Quick Facts:

The Arts = Jobs

National statistics:
5.7 million jobs

100,000 Nonprofit Arts Organizations

612,000 Arts-Centric Businesses

4.3% of all American      Businesses

$29.6 billion in Tax         Revenues

$166.2 billion Total         Economic Impact

Indiana statistics:

9,000 arts businesses

54,000 people employed in the arts

428 grants to artists and arts provider organizations, attracting over 26 million visits

Region Five Statistics:

636 Arts-related employers

4,211 Arts-related full-time jobs

179 grants to artists and arts provider organizations

4,553,496 Total Arts      Attendance

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was recently signed into law. The act included $50 million in direct support for arts jobs through the National Endowment for the Arts and language that would have prevented museums, theaters, and arts centers from receiving stimulus funds was removed.  Now the focus has moved to arts funding at the state level.

In January, Governor Mitch Daniels announced his proposed state budget for the next biennium. The Governor proposed slashing the budget of the Indiana Arts Commission by 50%, or $2 million per year.  This week the House Ways and Means released its budget recommendations and it includes an 8% reduction rather than the Governor’s recommended 50% reduction.  This would make the proposed appropriation around $3.68M (the last biennial budget was at $4M).

Here are the facts.

1)      Nearly all state agencies are being forced to make cuts because the state is facing deficit and revenue shortfalls.  Yet, the average cut to state agencies in the Governor's budget is only 8 percent.  The Indiana Arts Commission was targeted with a 50 percent cut.

2)      The current annual state appropriation for the Indiana Arts Commission for the year ending June 30, 2009 is $4 million. This puts it at 37^th nationwide in per capita support for the arts.

3)      Each taxpayer spends a grand total of 62 cents per capita in state tax dollars for the IAC.  The Governor's proposed budget would put this figure at 31 cents per Hoosier, moving Indiana to 48^th.

Here is what you can do.

1)      Contact your state legislators by email (state Senator and state Representative). Urge that the budget for the Indiana Arts Commission be restored.  The Indiana Coalition for the Arts makes it easy for you to email your legislators, and you can choose a message already crafted or (better yet) personalize it and write your own.

2)      Write or call your state legislators to ask for a meeting in your home district.  Impress upon them the potential impact of such a drastic cut to the arts in your community. Jobs will be lost. Arts organizations will likely fail. The people of Indiana will be ill-served by these cuts.

3)      Now is the time to contact members of the Senate Appropriations Committee.  Arts advocates likely have not much more than a week until the Senate Appropriations Committee begin working on the budget.  For your reference the House Budget Bill is HB1001.

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