The letter:
An Open Letter to Kansas Governor Sam Brownback
May 25, 2011
The Honorable Sam Brownback
Governor of Kansas
Dear Governor Brownback,
I have been following with great interest your efforts to remove government support from the Kansas Arts Commission and to re-establish it as an independent, non-profit agency, with the expectation that doing so will relieve your administration of the responsibility of allocating taxpayer funds to match federal funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. The budget now awaits your signature and there is a great deal of concern that you will use your line-item veto to effectively abolish the Commission which, I understand, a bipartisan coalition in the Kansas Senate representing a broad cross-section of Kansas citizens hopes you will not do.
It is neither my place nor my intention to engage in the political discourse of your state. However, since our small agency has been frequently singled out by your administration as an example of a nonprofit state arts agency that is thriving without, as the media has reported it, the benefit of state investment I am compelled to weigh in and set the record straight on just three points.
First, in Vermont our nonprofit state arts agency is effective only BECAUSE there is significant state investment in our work. Without a State appropriation of just over $500,000 we would be unable to provide the professional development services, educational outreach to underserved communities, accessibility services to hundreds of historic cultural venues that were built long before the passage of the ADA, and a host of other grants that support our creative sector.
Second, without State support we would be forced to raise more than half million dollars (to match our Federal grant from the National Endowment for the Arts) from the private sector—an activity that would put us in direct competition with the very cultural institutions that our mission requires us to support. In addition, our largest grant program (Cultural Facilities), not only provides significant improvements to our historical and cultural institutions in the area of accessibility, the funds we award employ hundreds of carpenters, bricklayers, plumbers, electricians and other blue-collar workers that are, along with artists and teachers, the life-blood of our communities.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, every State SHOULD invest in the arts sector simply because it makes good economic sense. One of our most conservative policy analysts looked at state and local tax revenues that flowed to state and municipal coffers from our very narrowly-defined arts sector in Vermont. Income taxes paid by artists, arts administrators and independent arts contractors, as well as the long-established IMPLAN economic modeling analysis on just the nonprofit arts institutions in the state, reveal a total return of $19.45 million on a combined investment of $2.5 million, which includes our $500k appropriation. This annual ROI of 775% is even more astonishing since virtually all of Vermont’s state tourism dollars promote skiing, outdoor recreation, fall foliage, maple syrup, and artisanal food preparation and service, NOT art and culture—a circumstance which, I am happy to say, is going to change starting this summer.
Our legislature is getting more and more comfortable with thinking of the work we do as expanding the revenue base of our state, not increasing the expenses that our citizen taxpayers must bear. Our sector provides good jobs. It adds enormous social and civic value to our communities. It improves the relationship that young people have with their schools and communities. And it serves as a powerful attraction to entrepreneurs seeking to locate their new businesses in a creative, vital community setting. The “creative economy” is real and it is thriving here in Vermont. I believe that all these arguments are relevant to making the case for keeping the Kansas Arts Commission on sound financial, PUBLIC footing.
With great respect for you and for the wonderful citizens of Kansas, I am
Sincerely yours,
Alexander L. Aldrich
Executive Director
Vermont Arts Council
Dam Brownback (the first time it was a typo but I've decided I like it) is a prime example of GOP extremism. We're seeing it all over the place and I have high hopes that the voters will react appropriately. The sudden insurgence of the teabaggers should, (if it already hasn't) alarm each and every one of us. The small towns in Kansas are dying, and no one seems to understand why. But they keep voting for the GOP, who then gives all the power, wealth, and tax breaks to the corporations that are starving these communities of their money. And no one seems to get how they're perpetuating this vicious circle.
Recently I posted about the meat packing plants in western Kansas that are essentially creating a third world out on the plains at the expense of the immigrants, legal or otherwise, that live and work there. there are no roads, no sewage infrastructure, no decent schools, no health care, and if the locals rebel, they pack up the whole operation and move it to the next town where they'll be allowed to do as they please.
We are the only ones who can put a stop to what's being done to this country, and we have to accept the responsibility of fighting the people like Dam who think it's a good thing. The longer I live the more I realize that we're doomed to repeat history because we not only don't learn from it, we don't teach it.
Anyone who has ever received a check, a job, an opportunity to view or participate in an arts event due to the existence of publicly funded arts councils should be supporting their existence, and fighting to keep their budgets intact.
Vote responsibly folks. The GOP no longer stands for what you think it does.
And now for something you'll really like:
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