ArtHouse Alerts

Arts Alert 06/07/02: Governor's Budget Proposes Reductions in California Arts Council Programs

Gov. Gray Davis has proposed to cut $9 million in grants for arts program from the budget of the California Arts Council, while providing a grant of $2 million for the Simon Wiesenthal Center. While the agency staff would be decimated, the following programs would be completely eliminated: touring and presenting, inter-agency initiatives, state/local programs, special initiatives, artists' fellowships and residencies, folk art and public art. His proposal would fund only Arts in Education ($6 million, reduced from $10 million this year), Organizational Support (at $5 million, reduced from $10+ million), and the Simon Wiesenthal Center. One presumes that the generous grant to the Wiesenthal was the governor's opening gambit to play into the legislature's notorious pork process, through which millions of dollars have been allocated to constituency organizations in recent years.

This bleak recommendation is being challenged by California Arts Advocates, which has garnered support in the State Senate and Assembly Budget Committees. Please call your local representatives to tell them how much the arts contribute to your community and that state funding is needed more than ever in order to provided needed community services and to leverage other resources.

If your organization receives Arts Council support, now is the time to let the political leaders know how valuable it is. At California Lawyers for the Arts, we have doubled our commitment to articulating the role of the arts in community development, while continuing to maintain our core services of legal counselling, conflict resolution and resources for artists' housing and facilities. With other arts institutions, we must show the value of the arts in more than one dimension in order to make the case for continuing and enhancing our vital work.

California Lawyers for the Arts, for example, received two grants this year from the Arts Council, $8,880 in general operating support through the Organizational Grants program and $49,000 for a special initiative helping arts organizations find new ways to develop facilities. The special initiative grant enabled C.L.A. to hire a financial analyst for the ArtHouse program, while expanding ArtHouse services from San Francisco to communities around the state, including Oakland, Sacramento and Santa Monica.

In the current environment of war rhetoric and increased military defense, arts advocates must work even harder to develop continuous conversations about cultural capital and cultural defense. Post September 11, we are called upon to strengthen the cultural institutions which bridge the differences between ethnic groups, social strata and generations so that we can continue to preserve our cultural freedom and the way of life enjoyed in this country. Arts Council funding has helped to launch innovative programs which strengthen the fabric of the arts so that we can provide meaningful service to our entire community.

Please see the website of California Arts Advocates, at www.calartsadvocates.org for more information and updates on the budget process.

For more information contact: assistant@arthouseca.org

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