Devin Thorpe // Democrat // Congressional District 3 (B+)

1. How have the arts, culture, and/or humanities impacted your life?

I spent 8 years writing about social issues professionally because I had a foundation in humanities as part of a complete education. I also had the opportunity to travel to over 40 countries on 6 continents in my work to eradicate polio. I have been profoundly impacted by the rich, diverse culture that I experienced in this work.

2. Utah's humanities and arts employ 123,000 Utahns, provide $4.4 billion in earnings, and $13.2 billion in sales. This is a larger economic impact than agriculture, mining, and real estate. Do you consider the arts and cultural sector an economic driver in Utah?

Yes

3. I support the following federal agencies and will work to increase fiscally responsible investment in them:

-National Endowment for the Arts

-National Endowment for the Humanities

-Institute of Museum and Library Services

-Corporation for Public Broadcasting

4. If I win, I will join the following cultural caucuses:

-Congressional Humanities

-Congressional STEAM

5. Forgivable loans available from the Small Business Administration have been vitally important to helping the cultural industry recover from COVID-19:

I support increasing federal funding in SBA COVID loans and keeping them open for nonprofits.

6. Fiscally responsible government investment in the arts and humanities (including humanities and arts education) means to me:

Arts and humanities education are vitally important to a well-rounded education as they support creativity, diversity of thought, compassion and an inclusive world view. I have worked with numerous nonprofits to help raise funds through crowdfunding, but consistent federal funding provides critical capital to sustain arts and humanities year after year. Additionally, I fully support increasing federal funding in SBA COVID loans for arts and humanities nonprofits. Kurt Bestor was a guest on my campaign podcast #plugintodevin to specifically discuss the need to support the arts and gig worker during this pandemic.

Website: https://www.devinthorpe.com/