Randall Bourscheidt, president of Alliance for the Arts, is blogging for The Huffington Post. An excerpt of the first post, Arts Community to Obama: Here's What We're Fighting For, is below. Read the full article on The Huffington Post.

"We are fighting now to recover our prosperity but also our sense of purpose and pride as a nation. Like all other nations in history, our culture stands at the center of our identity, but it needs to be actively supported to flourish.

In the US we have a unique system in which private giving takes the lead in supporting the arts but government support provides a seal of honor by the public sector. Although funding for the National Endowment for the Arts is small compared to the massive investment many countries make in their own cultural life, it is symbolically and practically important, especially to smaller cultural institutions spread throughout the land.

As a candidate, Barack Obama offered a strong statement supporting increased funding for the NEA and for the National Endowment for the Humanities. Senator Obama also called for a new commitment to arts education, introducing young people to the diverse cultures of their country and helping the next generation of artists develop their talents. These are the bedrock of federal arts policy--and the legacy of enlightened thinking by presidents from Kennedy and Johnson to Nixon.