In Saturday’s (6/15) Culture Monster blog at the Los Angeles Times, Mike Boehm writes that on Friday (6/14), “The California Legislature passed a $234-billion budget that cuts funding for the state’s arts grant-making agency 7.6%. The budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year that begins July 1 includes $5.024 million for the California Arts Council—$412,000 less than its current funding. It’s a far cry from the $75 million in guaranteed annual funding that arts advocates had sought in a bill that got tabled last month in the state Assembly’s appropriations committee…. It positions California to extend its hold on last place in the nation in per capita funding for its state arts agency.… The budget now goes to Gov. Jerry Brown, whose line-item veto power allows him to make further cuts but not to add funds.… Brad Erickson, board president of the advocacy group Californians for the Arts, said … the next move will probably be an attempt to revive the bill that was tabled last month and bring it to a vote next year—an effort he thinks would require amending the guaranteed annual Arts Council funding to ‘a more modest amount’ than the $75 million it calls for. That figure was intended to provide about $2 per capita in funding, which would have lifted California close to the top 10 nationally.”
Posted June 21, 2013
