THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 25, 1996 TAG: 9601250002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Long : 137 lines
Virginians for the Arts, a grass-roots arts-advocacy group, includes hundreds of men and women who contribute much of their own time and money to arts groups. This week the organization staged its fourth annual arts-advocacy day in Richmond to talk to lawmakers about boosting funding for the Virginia Commission for the Arts, from $2.2 million (including some money from the National Endowment for the Arts) in 1996 to $3.2 million in 1997.
Virginians for the Arts told lawmakers that the Old Dominion's 400 not-for-profit visual and performing-arts groups - theaters, dance companies, galleries, orchestras - (1) have a half-billion-dollar annual impact on the state economy (half of that in Hampton Roads), (2) are a resource for schools and (3) strengthen Virginia's attractiveness to tourists, companies within the commonwealth that are contemplating expanding, and outside companies seeking sites for plants and other other facilities. They pointed out also that state financial support of arts programs stimulates gifts from individuals, commercial enterprises and private foundations.
Virginians for the Arts' case for enlarged funding is strong. Performances and exhibitions aided by the Virginia Commission counted 6 million attendees last year - legions of schoolchildren among them. Yet per-capita state spending for VCA grants totaled 34 cents, so low that the Old Dominion ranks 49th among the 50 states in arts-commission appropriations (Texas is 50th).
Virginia is rarely accused of throwing around money, but 34 cents per capita is ludicrous, all the more so because it is far less than the 87 cents per capita in 1990, when a recession-induced slump in tax revenue and soaring costs for corrections and Medicaid prompted cutting the VCA's budget sharply, from $5.3 million in 1990 to $1.4 million in 1992.
The drop energized arts patrons. They formed Virginians for the Arts, whose subsequent lobbying blocked a further fall and pushed funding upward.
But not yet upward enough. A score of states' arts commissions are funded at a level equal to a dollar or more per capita. Virginians for the Arts hopes eventually to see $1.50 per capita in the commonwealth. Its interim objective is $1.
Which is reasonable. West Virginia is 17th in arts-commission support. Maryland is 14th; Kentucky, 26th; North Carolina, 29th.
Virginia surely can do better than 49th. Gov. George F. Allen has proposed a $34.6 billion budget for the 1996-98 biennium. Friends of higher education are pushing for several hundred million more dollars for colleges and universities than the $2.08 billion that Mr. Allen asks, and the legislature appears sympathetic.
The General Assembly should be as fully sympathetic with the arts, which enrich Virginians' lives as well as the state's economy. In the context of the multibillion-dollar state budget, the increase sought for the arts is modest indeed.
Virginians for the Arts, a grass-roots arts-advocacy group, includes hundreds of men and women who contribute much of their own time and money to arts groups. This week the organization staged its fourth annual arts-advocacy day in Richmond to talk to lawmakers about boosting funding for the Virginia Commission for the Arts, from $2.2 million (including some money from the National Endowment for the Arts) in 1996 to $3.2 million in 1997.
Virginians for the Arts told lawmakers that the Old Dominion's 400 not-for-profit visual and performing-arts groups - theaters, dance companies, galleries, orchestras - (1) have a half-billion-dollar annual impact on the state economy (half of that in Hampton Roads), (2) are a resource for schools and (3) strengthen Virginia's attractiveness to tourists, companies within the commonwealth that are contemplating expanding, and outside companies seeking sites for plants and other other facilities. They pointed out also that state financial support of arts programs stimulates gifts from individuals, commercial enterprises and private foundations.
Virginians for the Arts' case for enlarged funding is strong. Performances and exhibitions aided by the Virginia Commission counted 6 million attendees last year - legions of schoolchildren among them. Yet per-capita state spending for VCA grants totaled 34 cents, so low that the Old Dominion ranks 49th among the 50 states in arts-commission appropriations (Texas is 50th).
Virginia is rarely accused of throwing around money, but 34 cents per capita is ludicrous, all the more so because it is far less than the 87 cents per capita in 1990, when a recession-induced slump in tax revenue and soaring costs for corrections and Medicaid prompted cutting the VCA's budget sharply, from $5.3 million in 1990 to $1.4 million in 1992.
The drop energized arts patrons. They formed Virginians for the Arts, whose subsequent lobbying blocked a further fall and pushed funding upward.
But not yet upward enough. A score of states' arts commissions are funded at a level equal to a dollar or more per capita. Virginians for the Arts hopes eventually to see $1.50 per capita in the commonwealth. Its interim objective is $1.
Which is reasonable. West Virginia is 17th in arts-commission support. Maryland is 14th; Kentucky, 26th; North Carolina, 29th.
Virginia surely can do better than 49th. Gov. George F. Allen has proposed a $34.6 billion budget for the 1996-98 biennium. Friends of higher education are pushing for several hundred million more dollars for colleges and universities than the $2.08 billion that Mr. Allen asks, and the legislature appears sympathetic.
The General Assembly should be as fully sympathetic with the arts, which enrich Virginians' lives as well as the state's economy.
Virginians for the Arts, a grass-roots arts-advocacy group, includes hundreds of men and women who contribute much of their own time and money to arts groups. This week the organization staged its fourth annual arts-advocacy day in Richmond to talk to lawmakers about boosting funding for the Virginia Commission for the Arts, from $2.2 million (including some money from the National Endowment for the Arts) in 1996 to $3.2 million in 1997.
Virginians for the Arts told lawmakers that the Old Dominion's 400 not-for-profit visual and performing-arts groups - theaters, dance companies, galleries, orchestras - (1) have a half-billion-dollar annual impact on the state economy (half of that in Hampton Roads), (2) are a resource for schools and (3) strengthen Virginia's attractiveness to tourists, companies within the commonwealth that are contemplating expanding and outside companies seeking sites for plants and other facilities. They pointed out also that state financial support of arts programs stimulates gifts from individuals, commercial enterprises and private foundations.
Virginians for the Arts' case for enlarged funding is strong. Sponsors of performances and exhibitions aided by the Virginia Commission counted 6 million attendees last year - legions of schoolchildren among them. Yet per-capita state spending for VCA grants totaled 34 cents, so low that the Old Dominion ranks 49th among the 50 states in per-capita arts-commission funding (Texas is 50th).
Virginia is rarely accused of throwing around money, but 34 cents per capita is ludicrously little, all the more so because it is far less than the 87 cents per capita in 1990, when a recession-induced slump in tax revenue and soaring costs for corrections and Medicaid prompted cutting the VCA's budget sharply, from $5.3 million in 1990 to $1.4 million in 1992.
The drop energized arts patrons. They formed Virginians for the Arts, whose subsequent lobbying blocked a further fall and pushed funding upward.
But not yet upward enough. A score of states' arts commissions are funded at a level equal to a dollar or more per capita. Virginians for the Arts hopes eventually to see $1.50 per capita in the commonwealth. Its interim objective is $1.
Which is reasonable. West Virginia is 17th in arts-commission support. Maryland is 14th; Kentucky, 26th; North Carolina, 29th.
Virginia surely can do better than 49th. Gov. George F. Allen has proposed a $34.6 billion budget for the 1996-98 biennium. Friends of higher education are pushing for an additional $330 million (or more) for colleges and universities than the $2.04 billion that Mr. Allen asks, and the legislature appears sympathetic.
The General Assembly should be as fully sympathetic with the arts, which enrich Virginians' lives as well as the state's economy. by CNB