Margaret Anderson Kelliher

Margaret Anderson-Kelliher Interview Transcript

1. Minnesota’s nearly 1600 non-profit arts organizations provide access to the arts and support quality of life in every corner of the state. While providing over 22,000 jobs, arts organizations served nearly 4.5 million people in 2004. How do you and your family participate in the arts?

We have experienced all forms of art and arts in the Twin Cities. My kids participate in choir at school, at the American Swedish Institute, at the Basilica of St. Mary. We also have enjoyed theatre this past year, dance this past year. Personally I was a Loft mentee a few years ago, so writing as well. And we obviously enjoy the visual arts a great deal as well, the Walker, the MIA, and many of the small galleries around town.

2. What’s on your ipod?
On my ipod is a really eclectic mix, so I have a lot of different stuff. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings is a favorite right now, my Gustavus classmate the Grammy Award winning Kurt Elling is on my ipod, Johnny Cash is on my ipod, the Rolling Stones, Beethoven. We have a lot of stuff. Allison Krause, we listen to a lot of stuff, and of course a favorite to sing along to right now is GLEE.

3. What work have you done to support the arts as an elected official in the past?
I have been a champion of the arts since I first entered the Legislature.  My very first term in the Legislature I actually led the override of Governor Jesse Ventura on the new Guthrie Theatre and was successful. And since that time I’ve always been an arts champion both carrying major arts bonding projects, like this year the successful project for the Minnesota Orchestra. I’ve carried the Walker Art project in the past, and you know, the important thing here is probably the number one and most important thing in the United States which was the Legacy Amendment, which I really helped champion and guide through. I had been an early supporter, we built a coalition and when we built that coalition of people who cared about clean water, hunting and fishing, arts, culture and history, we made a winning deal. The voters voted for that more than any person or thing in the state’s history. I’m very proud of that work on the Legacy Amendment.

4. What will your legacy be in the arts from your term as Governor?
You know, keeping the commitment to the Legacy Amendment, the implementation of that is going to be very important to me as Governor, that we’re not supplanting funding that should be going to the arts and other places with the Legacy dollars. That we’re adding on to it, and to continue our capital commitment to great arts projects all across the state.

5. The Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, passed by 56% of the voters in November 2008, created the new Arts and Culture Fund. The constitutional amendment stated that these funds “may be spent only for arts, arts education, and arts access and to preserve Minnesota’s history and cultural heritage.” It also states that “The dedicated money under this section must supplement traditional sources of funding for these purposes and may not be used as a substitute.”  MCA led the arts community campaign to pass the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment so that all Minnesotans would get access to the arts via the grants and services of the Minnesota State Arts Board and Regional Arts Council system, which ensures that people in all 87 counties get access to the arts.
Question: Will you support at least 50% of the Arts and Culture Fund being dedicated to the Minnesota State Arts Board and Regional Arts Council system, to ensure that all Minnesotans have access to the arts, regardless of their geographic location, through grants that reach all 87 Minnesota counties?
I think it’s very important to have geographic balance in the money that is going to the Regional Arts Councils and to artists and to arts groups across the state. I have to say that I am a little hesitant to take a pledge of a certain amount. Last year I think we got to 42%. I’m willing to keep working with the community on this issue, but I’m hesitant to commit to a certain percentage today.

6. Nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations provide social services, health services, education and arts to the public.  Under Minnesota law, nonprofit organizations have been free from paying sales or property taxes because their services benefit the public.  Do you agree or disagree that nonprofit organizations should continue to be free from paying taxes?
I am strongly supportive of the tax-exempt status and will defend it and fight for it very vigorously.

7. Research shows that students with high levels of arts participation outperform other students on virtually every measure from standardized tests to community participation, and that learning through the arts has a significant effect on learning in other areas, particularly in the early years. The arts are required both by No Child Left Behind and also by Minnesota’s student academic standards, but our schools are not required to report how they are meeting those standards. Would you support policies to increase accountability for school standards in the arts?
In our administration we’re going to increase accountability across the board. It’s one of the big efforts that we’re going to do to have performance management systems in state government. And so I think this is a perfect area to be reporting and being able to collect the data, reporting back and holding people accountable, because your statistics are right. We know that participation in the arts makes a difference. My own mother was a high school art teacher, and so I know how important this is, she always drilled into me…I was probably a kid who grew up on a farm who knew every major artist because she kept putting in front of me every single year. So I really know how important this exposure is. I took piano lessons for nine years (I can’t really still play). But I really appreciate that I had that experience. I was in theatre in high school and I know how important it was to me and how important it is to my kids who are in public schools.

8. We welcome any additional comments you would like to make to the arts community with regards to the arts in Minnesota.

I think you should vote for me because there is no other candidate who has been such a consistent champion of the arts. Whether it’s the visual arts, the writing arts, whether its theater arts, whether it’s the mediums of fabric and others, I have been both a patron, I have been an artist, and I will be an advocate for the arts as Governor.