Arts Funding a Must for SC
As the State's budget nears the finish line before being enacted into law, there is one more major hurdle to cross – governor vetoes. The State House and Senate have both completed and passed a balanced budget for the next fiscal year and are now working out the differences between the two before it heads to Gov. Nikki Haley's desk for final approval. In that process, she has the right as governor to line-item veto any component of the budget. From there the vetoes go back to the House to be overturned and then have to be overturned by the Senate, if both entities wish to do so.
In her first State of the State Address earlier this year, Gov. Haley punctured the eardrums of many across the state when she stated, “The reality is the role of South Carolina's government in the year 2011 can no longer be to fund an Arts Commission at a cost of $2.5 million.” The specificity of her remarks shocked many in the arts industry in the state and across the country and sparked a state-wide advocacy effort to keep the South Carolina Arts Commission [SCAC] alive in both the House and Senate budgets. The efforts were successful, cutting only what Ken Mays, the Executive Director of the SCAC, has called a “manageable” 6% from the SCAC budget for next year. Yet, Gov. Haley has made it clear over the past two months that if a budget arrives on her desk that includes funding for the SCAC, that she will veto it.
This misguided effort by Haley to eliminate the SCAC is one that is not going unnoticed. Arts leaders across the state are voicing their opinions to their House and Senate representatives as well as to Haley herself, pointing out the fact that the arts play a vital role in many of the goals Haley has set for herself and the state, and the SCAC is a key player in that role.
Haley has made it clear that among her top priorities as governor are job creation and economic growth. Yet she seems to have forgotten the role the arts play in each of those categories. Recent studies by USC's Moore School of Business indicate that the cultural industry in SC brings in $2.4 billion in direct and in-direct economic impact and help support over 30,000 jobs across the state. In fact, in SC-04 alone, which encompasses most of the Golden Strip, the creative industry supports over 7,000 jobs and almost 1,500 businesses (Americans for the Arts). Many of these creative industry businesses and nonprofit organizations are the very small businesses that Haley spoke about in that very same State of the State Address:
“The heart of our economy is and always will be our small businesses. If we give them cash flow, if we give them profit margins, they aren’t going on vacation – they will use those dollars to hire people, to invest back in our state. And it will be our people, and South Carolina’s economy, that benefit.”
When speaking of economic growth, the arts are a major component of the conversation. Tourism has now become the largest industry in the state, and many tourist attractions in the state center around cultural and artistic events. Look at downtown Greenville alone and the impact the arts have had on the economic engine, national attraction, business magnet and family draw it has become. Organizations such as the Peace Center, Warehouse Theatre, Greenville Little Theater, Artisphere, The Children's Museum of the Upstate, The Upcountry History Museum, new art galleries and many more organizations have made downtown a destination instead of just a location. When the arts make an investment in a community, restaurants, boutiques, and businesses are soon to follow. Look at how Fountain Inn has used the arts to bolster their local economy and increase their tourism base exponentially annually. In Mauldin too, the City is in the early stages of using arts organizations to help jump start community development and tourism. In fact when Google came to Goose Creek, SC one reason the Lowcountry was chosen to house their servers, among other reasons, was the proximity to Charleston and all that city has to offer. Businesses like being around cities that have a vibrant arts scene because not only does it help foster creativity in the work place, but frankly they do not want their employees bored on the weekends.
Haley wants the government to extract itself completely from the arts industry through the next budget, but it is an ill-advised move on her part. The truth is that the impact the SCAC and their granting process has on the private sector is huge, and taking that away would only hurt the private sector's ability to support the arts without a state agency. The SCAC provides grants to organizations across the state for programming development, implementation and even operational support. Last year they granted 340 grants in 41 counties totaling over $2 million. Each of their grants is also a matching grant, meaning that the organization receiving SCAC funding must match that grant award with private donations. When you pull together all of the state data, these private matches equate to about $90 million – a return on investment of about 38:1.
Without the SCAC, many programs would go away. Everything from concert series to educational programs in our schools would disappear. Federal matching funds given to SCAC from agencies such as the National Endowment for the Arts would also disappear, further reducing available funding for organizations across the state. Local arts agencies, such as the Metropolitan Arts Council here in Greenville, will be forced to re-evaluate their granting programs as they are funded in part by the SCAC. The effects of cutting the SCAC will be felt across the state.
A puzzling aspect to the probable veto is the fact that when the budget reaches Haley's desk, it will already be balanced. There will be no deficit in the budget for FY12. And that budget will include funding for the Arts Commission, at a 6% cut. There is literally no need to veto an item that is a part of balanced budget, other than to push political agenda.
Beyond the financial side of things, completely eliminating a state arts agency sends a clear message to those who work in the industry – our governor simply does not care. It is a slap in the face to the industry and tells those who benefit from cultural offerings in the state that our government either does not understand or chooses to ignore the role the arts play in our economy, education, well-being, community and nation. The arts are responsible for so much more than just paintings on a wall. They bring people together to celebrate the creativity and innovation of those around us. They bring to light that which can sometimes not be said in words. They unite communities, expand imaginations, encourage innovation, develop new ideas, and change the world around us.
As Ronald Reagan once said: “Where there's liberty, art succeeds.”
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