Sec. 2. Findings

405 words·~2 min read·/bill/116/s/3232/is/section-2

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Congress makes the following findings: The United States economy has changed rapidly as automation, artificial intelligence, digital technologies, and modern information and communication systems have transformed the way people in the United States work, live, and interact. The United States must establish policies and create programs capable of responding to changing economic realities. The United States must develop strategies to maximize current assets and help grow a United States economy and workforce that can thrive in a challenging environment of constant change and reinvention.

The Nation needs to strengthen and improve Federal support for a Next Generation economy and workforce. The United States must explore sustainable strategies to create jobs that will endure, will remain reliant on a local workforce, and are unlikely to move overseas. There is great value and untapped potential in the Nation's rich history, the creative freedoms enjoyed by its people, and the many cultures and traditions that make the United States so unique. Promoting local arts and enhancing the creative economy of the United States would support the Nation's diverse citizenry, rich traditions, and vast creative talents, including the unique history and continuing vitality of Native American communities.

The United States must embrace the opportunities and challenges the country faces and reimagine the role of the Federal Government in providing support for local arts and expanding the creative economy. The United States needs to engage workers from around the Nation to develop, hone, and share expressions of their cultural heritage, including languages, creative collaborations, and artistic skills. The Nation needs to recognize that there is a broad range of undervalued and underutilized human potential in the United States, and the existence of that human potential has profound social, economic, and workforce ramifications.

Securing the future well-being of individuals, families, communities, and the Nation will depend in part on adopting Federal policies that will increase support for the creative economy. The Nation needs to improve creative workforce readiness and develop an education and job training plan, including a plan for education and training through specialized vocational schools and apprenticeship programs, to ensure that individuals of all ages in the United States can realize their full creative potential now and in the future.

Investing in a creative economy workforce would help showcase the Nation’s creative arts, strengthen its capacity for job growth, promote economic inclusion, boost entrepreneurship, improve and revitalize rural, remote, and underserved areas, and empower communities to share their stories.