arts alert: Reports and Heroes from Arts Advocacy Day
MCA
Minnesota Citizens for the Arts
2233 University Ave. W. #355
St. Paul, MN 55155
651-251-0868 fax 651-917-3561
staff at mncitizensforthearts.org
www.mncitizensforthearts.org
Arts Action Center
March 5, 2010
1. Reports and Heroes From Arts Advocacy Day
2. Arts All Star Awards
3. BACKGROUND: Governor’s Proposed Arts Cuts are Too Deep – And Contrary to the Will of Minnesota Voters
——————————————————————
1. Reports and Heroes From Arts Advocacy Day
Thanks again to all of the 500+ arts advocates who took over the state capitol on Tuesday. I think we really did some good for the arts agenda this week. Advocates reported a higher awareness of how state arts funding helps the arts via grants from the MN State Arts Board and Regional Arts Councils, and support for our position to reduce the Governor’s proposed cuts to the arts. Our main message of the day was to reduce the cuts to 3-6%, which is what the average cut to all state agencies will probably be. Particularly important, we heard from the Chair of our Senate committee that his draft budget would treat the arts similarly to other state agencies in his jurisdiction. It may be a week or so before we hear from the House. So, it’s not too late to make your voice heard by sending your legislator a letter asking them to support the arts. You can do it in 5 minutes with our simple Arts Action Center. We give you talking points and set it up, all you have to do is enter your name and address and the letter will go automatically to the right elected officials. Now is the time!
Thanks also to Matt Peiken of 3 Minute Egg, who interviewed some of our Republican legislators to gauge their response to our visits. Check out this great video at: http://blip.tv/file/3292443
WHY WE LOVE ARTS ADVOCACY
While the most important thing about Arts Advocacy Day is delivering our community’s message to decision makers at the Capitol, I can’t help but love some of the reports advocates brought back from their meetings:
- Rep. Frank Hornstein did a “very good” Bob Dylan impersonation for his visiting advocates
- A few legislators serended their arts advocates with a song
- Sen. Paul Koering did a Ted Baxter impersonation for his team
So, for those of you who missed Advocacy Day this year, make sure to get it on your calendar for next year. You don’t want to miss out. And if you couldn’t get there this year – join us by sending letters to your legislators here: Arts Action Center.
——————————————————————
2. Arts All Star Awards
Senator Richard Cohen, newly appointed to the President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities and long time Arts All Star, gave a rousing speech at the rally, and received a lengthy standing ovation from the crowd for his tireless work on behalf of the arts. One of the fun parts of Arts Advocacy Day was giving six great legislators their first Arts All Star Awards. The Arts All Star Award is given to legislators who exhibit extraordinary support for the arts in their districts and who actively work to support Minnesota Citizens for the Art’s agenda at the capitol. Each legislator is eligible to receive the award only once in their careers.
CONGRATULATIONS GO TO:
SENATORS:
- Linda Scheid (D, 46, Brooklyn Park),
- Linda Higgins (D, 58, N. Mpls.) and
- Mary Olson (D, 4, Bemidji)
REPRESENTATIVES:
- Will Morgan (D, 40A, Burnsville),
- Leon Lillie (D, 55A, N. St. Paul),
- Bob Gunther (R, 24A, Fairmont)
At the morning rally, we also gave the annual “Larry Award” to Ben Vander Kooi Jr. of Luverne. Ben has served on the MCA board for many years, including as Board Chair in 1996-7. He is a hard working arts advocate in his own corner of the state, and received special recognition for working together with the hunting, angling and environmental community in Southwest Minnesota to pass the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Event. Congratulations to Ben!
——————————————————————
3. BACKGROUND: Governor’s Proposed Arts Cuts are Too Deep – And Contrary to the Will of Minnesota Voters
The Following Op-Ed Appeared First on Minnpost.com:
We are in difficult times. The arts, like every other part of society, are participating in those difficult times, with rising unemployment and shrinking budgets, during which arts organizations are trying to provide the same services with fewer resources.
This week Gov. Pawlenty revealed his plan to solve the state’s budget deficit. While he proposed that other state agencies take 3-6% cuts, he would cut the Minnesota State Arts Board (MSAB) and Regional Arts Council (RAC) system by 33% in 2011 and 66% in 2012. Even more troubling, he would eliminate all general fund support by 2013, and then convert the State Arts Board to a private corporation.
Unfortunately his plan is out of proportion to the state deficit as well as to cuts to other areas. We recognize that the arts need to do our part to help solve the state’s deficit, but this means taking the same level of cuts as the rest of the budget, and not ten times more. Even more important, if the small funding for the arts is eliminated it would do almost nothing to solve the state’s deficit. So there really isn’t any point.
In 2008, when we Minnesotans passed the outdoors and arts amendment, we approved dedicated funding for the arts.
As someone who worked on the Vote Yes! campaign with many conservation and arts advocates, I was inspired by the overwhelming number of voters who affirmed that the arts are a defining feature of Minnesota. It showed that we value the arts and our great outdoors that we will take direct action to protect our quality of life.
The proposed cut does not affect the separate Legacy funding from the constitutional amendment, which reinforces the wisdom of the citizens of Minnesota in creating a dedicated source of funding that can’t just disappear.
But the Governor’s proposed budget has proven exactly why we needed to pass the amendment. The proposal is the opposite of the will of Minnesota’s voters to secure funding for the arts. And wisely, in order to guard against just this kind of budget “bait and switch” the constitutional language wisely says that amendment resources can’t be used as a substitute for current state funding from other sources.
Just think how our hunting and angling friends would react if the governor proposed deleting all conservation resources except for the Clean Water, Land and Legacy amendment. There would be blaze orange riots in the streets.
In addition, as the MSAB deals almost exclusively with public funds, making it a private corporation would remove much of the state’s oversight and checks and balances on these dollars (such as the Open Meeting Law) which we think is very unwise.
Just this month the Minnesota State Arts Board and Regional Arts Councils are launching the new grant programs made available by the amendment. Through extensive public input, from meetings across the state to on-line surveys, they collected the dreams and wishes of Minnesotans on what the Legacy money could do to create a more vibrant and accessible arts environment in our state. The result is a two-layer vision: local grants provided by the eleven Regional Arts Councils, and grants of statewide and regional significance to be provided by the Minnesota State Arts Board. Applications for the most part are due this month, and grants will be made in every county. (For more info, go to www.arts.state.mn.us/grants/machf.htm and www.arts.state.mn.us/racs/index.htm).
So what does this mean to you, the average Minnesotan? You will see, over the next several years, a flowering of opportunities to experience and participate in the arts. There is no doubt that the result of the amendment will be increased access to the arts in every corner of the state.
However, like everything else in the state budget, the arts will lose some ground this year. We hope that in fairness it will be more proportionate to cuts to other agencies.
In the meantime, we must convince the Governor and Legislature to just follow the people’s will and let the Amendment work.
Sheila Smith is Executive Director of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts and was a member of the leadership team on the VoteYes! campaign.
——————————————————————