Governor Roy Cooper - Prioritizing Art and Art Communities | Lightning Bugs w Ben Folds

Today’s guest is Roy Cooper, the Governor of Ben’s home state of North Carolina. In office, Governor Cooper has placed focus on the arts and preserving art communities during the pandemic. In this episode they talk about the logistics of arts funding, how the arts grow small towns, and public versus private. Ben gives tribute to region that helped shape him, and asks how we can continue to support, preserve, and grow creative pursuits in all forms.
You can submit your questions to Ben here: www.speakpipe....

[@lemonsparks2908]

Thanks for everything you are both doing as advocates for arts and arts education in NC. A question for Gov. Cooper: with all of the state owned facilities such rest stops, visitor centers, museums, historic sites, etc. that we support through tax dollars, why are these facilities not playing music by NC musicians exclusively? Funding that goes towards contracts with music service providers should be making its back into our own economy. Since NC has such a deep and diverse music history across all genres, any possible music needs of the state could not easily be met by NC artists. So many wonderful opportunities to showcase our wealth of music are being overlooked. While this would no doubt be a simple task, especially when having to involve the NCDOT, it is a worthy goal.

[@Latter-Day-Aint]

Uncle Ben must be channeling his inner Schroeder with the purple/black stripes. You wear it well!