Friday, February 11, 2011
Okay, it’s official: State arts agencies are in trouble
Createquity.: "This week has been a bad one for beleaguered state arts agencies. First, after much sabre-rattling, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback followed through with his threat to eliminate the Kansas Arts Commission on Monday, with the plan to transfer its responsibilities to a new nonprofit and provide a token $200,000 one-time appropriation to help with the transition. (This is down from $1.1 million the agency received two years ago.) Worse, unlike other governors who have tried to do the same, he did the dirty deed by executive order, meaning that the bar is much higher for arts advocates to reverse the decision. They basically have to convince the Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature to override the Governor’s order within 60 days of the decision.
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It's sad really. On the one hand states are currently pushing to trim their budgets across the board to keep themselves fiscally sound. Unfortunately that means that whatever current ideology is in power has the ability to pick and chose what goes. Arts impact on constituents can be hard to define in a quantifiable manner. Furthermore, Arts funding could even be considered in some ways a luxury.
On the other hand, over time it has become expected of states to help push the arts within their borders and enrich it's culture. There also have been numerous studies, statistics, preivous events, etc.. that show how art helps nation thrive.
It's a rough time for us in the entertainment business because a lot of places that rely on funding are finding the wells to be drying up. Now we get to watch as state by state funding gets yanked away.
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