will discuss topics from broadband policy to copyright to the health care bill.  And musicians’ advocates, like F-M-C spokesman Casey Rae-Hunter, will find themselves using phrases like “positive economic multipliers.”

RAE-HUNTER  This is a vital sector of the American public. They contribute a lot not only culturally but economically.  What can we do to give them the best fighting chance to re-establish themselves as part of the American recovery?