Pauline Chalamet was part of the group of actors who joined The Creative Coalition on Capitol Hill to advocate for funding the National Endowment for the Arts on Right to Bear Arts Day. She chatted with THR on why she believes everyone should agree on funding the arts because of how lucrative it is for the economy. Plus, she shares her hopes for the future of 'Sex Lives of College Girls' after being canceled on HBO.
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00:00You met with congressional staffers today to advocate for funding for the National Endowment
00:04for the Arts.
00:05How did those meetings go?
00:07I think the meetings were very informative.
00:11I hope on their behalf and certainly on my own behalf, on our behalf, to kind of understand
00:17the funding for National Endowment of the Arts is such an actual, it's very bipartisan.
00:25Everyone seems to agree on funding the arts.
00:29And to hear, there are certain representatives who are not, who couldn't really care maybe
00:36one way or the other and so often are looking for places to slash the budget and so look
00:42to the arts as an easy way to slash the budget.
00:44What was interesting was to hear the reasons why they believed arts funding wasn't important
00:51and to kind of connect with them and talk with them about that to see kind of why, to show
00:56why it is important.
00:57What were some of those reasons you argued that it is important?
01:02National Endowment for the Arts is not funding like big opera houses in our cities like New
01:07York or LA or Chicago.
01:10National Endowment for the Arts gives out grants all over the country.
01:13Every single congressperson has constituents who receive NEA funding.
01:20It is seed money for projects.
01:23It is a seal of approval from a committee that decides, an official committee that decides
01:29to give you money.
01:31And it helps attract private investors.
01:33For every dollar that the NEA gives, $9 is kind of put back into the economy.
01:40So it's one of the most lucrative investments.
01:44I found that a lot of people maybe weren't aware of how lucrative investment in the arts
01:49is.
01:50How might this experience affect your advocacy with organizations like the Creative Coalition
01:56going forward?
01:57I fully support the Creative Coalition and I look forward to all of the work that they
02:01do and fully supporting them in their process.
02:05And for you, so many fans of your show were sad to see that it was canceled.
02:09You know, news is that it probably won't come back, but do you think there's any hope that
02:13another network still might pick it up and we might get more Sex Lives of College Girls?
02:17Maybe.
02:18Maybe.
02:19You know about as much as I do.
02:20So fingers crossed.
02:21We'll see.
02:22Amazing.
02:23Thank you so much.