[CSPS] Texans for the arts

[Jonathan Coopersmith]

FYI.  This should definitely be a priority.
                 Jonathan Coopersmith


Claudia Ladensohn: Money for the arts in Texas is stretched thin
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/012405dnediladensohn.952e4.html
07:46 PM CST on Sunday, January 23, 2005

By CLAUDIA LADENSOHN

There is never enough money for the arts in Texas.

Not enough funds to ensure Texas children are receiving arts education to 
enhance the fundamentals they learn in school. Not enough for rural 
communities across the state to draw visitors through cultural attractions 
and spur economic growth. Not enough for individual painters and 
playwrights, sculptors and singers to create the next masterpieces that 
extend our state's rich heritage and inspire future generations of Texans.

The Texas Commission on the Arts recently announced more than $3.4 million 
in grants to large and small, urban and rural arts organizations for fiscal 
year 2005. Although we supported 98 percent of all eligible applications 
for financial support, arts organizations received an average of only 28 
percent of their grant request.

As the state agency responsible for the distribution of state funds to a 
diverse roster of arts organizations, we are not satisfied with what we 
have accomplished.

How can we be pleased when the number of organizations we are required to 
serve has increased nearly 400 percent in the past 20 years while public 
funding for the arts has actually decreased by 4 percent during the same 
period? And that's without factoring in the inflation rate.

Acknowledging that the arts commission has not been the only state agency 
to be hit with a sharp decrease in state funding, we have adjusted 
expectations as a result of a slower economy. Here's some of what we did.

•Our State of the Arts license plate has remained the best-selling, 
nonpersonalized specialty plate for nearly 10 years, generating $3 million 
for initiatives and grants. In fact, plate sales made up about 8 percent of 
our total budget last year.

•We have partnered with The Texas Music Project ( 
www.texasmusicproject.org), which has compiled three CDs of music from 
popular Texas artists ranging from Willie Nelson to Flaco Jimenez to 
Beyonce. The arts commission has distributed more than $100,000 for arts 
education initiatives from the CD sale and benefit concert proceeds.

•We have long partnered with corporations such as Coca-Cola, Neiman Marcus 
and SBC to sponsor important programs, including our Young Masters artist 
mentorship program and the first-of-its-kind Texas Cultural Endowment Fund.

•Our group operates on an extremely lean administrative budget, with only 
19 staff people to support more than 3,300 arts organizations across Texas.

Yet with so few dollars available, efficiency and effectiveness can get the 
arts commission only so far. Simply put, the arts of Texas need greater 
funding.

A cooperative effort among public and private organizations to support the 
arts is vital to their success. But in order to encourage corporations and 
other major donors to support the effort, they must know the state is doing 
its share.

It is crucial during the upcoming legislative session that the state 
support and not penalize our group and other commissions and agencies 
successfully meeting the belt-tightening requirements set forth by the 
Legislature.

In fact, the commission should be rewarded for its accomplishments. By 
awarding us our legislative request – a mere $11 million from a total state 
budget of $57.8 billion (fiscal year 2005), or not even one-fifth of 1 
percent – the Texas Commission on the Arts can make a stronger funding 
request to individuals, organizations and private endowments that the state 
is committed to preserving its diverse and unique heritage.

Funding the arts in Texas is much like the arts themselves. It takes 
discipline, inspiration, passion and a great deal of hard work. It also 
takes practice. Now is the time to take our 40 years of honed skills and 
turn these efforts into a masterpiece.

Claudia Ladensohn is chairwoman of the Texas Commission on the Arts. Her 
e-mail address is claden at idworld.net.


Jonathan Coopersmith
Associate Professor
Dept. of History
MS 4236
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas  77843
979.845.7148
979.862.4314 fax

Secretary
History & Philosophy of Science Section (L)
American Association for the Advancement of Science
aaas.org 
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