Trey Robinson // Democrat // Congressional District 3

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

As a graduate from BYU’s advertising program, I’ve spent many years studying, in great detail, humanities, culture, and art and how it impacts the lives of other people. Having lived in L.A., I’ve been a part of a bustling society built on movies, theater, thrills, animation, acting, storytelling, and fashion. I worked for Disney, one of the greatest, most influential entertainment companies in the world. I’ve been able to build a life for myself working in this very creative, very competitive field by understanding and embracing the arts. I’ve seen, first hand, how important messages are to people and how different arts and cultures respond to those different messages.

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 Arts

-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:

A government that understands it’s duties to the people. Government is meant to handle all of the clerical, minute pieces of everyday life. They’re meant to maintain order and structure, to support the people, give them opportunities to flourish and focus on the things that matter to them. A fiscally responsible government has things like a “rainy day fund”, savings to help keep the economy going when disaster hits, and cultural programs and incentives to get people to think, innovate, create, and preserve what it means to be a U.S. citizen. Overreaching policies, overspending, these are examples of a government that is too proud of itself, that’s lost sight of the people it was created to serve and protect. We need more artistic education as a way of helping people find themselves and join the American dream.

Website: https://treyrobinson2020.weebly.com