Last ditch effort to restore arts funding expected Monday
Maneuvering to mitigate massive cuts — the state arts community characterizes them as fatal — to Decentralized Arts Funding and Statewide Arts Grants is expected today at the state Capitol as the House and Senate iron out House Bill 76, an ancillary appropriations bill that provides hundreds of millions of dollars for such agencies as a central regional laundry for state-operated health and mental health facilities, the Office of Risk Management and a state police training center. The Louisiana Partnership for Arts Advocacy, a statewide consortium of arts councils and other cultural agencies, hopes lawmakers can at the very least restore cuts to DAF and SAG meted out during the session that go far beyond the cuts proposed in Gov. Bobby Jindal’s executive budget.
As it now stands, HB 1, the $26 billion state budget approved by the House on Sunday and sent to Jindal for his signature, cuts DAF funding by 45 percent, from $2.5 million to $1.4 million — in line with Jindal’s proposed cut. SAG, however, will be slashed a crippling 85 percent, from $2.3 million to $340,000. In his executive budget submitted before the session began, Jindal proposed setting DAF funding at $1.4 million and SAG at just over $939,000, funding levels which already represented drastic cuts; in the 2009-2010 fiscal year budget, DAF receives more than $2.3 million while SAG receives nearly $2.2 million.
In a plea sent via e-mail on Sunday to members urging them to contact lawmakers, the LPAA characterized Sunday’s House approval of HB 1 as “a black day for culture in Louisiana,” arguing that the cuts to DAF and SAG would kill arts agencies’ ability to equitably fund local arts programming and could sound the death knell for some major arts organizations. Decentralized Arts Funding is distributed in local communities in the form of grants by arts councils like the Acadiana Center for the Arts; 95 percent of the funding supports local artists and programming. Statewide Arts Grants go to major arts organizations like the AcA, as well as to large groups like symphony orchestras.
Even if lawmakers restore the cuts that go beyond Jindal’s budget — LPAA sources say Sens. Mike Michot of Lafayette and Mike Walsworth of West Monroe, both Republicans, will try through the Senate Finance Committee to do just that — arts programming on the local level is still likely to suffer a devastating blow. Supporters of arts funding in Louisiana argue that by choking the cultural economy, the Legislature is ensuring a lasting negative impact on the very thing that generates billions annually in the form of tourism to Louisiana. The state’s Office of Culture, Recreation and Tourism has estimated that for every dollar spent by the state on the cultural economy, seven dollars are returned in the form of sales taxes and motel occupancy taxes. And the LPAA points out that the roughly $5 million in funding for DAF and SAG in the current budget, which expires at the end of June, is less than the cost of constructing a single mile of two-lane highway.
... written by Ariana Puffington , June 21, 2010 - 12:44 pm
45%? 101% sounds better.
... written by NORTHSIDIAN SHOTGUN , June 21, 2010 - 01:38 pm
YEAH, but a two-lane highway is useful,and may be utilized by every taxpayer, and the arts are a government perk for the well-to-do peeps dodging their duty of paying federal taxes, these tax-dodging couillions whose taste for luxuries such as museums and artsy performances are too slick to pay taxes, to begin with, and much less to tight in the hip to aid in supporting their artsy black and white affairs, and hob-nob wine tasting soiree..............
... written by Barrelmaker , June 21, 2010 - 02:29 pm
One mile of two lane highway shotgun. Keep in mind most artists and producing organizations are already functioning on a shoe string budget. People working for not for profits are not rich people. The products, organizations, and performances they fund bring tourism here and give all of us small people something to be entertained and helped by. It has nothing to do with paying taxes. It has to do with supporting the arts presenters and the artists that create the things people travel here to spend their money on. It has to do with funding organizations that support the less fortunate in our communities. It has to do with having something at the end of that mile stretch of road worth seeing.
... written by Johnson , June 21, 2010 - 02:48 pm
The title of this article should read "Last ditch effort to restore arts 'public' funding expected Monday."
No organization private, public, for-profit, or not-for-profit is going to be able to insulate itself from the budget cuts that we are going to see at every level of government in whatever locale it may exist. Over 10% of this country is unemployed.
The drilling moratorium in the GOM has the potential to negatively effect state coffers as much as 30%.
It would be wise for the ACA to attempt to fill their budget gaps by seeking more private funding, while allowing for said private donors to have discretion as to what their money is funding.
Certainly the ACA organizes several profitable events; the Gulf brew festival comes to mind. They ought to focus on events like this in order to strive for a self sustaining model.
Throughout history artists have found the need to solicit private funding by creating art, i.e. portraits, that would afford them the capitol to focus on creating the type of art that they prefer on their own time.
Pragmatism should always be the order of the day. ...arts programming on the local level is still likely to suffer a devastating blow." A lack of pragmatism, diversity, and self sustainability continually leaves one blowING in the wind, helpless to make their own way.
I donate to the ACA every time I attend one of their sponsored events. Further, I would be happy to donate more if it were to an "art project" that I am particularly passionate about.
... written by ragin_cajun , June 21, 2010 - 04:17 pm
Barrelmaker--
That's beautiful. I now see it your way--I'm CONVERTED! I'm gonna write a check to the ACA right now!
So what does the government have to do with any of this. Seriously, your points are well taken, arts are well worth supporting. What I disagree with is a law that tells me I HAVE to support the arts. Or government just taking my tax dollars and doing it for me.
If we talking about funding churches like this, we'd all be up in arms, and rightfully so. The same arguements you make for funding arts can be made about funding religion. Should the state fund them, too?
... written by HARDHAT , June 21, 2010 - 09:34 pm
There are such people, who through inbreeding such as the royalty familias of Europe, who have become more of a delicate nature than others, and who can fixate on a can of campbell chicken soup, or painted Pelicans, or a piece of twisted iron whose value could be determined at Southwest Scrap and Salvage at approximately $ 1.40 per pound, shucked off as art to the limp-wrist bunch for lunch crowd, these " Patrons Of The Arts, need to dream up another fund rairing gimmick rather than ask hard-working tax-payers to fund their taste for so-called art that could'nt sell at a garage sale in upper lafayette not even during Hurricane season to be used for boarding ones glass windows. When i began to work at 18 years of age, i had an intense love for bass fishing, and i would go to Lake Martin to fish from the bank. when i was 25 years of age i purchased an alum. boat and carved a paddle from an oak board and paddled out from the bank to fish. The moral to this story is, no-one supported my love for the great outdoors and nature in bloom and my bass fishing, and if you, " Barrel Maker want an art museum and painted Pelicans, then donate your money as do the true to life, "ART PATRONS ", or go to the Piggly Wiggly Store and enjoy the stacked cans of different variety and colorfully labeled soups. I mean why fixate on an oil or acrylic of painted fruit when you can walk down the aisle by the produce shelf at the Piggly Wiggly, Gratis !
... written by EXISTENTIALIST HOMME , June 21, 2010 - 09:51 pm
MR. BARREL MAKER, """ IF YOU DONATE $ 1000.00 OF BIG CHIEF LINED TABLETS AND NO. 3 YELLOW PENCILS TO ANY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN LAFAYETTE """! I will donate $ 1000.00 to any Art Museum, Art Performance, or Artistic cause of your choice.......... There was a time, once upon a time, when the parents of the school children saw to it that the government issued, Big Chief Tablets and Yellow No. 3 Pencils to the schools students. Somewhere along the line the artsy crowd rubbed the right elbows and began to beg for small handouts now the artsy crowd wants art and wine tasteing soirre's, " A La Shame, BUMMING AND STEALIN THE BIG CHIEF TABLETS and Yellow No. 3 Pencils from the school children and breeding a bunch of imbeciles who can't write or draw a CAT, because you took their only means of expressing their hidden artistic talents......
... written by Resident , June 22, 2010 - 07:11 am
ragin cajun, didn't Bobby Jindal give a whole bunch of money to some Baptist church recently? Who was up in arms? I don't think the religion analogy is apt, mostly because of that separation of church and state thing. The arts are not about imposing a worldview, they're about celebrating the creativity in people and providing some inspiration in a world of conformity and consumerism.
I'm sure that our esteemed state officials spend our money on other far less reputable endeavors than arts. However, Johnson makes an excellent point that lots of things are going to see budget cuts, though I have a feeling that Bobby and his partisan colleagues have some partisan ideology in mind when making those cuts (and not making other cuts).
... written by ragin_cajun , June 22, 2010 - 10:22 am
resident--
The religion analogy is very apt. What I'm trying to say is that tax payer dollars going to churches is every bit as wrong as tax payer dollars going to arts, or NGO's. Governments are not "instituted among men" to "celebrate creativity", or "provide inspiration".
Jindal "gave a whole bunch of money to some Baptist church recently"? Send me a link. If he did, he's wrong, I'm pissed, and I'll give money to his opponent in the next election.
The government spending orgy must stop--at every level of government.
... written by ragin_cajun , June 23, 2010 - 10:30 am
Any info about Jindal giving money to religious groups? I'm truly interested. Anyone?
You must be logged in to post a comment. Log in using your Facebook account or register if you do not have an account yet.
JUNE 17 If anyone ever wonders why Saints fans hate Atlanta with a capital H, here's a good indication. Radio "professionals" at an Atlanta station created an entire segment around making fun of former Saints player Steve Gleason, who is now paralyzed by ALS. Listen, nobody's ever accused DJs of being rocket scientists. But how could someone think it is amusing to pretend to ask a man with a degenerative, fatal disease if he will be alive next week? The DJs have been fired, and are now whining about how gutless their former bosses are. Wow.
JUNE 18 Here's the latest from the Advocate on the fatal hit-and-run accident allegedly involving the president of the Livingston Parish School Board. He's accused by police of hitting a 21-year-old man on a highway early Sunday and driving away. The man died at a hospital later. On Monday, police seized the president's truck and towed it away. But he's available for board meetings: apparently a $500 bond is sufficient for this type of thing over in St. Helena Parish.
JUNE 18 Former broadcast journalist Griffin Scott has posted this plea on his blog for financial assistance from his readers. Scott, who says he was fired after he wrote something fairly innocuous (for Facebook) on his wall, is suing a media giant for his job back. He's framed himself as David going after a bloated media giant, and he's probably not far off.
JUNE 18 Here's a fairly absurd column posted on DIG Magazine about the completely absurd practice of naming killer storms. Tornadoes don't have names. Blizzards don't have names. But hurricanes do, and there's a big process to bestow them, Jacques Cormery writes. He's right about the crazy assemblage of names -- this year, there's everything from Tanya to Humberto -- and his idea that we don't waste good names on killer storms is a good one.
JUNE 17 Political columnist John Maginnis has some advice for Louisiana Republicans: grow up. After the schism that occurred in this past session - fiscal hawks teaming up with Democrats to spank the Republican "majority" and hand Gov. Jindal his, er, aspirations for continued solon control -- they need to figure out how to get along with each other, Maginnis writes.
JUNE 17 Here's the Picayune's obit story for Dorothy 'Miss Dot' Domilise, the lady who made poboys at the uptown restaurant that bears her name. Miss Dot moved to New Orleans during World War II, where she met and married her husband Sam. When she passed away Friday she was 90, and had spent more than 60 of those years working at the restaurant on Annunciation Street.
JUNE 17 This editorial in the Advocate speaks in favor of the consent decrees that have federal judges overseeing police operations and the sheriff's parish prison in New Orleans. Mayor Landrieu and Sheriff Gusman can't get along, so outside forces, like the Inspector General and the judges, are needed to make sure things run right, the editorial opines.
JUNE 18 Here's a post from Manny Schewitz on Forward Progressives that is good for a chuckle. Manny had an epiphany back in November, and is sharing it with us today: he believes that Fox "News" is killing the GOP by pandering to right wing nuts. Now, don't get it twisted: Manny's not broke up about it. He says he enjoys watching the downward spiral with a shot of whiskey and "a schadenfreude chaser."
In rendering his ruling, District Judge John Trahan all but called the real estate developer a liar for inconsistencies in his accounts of what prompted him to punch a school teacher unconscious.
Frank’s Casing Crew, now doing business as Frank’s International, will make its final appearance on ABiz’s list of the Top 50 Privately Held Companies in Acadiana this year, and once again, it will likely be at the top with more than $1 billion in annual revenues. The 75-year-old company specializing in tubular fabrication and installation services to the oil and gas industry plans to go public this year.
The defeat, or rather highjacking of House Bill 420 in the final days of this year's Legislative Session, say Reps. Vincent Pierre and Terry Landry, is the result of the propaganda spread by one unidentified local media outlet and an unnamed former state Representative, but nothing to do with the original legislation's lack of checks, balances or details.
City-Parish Council Chairman Brandon Shelvin heaped steady doses of condescending ire on a Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Louisiana executive while failing to reveal his financial ties to a BC/BS rival.
Abbeville native David Primeaux was a popular professor until his death late last year, and while he was successful at camouflaging a dark past, he couldn’t outlive it.
Tehmi Chassion’s failure to recuse himself in the school board’s selection of a group health benefits provider raises ‘serious questions’ on whether he violated state ethics law.
He’s a singer. A songwriter. A piano man. A family man. He’s even got his own Wikipedia entry. He’s David Egan. And he knows ancient secrets about the monolithic stones of Stonehenge that he’s not willing to share.
Subscribe to this comment's feed