“The $661.4 million budget unanimously passed by the City Council on Monday will more than double the city’s commitment to public funding for arts and cultural groups,” writes Scott Freeman in last Wednesday’s (6/19) Arts Atlanta. “The original budget proposal—the first budget under new Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms—called for the city to maintain its current level of arts funding at $995,000. But Bottoms lent her support to District 2 City Councilman Amir R. Farokhi’s push to more than double that figure to $2 million…. Lisa Cremin, the director of community development for the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, said this is a significant moment for a state that ranks dead last in public funding of the arts. ‘The timing was right to make this adjustment that brings arts funding in Atlanta up to a base level,’ Cremin said…. ‘It says a lot about the city’s understanding of the economic multipliers brought into Atlanta by the arts.’… According to a 2015 Americans for the Arts survey of Atlanta, every resident spends an average of $27 when they attend an arts event (not including the price of admission); for nonresidents, the figure is $37. ‘Every person who sees an arts event in Atlanta makes an economic impact,” Cremin said. “The money that is invested in the arts comes back around.’ ”
Posted June 27, 2018
