The Legislature doesn't exactly have a solid tradition of supporting arts and entertainment, except for recent years' initiatives to bring tax credits for film and television, but the current fiscal picture is brighter than ever. With a record $3 billion surplus on the books from recovery spending and high oil prices, arts and culture boosters are hopeful their time has come.
Landrieu's legislative package consists of three parts that are expected to pass, and possibly even be expanded. It includes a program with local oversight to create "cultural product districts" and rehabilitate historic structures; tax credits for a wide variety of artists to live and work in Louisiana; and incentives to encourage food research and culinary arts. In several ways, the cultural economy package mirrors what many in Lafayette have been striving for over the past decade or so, especially downtown.
The cultural product district is outlined in House Bill 359 by Rep. Taylor Townsend, a Democrat from Natchitoches who is sponsoring the entire package. If ultimately passed by the Legislature, local governments could designate such districts starting next year for the "purpose of revitalizing a community by creating a hub of cultural activity, including affordable artist housing and work space." If eligible businesses are approved by the state Board of Commerce and Industry, they could receive state and local sales and use tax exemptions for works of art sold in the district. "This will allow local interests to expand beyond the typical downtown development district," says Angelle Davis, secretary of the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism.
The legislation also expands the amount of tax credits available for rehabilitating historic structures within such a district. Presently, the state has set aside roughly $1 million in credits to be used annually on historic buildings, but Townsend's bill would bump it up to $10 million, meaning as many as 400 structures could receive assistance each year, compared to only 40 currently. Davis says many areas of the state are planning to focus the credits on rundown areas, while others are building upon previous successes. "I know that Lafayette has talked about using these incentives to address blighted areas," she adds.
The second measure in the cultural economy package, House Bill 495, would create income tax exclusions for artists' work in varying amounts. The first $50,000 would be excluded entirely, while the next $50,000 would receive a 50 percent break. The following $400,000 would be eligible for 25 percent, and works exceeding $500,000 would get a 10 percent exclusion. And it's a wide net ' "artistic work" is defined as both contemporary and traditional in disciplines such as visual arts, craft, music, theater, dance, fashion design, literature and media.
Todd Mouton, director of the Louisiana Crossroads performance series and executive director of Louisiana Folk Roots, testified at the Capitol in favor of the legislation. He says the artist income exclusion would allow the state to not only sustain many of its artisans at home, but it would also put Louisiana in a position to cultivate new talent to continue competing on a global scale. "This is part of a great package, and it's the right step to take with minimal investment to show the state's artists we are serious about their contributions," says Mouton, who is also a member of the Acadiana Arts Council.
The final piece of the package is probably the most delicious, as it addresses state income tax credits for culinary arts and food-science infrastructure projects. Under House Bill 568, if the total base investment is greater than $15,000 but less than $150,000, each investor would receive a tax credit of 10 percent. If it's greater than $150,000 and less than $1 million, the credit would be 15 percent. For anything topping $1 million, the credit would jump to 20 percent.
Chef John Folse, who has been a Louisiana culinary mainstay for more than 25 years on radio and TV, called the incentive a "no-brainer," since part of the state's tourism appeal is directly related to food. In recent years he has built up his $50 million food empire, bolstered largely by a massive food processing plant in Donaldsonville that employs 200 people creating cheeses, meats and other manufactured eats. His company produces everything from chili for Disney World to a brown-sugar glaze for Friday's restaurants.
Next year he's planning an $8 million expansion and upwards to 100 new hires, and says he would have used the incentives if they were available when he started planning some time ago. "Had tax credits been available to me, you can imagine where we would have been," Folse says. "I would have reinvested the money and designed a $9 million expansion and hired more Louisiana people."
Landrieu says it's easy to generate excitement over food and entertainment, but many people shy away from dumping millions into growing the sectors, mainly because they're nontraditional markets for the state. He's trying to change that, and the Legislature appears to be falling in line. "You have to do the same thing for the cultural economy, from a tax policy perspective, as we do for other industries to help them grow," Landrieu says. "We can longer treat them differently."
MAY 23 Here's a story in the Picayune about some statistics that must come as a blow to folks who believe that any private school can do a better job of educating kids than any public school: Danielle Dreilinger reports that only 30 percent of the voucher kids are passing. That's less than half of the state wide average, she says. It's an interesting statistic because most of the schools (if not all) taking voucher kids have never had their students' standardized test scores released to the public before.
MAY 23 Stephen Sabludowsky blogs on Bayou Buzz about auditor requests here. Recently the state GOP started crowing about a request from the Legislative Auditor, claiming they were being targeted because of their anti-tax stance. (Uh, your what?) Denial and hyperbole aside, the state Democratic party blew holes in that theory with an email announcing they'd received the same request, Sabludowsky writes here.
MAY 23 Jim Brown blogs about the senate race in this post. He says that, given Bobby Jindal's "lack of traction" on the national stage, it might make more sense for the governor to consider running against Mary Landrieu for the senate seat. Since Tim Teeple left the Cassidy team, it makes sense he might land on a Jindal for Senate team, Brown opines.
MAY 23 In this Louisiana Voice post, blogger Tom Aswell writes of rumors that his nemesis, state Superintendent of Education John White, may be soon departing Louisiana for a federal post. It's hard to believe, given his performance, Aswell says, but stranger things have happened. An anti-White BESE member says that, if true, White is quitting before he can be fired.
MAY 23 In this post on American Zombie, blogger Jason Berry writes about the Mother's Day shooting. Mayor Landrieu said that "this is not who we are," but the fact is, this is New Orleans, Berry writes. The violence infused in the city is the result of a culture created by "sins of omission or sins of commission," Berry writes. It's not a problem that can be solved by legislating, policing, praying or publicizing, he says: Someone's got to understand what's happening first.
MAY 23 This post in the Westside Journal tells us what Port Allen Mayor Deedy has been up to lately: vetoing ordinances, apparently. This story is most interesting, however, when it delves into a petition that has been circulating around the city lately. It accuses the former mayor of a lot of nasty things; the former mayor says it is full of lies and "broken syntax" which may be a larger offense in his eyes.
MAY 23 This editorial posted in The Advocate is a bit confusing. The writing is poor - definitely not up to the usual editorial writing standard there - and the point is hard to grasp. Apparently, the writer is saying that privatization of state efforts is OK, as long as there is oversight and transparency, but Jindal's not good at that, and the legislature shouldn't over-react. Okey Dokey. Can't they get one of them Pulitzer-winning people to write an editorial?
MAY 23 This post on The Lens gives you links to a new Google Earth tool that allows you to see any spot on earth transform over the past 30 years. Bob Marshall, who covers the coast for the paper, says that in the case of Louisiana's coastline, it's possibly something you don't want to see, because it's not a pretty picture. There are several clips here, showing critical areas erode away. For Marshall, it was vindication for all those times he was met with eye-rolling when he talked about erosion.
Most Read
in case you missed it
Subscribe to this comment's feed