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  • From: andrew AT andrewross.com
  • To: chpac-staff AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Chpac-staff] NYTimes.com Article: Many State Arts Councils Make Their Case and Survive Budget Cuts
  • Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 12:26:28 -0500 (EST)

This article from NYTimes.com
has been sent to you by andrew AT andrewross.com.


Interesting NY TImes article from Thursday on state art budgets. No mention
of North Carolina, but still a great set of comparisons.

Andrew

andrew AT andrewross.com

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Many State Arts Councils Make Their Case and Survive Budget Cuts

January 8, 2004
By STEPHEN KINZER





CHICAGO, Jan. 7 - At the beginning of last year, a
legislative committee in Arizona looking for ways to cut
that state's budget recommended eliminating the state's
arts council. In New Jersey, Gov. James E. McGreevey made
the same suggestion: if some agencies must be abolished,
maybe one should be the arts council.

But in a remarkable turnaround that has been replicated in
statehouses across the country, the councils not only
survived budget tightening but endured less painful cuts -
12.4 percent in Arizona, for instance, and 23.7 percent in
New Jersey. They were among many cultural agencies that are
in much better financial shape today than some had feared a
year ago.

Only three states - California, Michigan and Florida -
reduced their arts budgets by more than $10 million in
2003. Those reductions alone represented two-thirds of all
cuts absorbed by state arts agencies.

Most of the other 47 states made substantially smaller
reductions in their arts budgets than were proposed at the
beginning of 2003. Arts administrators consider that a
major victory, because in recent years their programs have
been among the first to suffer.

"There is a realization that the arts are a major, major
economic contributor," said Richard J. Schwartz, chairman
of the New York State Council on the Arts. "At some point
maybe that point wasn't being made as well, but it's
certainly being made now. Governmental leaders are very
much aware of the contribution that arts spending makes to
the well-being of a state, and how detrimental it can be to
riddle these budgets with cuts."

David Wilson, executive director of the Kansas Arts
Commission, said state organizations, often advised by
national groups, "have gotten much more savvy, much better
at making their case."

"They aren't just saying arts are nice and good," Mr.
Wilson said. "Now they're using numbers and hard facts to
show how much of an economic impact the arts have and how
important they are for kids."

In California, where a fiscal crisis helped lead to the
recall of Gov. Gray Davis and the election of Arnold
Schwarzenegger, the arts budget was cut by 90 percent this
year, falling from more than $20 million to less than $2
million, according to the National Assembly of State Arts
Agencies. In Florida a $30 million arts budget was cut to
$6.7 million, and in Michigan, the arts budget fell from
$22.5 million to $11.8 million.

Many other state arts agencies were expected to suffer
comparable reductions this year, but did not. Sixteen
states kept their cuts to less than 10 percent, and in 18
other states the arts budget actually increased or stayed
the same.

"Those early predictions were wrong because people made
them too soon, at the very beginning of the legislative
process," said Jonathan Katz, chief executive of the
National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. "Some people
underestimated the ability of the arts community to make
its case to public officials, and it's a very compelling
case."

"When state governments make up their budgets, they
naturally want to support programs that produce jobs, tax
revenue, increases in tourism, stronger local communities
and other concrete benefits," Mr. Katz said. "I think we've
turned the corner in our ability to show that the arts does
all that."

State arts budgets for the current fiscal year total $272.4
million, down substantially from their peak of $446.8
million in 2001. Also this year, annual per capita state
spending on arts programs dipped below the $1 level for the
first time since 1996. Closer study of state budgets,
however, shows that many of these cuts have been
concentrated in only a few states.

More typical is the experience in Kansas, where the state
arts commission took a cut of only 1 percent. The
commission has worked with citizens and an advocacy group
based in Washington, Americans for the Arts, to prepare
studies showing the effects of arts spending in specific
communities. One study concluded that in Lawrence in 2001,
cultural programs generated $33 million in economic
activity, provided full-time jobs for 1,200 people and
produced $1.5 million in state-tax revenue.

The successes in Kansas can be attributed partly to the use
of more sophisticated lobbying techniques, Mr. Wilson said.
"The Internet has had a big impact on our ability to tell
our people what's happening in the Legislature, and to
mobilize them to contact their own legislators," he said.
"We've been able to reframe the argument, and that has
really turned things around for us here in Kansas and, I
believe, in other states as well."

The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies is one of
several groups that gave local arts advocates advice on
lobbying last year. In one mailing to members it provided
tips on speaking to legislators. "Don't focus too much on
the intangible benefits of your issue," the mailing said.
"Understand what matters most to that politician and how
the arts relate to their agenda. It may be the arts' role
in promoting tourism or improving education or reducing
crime. Experience has proven that the arts win attention
when they are part of a broad agenda of public-policy
concerns. Offer concrete information about the reach of the
arts in your state and the impact of public funding."

Arts councils, like other public agencies, have been
severely affected by fiscal crises that have reduced
budgets in almost every state. Arts budgets have been under
pressure for several years. In Massachusetts, for example,
this year's arts council budget was the same as last
year's, which was down 62 percent from the year before.

Alarmed by budget cuts like that in recent years, arts
organizations waged intense campaigns in many state
capitals during 2003. Although arts councils receive an
average of only 0.048 percent of total state spending from
general funds, according to the assembly of arts agencies,
they have been easy targets for legislators looking for
places to trim budgets.

Many arts agencies have won over legislators by assuring
them that their grants are not concentrated in big cities
but spread statewide. Some, like the Pennsylvania Council
on the Arts, have even invited local legislators to pass
out grant checks in public ceremonies.

"In the past most of our support was focused on
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh," said Philip Horn, executive
director of the Pennsylvania council. "That didn't give
legislators from other areas much reason to be supportive,
and it fed the impression that spending money on the arts
is charity for the rich. Having these legislators hand out
the checks might have seemed crass at first, but it's had a
great impact in showing them how much these grants can do
for local communities. It begins to change the image."

The budget for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
increased by 1.9 percent this year, from $13.7 million to
$14 million. One reason that many Pennsylvania politicians
support the arts, Mr. Horn said, was because that state
lacks term limits for legislators and governors.

"When you're coming in new, you have so much stuff coming
at you that arts seems like a very low priority," he said.
"People who have been around a while are more likely to see
the benefits of these programs."

States with acute fiscal crises are still most likely to
make deep cuts in arts budgets. "We were decimated - the
literal use of the word applies," said Adam Gottlieb,
spokesman for the California Arts Council. "Every agency
has had to tighten its belt, but we lost our belt. We were
unable to make our case. The silver lining is that we're
still here, which is something, since we were threatened
with elimination. But still, California now has the dubious
dishonor of being the state with the lowest per capita
spending on the arts."

Robert L. Lynch, president of Americans for the Arts, said
that arts budgets tend to follow the rise and fall of state
economies.

"Not all economies are as bad as California or Michigan or
Florida, and that's why you aren't seeing such big
slashes," Mr. Lynch said. "Arts funding went down in the
last few years because of Sept. 11, the economic downturn
and the dot-com fallout. Now, with economies starting to
recover and the stock market rising, arts budgets are
better able to hold their own."

"My optimism is not a Pollyanna optimism," Mr. Lynch said.
"Every vote to appropriate money is a hard vote for state
legislators. But when I look at discussions about this
issue, whether it's at the federal, state or local level, I
see a lot more people, legislative leaders, articulate and
positive about the value of the arts. The arts are seen not
as being an impediment to economic growth, but as part of
the solution. Not everyone feels that way, but I see that
attitude as being on the increase."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/08/arts/08CUTS.html?ex=1074755588&ei=1&en=35e6a26f68aea292


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  • [Chpac-staff] NYTimes.com Article: Many State Arts Councils Make Their Case and Survive Budget Cuts, andrew, 01/10/2004

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