“The 2014-15 budget recently passed by the Senate and Assembly includes $5 million for the California Arts Council—the first increase in taxpayer funds the agency has had in 11 years,” writes Mike Boehm in Tuesday’s (6/17) Los Angeles Times (subscription required). “The council … had seen its annual allocation from state tax coffers stagnate at $1 million since 2003-04, down from a peak of nearly $31 million in 2000-2001.… Indications from the governor’s staff suggest that he’ll OK the arts increase.… The Arts Council’s recent overall budgets have been about $5 million…. The main funding mechanism has been about $3 million a year in donations from motorists who opt for special license plates whose extra fees go to support arts grants. The current session in Sacramento included several unsuccessful bills that would have established a permanent guaranteed minimum for arts funding … A potentially significant bill for arts funding is still alive in the Senate Appropriations Committee, after passage by the Assembly last month.… It would allow the council to accept private donations separate from the license plate funding. A hearing is scheduled June 23.”
Posted June 18, 2014
