Down with the arts! Virginia’s House Appropriations Committee decided this week that they’d like to eliminate half the funding for the Virginia Commission for the Arts, effective in July—and eliminate the office entirely by July 2011. They’re up against the Senate Finance Committee, which wants to cut the commission’s budget by $290,000 in July, and no further. They’re both going to vote on it on tomorrow, and then resolve it in committee.
Why does this matter? Consider this from the locally run Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, which depends on the state for funding:
“VFH has already experienced deep cuts, in the last two budget years, adversely affecting every VFH program. Additional cuts will undermine such well-known educational programs as the Virginia Festival of the Book, Encyclopedia Virginia, VFH Grants and Fellowships, With Good Reason Radio programs; African American, Virginia Indian, and Virginia Folklife Programs.”
Really, I’m glad the Commonwealth’s leaders have finally mustered the courage say "no more handouts" for these hippy-dippy programs.
But seriously, it feels like Feedback’s beloved arts programs are always among the first on the chopping block. Times sure are tough, but the programs are modest. Every year since 1997, the General Assembly endorsed a goal of providing $1 per capita—roughly the cost of a small bag of Doritos—in funding for grants to arts organizations. That money’s supposed to be "seed money" for arts programs in the state so that programs can solicit private donations once they get going. But by last October the Virginia Commission for the Arts was funded at $.51 per capita, according to Virginians for the Arts. Mind you, that’s much lower than all of our neighbors: On the upper end, Maryland’s state art agency gets $2.52 and Kentucky gets $.84.
Should the Commonwealth bankroll the arts?