Story highlights Mick Fleetwood spoke about his upcoming book at SXSW

He opened up about the issue he feels most passionate about

Austin, Texas (CNN) CNN caught up with Mick Fleetwood at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday, where the rock star discussed his upcoming book and opened up about this passion for the arts.

"I'm a huge supporter of anything that nurtures creativity," Fleetwood said. "The nearest thing that you'd get in this conversation which is vaguely political would be for the survival of the creative arts in school at the youngest age possible through university."

But it is political in that it touches on spending -- advocates for arts education are also staunch supporters funding arts programs in schools. Chance the Rapper, for example, donated $1 million to Chicago Public Schools to support arts and enrichment programs. President Donald Trump's proposed budget would cut off funding entirely for several programs, including the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, which provide federal funding to arts and educational programs around the country.

"All of these things mean everything to me because without that I wouldn't be standing here (without arts education)," Fleetwood told CNN. "And it's something that is universal -- and vaguely political, but not really."

Fleetwood, a self-taught drummer, co-founded British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac in 1967. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, and 50 years after its founding, Fleetwood Mac remains one of the most successful bands in the world.

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