As a board member of the Baton Rouge Gallery center for contemporary arts (www.batonrougegallery.org), I was dismayed to learn at our monthly board meeting that Gov. Jindal has stated he will veto the Legislature's reinstatement of DAF and SAG art grant funds to the state budget. It is expected that the will override the veto, but because of time constraints, this may have to wait until a special session is called. The Gallery and many other cultural and arts programs depend heavily on grant funds just to operate.
During this year's session, the Legislature has confirmed its commitment to making Culture, Recreation and Tourism programs and services available to its member organizations. The House and Senate, through legislation, added funding for the following programs:
$3,267,566 Decentralized and Statewide Arts Grants
$2,000,000 Tourism Marketing Funds
$2,200,000 State Aid to Public Libraries
$2,278,266 State Historic Sites
$675,000 World Cultural Economic Forum
$455,000 Main Street Program
$391,734 Retirement Development Commission
Total: $11,267,566. Total amendments added to House Bill 1
The Governor stated on Monday, however, that he will veto the sources from which these funds would come. This action places the Office of Lieutenant Governor's CRT budget back to the original cuts the Governor proposed in his executive budget.
Those original cuts reduce the state tourism marketing funds by $4.8 million, thus impacting Louisiana's ability to advertise as a premier tourist destination and will impact businesses of all sizes in the hospitality industry, which will suffer from fewer visitors. In turn, fewer visitors means decreased tax dollars in the state's general fund.
The original cuts also will force all 16 state historic sites to close to the public all but two days a week. Additionally, three new state parks scheduled to open would remain closed. According the OLG-CRT, an original investment of $34 Million to build these parks would become a loss to the state. The original cuts also will result in an 85% cut to Decentralized Arts Funding and cause reductions in library services throughout the state.
The executive budget impairs the OLG-CRT's ability to market Louisiana, threatens educational programs offered at state historic sites, and reduces the effectiveness of other programs.
The loss of this $11.2 million represents the loss of important programs and services that provide significant benefits, and enhanced quality of life, and a high return on investment for Louisiana.
Please contact your legislators and voice your support of overriding Gov. Jindal's veto of this important source of funding for so many arts and cultural programs that enrich our lives.
True art pays for itself, just like any other service! I love art, but I think the determination of what is valuable as art should be left to individuals instead of politicians. Without this mechanism, we'll be redirecting funding from artists that would, sans political intervention, be successful, to those that may not have (on the margin, of course). Over time, this could actually mean less quality art for Louisiana, thus harming what I perceive as the intentions most pro-art funding people share with me.
Government sponsored and/or support art - for some reason the idea conjures up mental images of posters of Mao Zedong and Kim Jung Il. Like Ronald Reagan said in his first inaugural speech, "Government doesn't solve problems - government is the problem".
Leave the arts to the artists and art lovers and not to the politicians. They've do enough damage in other ares of our lives.
Excuse my poor grammar - I don't always proof read before clicking the SUBMIT button.