Starting at 6AM ET, you’ll notice that our network has gone “off-the-clock”*–this means deviating from the broadcast clock, where television programs start on the hour (:00) or the half-hour (:30). As you’ll see on today’s schedule, we are airing a diverse lineup of artist profiles and documentaries spanning a myriad of arts: music, dance, musical theater, painting, fashion, the culinary arts and more. We are also running limited on-air commercials. This is because Ovation is celebrating Arts Advocacy Day.
We believe the arts are an integral part of our lives. They nurture our communities, contribute economically to our country, and they deserve to be protected.
Since 2011, Ovation has been a proud supporter of Arts Advocacy Day, organized by Americans for the Arts (AFTA), the largest gathering of arts advocates in the country held every March in Washington, D.C.
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For more than 30 years, the AFTA’s Arts Advocacy Day has brought together over 85 national arts organizations as well as over 700 grassroots arts delegates from every state to meet with members of Congress and advocate for arts education policy, charitable tax deductions, and increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. This important day provides an opportunity to discuss policy and inform elected officials about the power and impact of the arts on local communities.
At 8PM ET today, we highlight the everyday, grassroots work of arts organizations in the original one-hour documentary Arts Across the Heartland. We go outside major metropolitan cities to heartland cities, from Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Mississippi, Utah, Oregon, Tennessee, South Dakota, to Virginia, to highlight everyday, grassroots work of arts organizations.
We recognize that arts advocacy doesn’t stop after this one day. Arts leaders throughout the country, along with arts supporters like Ovation, work tirelessly year-round to ensure that the arts thrive in our communities. That’s why Ovation launched Stand For The Arts, our signature arts advocacy platform to raise awareness, protect access, and encourage action on behalf of the arts. Viewers can contribute to this platform and $1 to a non-profit arts organization by signing up on Stand For The Arts.
*In the age of movie and television streaming, the idea of the broadcast clock may seem foreign. But it’s quite the intricate assembly of parts. Here’s a cool visual design of a broadcast clock from NPR’s All Things Considered, courtesy of the podcast 99 Percent Invisible.