[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 126 (Monday, August 3, 2026)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E762-E763]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            HONORING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF NINA OZLU TUNCELI

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. BETTY McCOLLUM

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, August 3, 2026

  Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Nina Ozlu Tunceli on 
the occasion of her retirement. For more than three decades, Nina has 
been one of the most tireless and effective advocates for the arts in 
America. Nina understands something fundamental: not only do the arts 
enrich our lives, they are also a key component of vibrant, 
economically strong communities.
  Since 1993, Nina has served as Chief Counsel of Government and Public 
Affairs at Americans for the Arts, and since 2004, as the founding 
Executive Director of the Americans for the Arts Action Fund. In that 
time, she built a network of 450,000 grassroots activists, built 
relationships with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, and 
made the case that support for the arts is not a partisan issue--it is 
an American one.
  Nina has helped secure some of the most consequential arts policy 
wins of the past thirty years. In 2009, she led the ``Arts = Jobs'' 
campaign, which secured $50 million in federal support for the arts in 
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. During the pandemic, she 
helped secure critical relief for artists and arts organizations 
through the CARES Act, the Economic Aid Act, and the American Rescue 
Plan. Then, Nina established Zoom Office Hours with Nina where she 
devoted time to personally walking artists and small arts organizations 
through how to access that essential aid. She built the National Arts 
Advocacy Day into a Capitol Hill institution. Through ArtsVote, Nina 
ensured that voters across the country understood what was at stake for 
the arts in every election.
  I had the privilege of working with Nina throughout my time in 
Congress, especially during my leadership of the House Appropriations 
Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. Nina has 
been a constant, trusted partner in the subcommittee's work to fund the 
National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the 
Humanities. Nina provided the subcommittee with data and brought with 
her the voices of artists and arts organizations from every corner of 
the country. That partnership made our subcommittee's work stronger, 
and it strengthened the case for federal arts funding.
  Mr. Speaker, a career like Nina's isn't just measured in legislation 
passed or funding secured. It's measured in the local arts agencies

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still standing, the artists who kept working through moments of crisis, 
and the generation of advocates she trained and inspired along the way.
  On behalf of everyone who has ever benefited from a stronger, more 
visible case for the arts in this country, I want to thank Nina Ozlu 
Tunceli for 30 years of extraordinary service. I wish her the very best 
in her retirement.

                          ____________________