May 10, 2011 – PA House Appropriations Committee passed an amendment to the budget bill (HB 1485) that included a cut of over 70% to the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) line items. Grants to arts organizations were slashed to $2.5 million and the PCA administration line items was reduced to $500,000. The bill will now go to the full House of Representatives for consideration on May 23.
These grants fund programs that impact individuals and communities, including art and music classes for school students, art therapy classes that help seniors fight the onset of Alzheimer’s, and outreach programs that rehabilitate and give troubled youth a second chance.
In FY2010, the Commonwealth’s funding for the arts through the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts totalled just under $8.5 million. This modest commitment helps support a non-profit cultural sector that generates almost $2 billion in economic impact across the state, including support for over 62,000 direct and indirect full-time equivalent jobs. Spending by non-profit arts and cultural organizations and their audiences generates nearly $130 million in tax revenues for local governments and over $150 million in state taxes.
Next week, legislators are in their district offices. Please call your legislators (both your House members as well as your state senator) before May 23 and ask for the following:
Restoration of the line items for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts to the levels recommended by Governor Corbett is his budget.
- Governor Corbett recommended $8.262 million for arts grants as well as $895,000 for administration of the PCA.
- The nonprofit arts industry in PA supports 62,000 full-time equavilent jobs annually which would be severely reduced by the proposed cut to arts grants.
- PA nonprofit arts organizations generate almost $2 billion in economic activity each year.
Contact information can be found at
http://capwiz.com/artsusa/pa by entering your zipcode in the box at the top of the page. You can also contact Citizens for the Arts for assistance at [email protected] or 717-234-0959.
It is important the members of the General Assembly hear from you before May 23.
5/24/2011 – The PA House of Representatives passed their version of the budget by a vote of 109-92. The current version of the budget includes a 70% cut to the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA). This cut will bring the PCA from $8.4 million to $2.5 million in grants to the arts.
A PA budget of $2.5 million will mean a decrease in the number of funding programs offered by the PCA and vital arts programming in Southeastern PA will be lost. There will be no way around this grim level of impact if the final version of the PA budget is passed with this amount of PCA funding.
The House’s version of the budget now goes to the Senate for final approval. The legislature is committed to passing the PA budget by June 30th. Both houses, need to pass a version of the budget and then come together to agree on spending in a conference committee.
It is imperative that constituents and supporters of the arts contact their Senators before June 6th if there is any hope of preventing these drastic cut backs. Please call your senators and ask them to to restore funding to the PCA at $8.2 million in their version of the budget bill. To find and call your representatives visit http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/
The House of Representatives had proposed a 70% reduction to the $9 million budget of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts- a stark contrast to Governor Tom Corbett’s request for essentially flat funding. The Senate did not concur, and reinstated the funding: $8.2 million for arts grants, and $866,000 for arts agency administration. The House acquiesced, and the amended budget was sent to the governor for approval.
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