State arts groups react to losing NEA funds

From Chron.com: State arts groups react to losing NEA funds
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Art organizations across Kansas, particularly those in rural areas, are scrambling to find ways to make up for lost federal and state funding but some say they are concerned they will have to stop operations.

Last week's decision by the National Endowment for the Arts to deny the state's request for federal funds was expected after Gov. Sam Brownback earlier this year laid off the staff of the Kansas Arts Commission and vetoed its funding, making it the only state in the country to end state funding for the arts. The commission was reorganized in July, with five of its 12 members replaced and the office moved to Topeka. Brownback's administration also created the Kansas Arts Foundation, a private organization charged with raising funds for state arts programs.

Kansas had provided about $700,000 a year to the commission, which then received about $800,000 in partnership grants from the NEA, and about $400,000 from the Mid-America Arts Alliance. The alliance is expected to withhold its money from Kansas as well, but that decision hasn't been made, Abby Beckloff, director of external affairs, told The Wichita Eagle (http://bit.ly/r9jUXQ).

The funding cuts are expected to hit small, rural arts groups harder than those in urban areas, which have more art supporters. For example, middle school students in Bourbon County probably won't make an annual trip to Kansas City, Mo., to see a play this year. And the Bourbon County Arts Council is operating out of the home of its executive director, Peggy Cummings, in Fort Scott.

"It's just been the biggest fiasco ever," Cummings said.

Across the state in Colby, the Western Plains Arts Association, which serves nine sparsely populated counties, will have to cut cultural programming and raise ticket prices.

"If we don't have any additional funding, I don't know how long we'll be able to continue," said Pat Ziegelmeier, executive director of the association.

In a letter last week to Kansas Arts Commission chairman Linda Browning Weis, the NEA said that the new commission "is deeply immersed in transitional activities and is not fully operational in ways that comply with the NEA's eligibility requirements." It invited Kansas to apply for the grant next year.

Weis said she sent the NEA a letter on Aug. 1 stating that even though the arts commission doesn't receive direct state funding, it is the lead agency in the state for arts programs. Usually arrangements can be made to secure some grant funding, she said.

"When the (NEA) letter said it was a final determination, I was stunned," she said. "I thought they understood we were a work in progress. Something that's done well takes time."

Kansas Citizens for the Arts, which advocates for public funding for the arts, issued a statement blasting Brownback for vetoing the commission's budget. "Governor Brownback has repeatedly and misleadingly claimed that his veto of state funding for the arts would not endanger $1.2 million in federal matching funds. With the state projecting a $180 million year-end surplus, we call upon the governor to listen to the Legislature and reinstate funding to the Kansas Arts Commission," the statement said.

Brownback, in a written statement, defended his revised commission. "The Kansas Arts Commission is doing an excellent job in a short period of time moving forward with a new vision for funding of the arts. I fully support their efforts and hope the NEA will as well," the statement said.