Category: issues

NJ Arts Supporters Fight Funding Cuts

New Jersey arts supporters flood the state capital as debate begins on cutting or eliminating arts funding. “Altogether, funding for art groups and historical programs accounts for about $40 million each year. With the money, the groups maintain they are able to provide education programs and support to local historical groups. The cultural and arts money also is used to fund groups such as theater troupes and even print books. Proponents maintain the money is repaid to the tune of $1 billion each year. At issue is the economic effectiveness of the programs.”

Investigators Probe $1 Million Salt Lake Arts Funding Irregularities

Salt Lake County investigators are looking into charges of “$1 million of allegedly misspent taxpayer funds in the county’s Center for the Arts Division. Officials admit the investigation has uncovered more than $1 million in discrepancies, blaming most of it on shabby accounting practices. Whistle-blowers have also alleged, however, the unauthorized taking of equipment from county facilities and liberties taken on expense reports for entertaining and other questionable spending practices.”

Florida’s New Dark Age?

“Florida’s age of enlightenment comes to an end this week. The Legislature is still working out the final figures of a $53 billion state budget, but for arts groups the message is all too clear: This is the beginning of a new dark age. The Legislature seems to think that a fair level of sacrifice for the state’s cultural groups is something near 100 percent. The Florida House of Representatives has proposed an arts budget of $6 million, or 78 percent below last year’s level. The Senate’s budget eliminates arts funding altogether.”

Power Board – Who Directs Culture

Artistic directors and managers come and go. But the power behind them is in boards that oversee arts organizations. “Their numbers include hard-charging entrepreneurs, top executives, retired moguls, heiresses and the occasional full-blown celebrity, and they operate in a chandelier-lighted, by-invitation-only realm full of fiduciary responsibility and social opportunity. In this largely white and mostly over-50 world, lunches with Frank Gehry and cocktails with David Hockney are entirely possible and getting tickets is never a problem. But it’s likely to cost a five-figure donation, maybe six, every year, just to get a foot in the door. And the price of admission is rising fast.”

Did US Congress Just Outlaw Dance Clubs?

“Dancing, or at least clubs that offer dancing to electronic DJ music, could be in the fast lane to extinction thanks to an act of Congress. Last week it passed the Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act, also known as ‘the RAVE Act,’ as part of the larger PROTECT Act. The RAVE Act strengthens existing ‘Operation of a Crackhouse’ legislation, under which owners of a property are held responsible for any drug use on their premises. Penalties for violating the Crackhouse statute can include fines of up to $500,000 for an individual or $2 million for a corporation, a potential 20-year prison sentence and asset forfeiture. When used against a real crack house, where individuals gather for the specific purpose of doing drugs, the law makes sense; when applied to music venues where a determined patron can always find a bathroom stall or dark corner to imbibe a chemical, it’s lunacy.”