Everyone is talking about Governor Sam Brownback’s (R-Kansas) decision over the Memorial Day holiday weekend to veto funding for the Kansas Arts Commission. After an unexpected attempt to override the veto on Wednesday failed, this action officially leaves Kansas as the first US state — I believe ever — to completely withdraw its public fundingRead More
Kansas Arts Commission vetoed by Governor
Well, it’s happened. After initially eliminating the agency via executive order, only to be defied by the Kansas state legislature which restored $689,000 in appropriations, Governor Sam Brownback has vetoed funding for the Kansas Arts Commission. Although this action does not formally eliminate the agency — it still exists in theory, just with no moneyRead More
Public Arts Funding Update: May
Another month, and things haven’t let up much on the public arts funding front, especially for state arts councils. For last month’s update, try here. Andrew Taylor reports disturbing news for the Wisconsin Arts Board. It now looks like their best case scenario is likely a 66% cut, way out of proportion to what other agenciesRead More
Public Arts Funding Update: April
As you might have heard, public funding for the arts has been under pressure at the local and especially state levels ever since the recession hit a few years ago. This year, those pressures have spread to the federal government as well, and during the recent negotiations between Democrats and Republicans in Congress to agree onRead More
Well, well…
Two weeks ago, I noted the increasing pressure on state arts agencies, and in the process took two national arts service organizations (the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies and Americans for the Arts) to task for not providing a single, easy-to-find place on their websites where concerned arts advocates could go to get theRead More
Okay, it’s official: State arts agencies are in trouble
This week has been a bad one for beleaguered state arts agencies. First, after much sabre-rattling, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback followed through with his threat to eliminate the Kansas Arts Commission on Monday, with the plan to transfer its responsibilities to a new nonprofit and provide a token $200,000 one-time appropriation to help with theRead More