States Cut Art Funds

The NY Times ran an article on the impact shrinking state treasuries have had on the arts. Many states have drastically scaled back funding for the arts due to the difficult economic times, and some states, such as Kansas have stopped funding altogether. Texas cut spending for the arts by 50%, New Jersey by 23% and Wisconsin by 67%. The article goes on to state that most of the organizations that are impacted are the small rural cultural arts groups. Many of the larger and better known cultural organizations can withstand the cuts in state support, but the smaller, lesser known entities rely more heavily on state funding, and many are currently suffering from a lack of funding.

The NY Times reports

This year Rocco Landesman, the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, prompted an outcry when he publicly suggested that the supply of arts organizations may have exceeded the demand. He seemed to be promoting a cultural Darwinism in which government could seed promising theaters, museums and other groups, but after that they would largely be on their own. The ability of the endowment to help may be limited this year, with some members of Congress proposing to cut the agency’s $155 million budget by $20 million. In response the National Endowment has been promoting the benefits of investing in culture, like the $278 billion in economic activity that federal research showed was spun off by the arts in 2009.

Across the country community-based arts groups typically receive small state grants funneled through regional commissions. In Kansas the Junction City Arts Council has received $10,000 a year from the state arts commission annually since 2005, money it used to provide visual arts scholarships for underprivileged children, a summer community theater program and a storyteller who performed at schools.

Gail Parsons, the council’s executive director, said that to offset the state cut the council is scrambling to add fund-raising events, like selling work by local artists and staging murder-mystery dinners. “We have to focus on the almighty dollar a lot more,” Ms. Parsons said.

To read the complete NY Times article, click HERE.