Senate panel offers hope for arts agency

By Howard Pousner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Art = $$ for Georgia," read one sign hoisted by artists and arts supporters marching to the Capitol on Monday protesting the possible elimination of the Georgia Council for the Arts. On Tuesday, a Senate panel concurred, returning funding to the GCA that the House had stripped from the state's arts agency last week.

The Senate Appropriations Committee restored the $890,735 that the governor had recommended for GCA, but the House had cut out. The Senate version of the budget keeps the agency going, but with about $1.6 million less in state backing than it has in fiscal year 2010.

Still, arts supporters shouldn't celebrate just yet. The budget has to pass the full Senate. Then House leaders have to agree to keep the money in when the budget is taken up by a conference committee that includes three senators and three House members. Then whatever the conferees agree to must still be approved by the full House and Senate before going to the governor.

Senate budget leader Sen. Jack Hill (R-Reidsville) said Tuesday that the money was restored to ensure that Georgia receives $878,300 in federal funds from the National Endowment for the Arts approved for Georgia.

To save administrative costs amid a $800 million budget shortfall that has caused controversial cuts to education and other areas, House leaders wanted to replace the GCA with a new agency, the Georgia Arts Alliance. It was created by legislation in 2008 to “foster public-private partnership for support of the arts” and arts education. The Georgia Arts Alliance would have worked in concert with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, where the House voted to move $250,000 in arts granting funds.

But NEA officials questioned whether the arrangement would qualify as being eligible for NEA funding. Georgia would have become the only state in the U.S. without an official arts agency recognized by the NEA.

Laura A. Scanlan, NEA director of state and regional partnerships, said this week that organizations “must have a three-year history of programming and sufficient capacity to fulfill the requirements of our grant guidelines” to be eligible for NEA funding. The NEA “requires not only a financial commitment from the state but also the infrastructure and expertise to effectively address the unique needs of the broad expanse of arts and cultural resources within the state.”

The Georgia Arts Alliance has yet to be incorporated, according to the secretary of state's Web site.

Before the Senate Appropriations Committee's restoration of GCA funding was made public, Rep. Joe Wilkinson (R-Atlanta), who sponsored the legislation to create the Georgia Arts Alliance, said Tuesday that Georgia could not afford to lose the federal arts funding. "I’m convinced we’ll do whatever we can to protect those grants," Wilkinson said, calling the arts "critical to economic development."

There doesn't appear to be strong opposition to arts funding in the Legislature, though at a time of budget crisis, some see it as a matter of priorities.

"When we are laying people off and slashing very important programs, arts are not the highest priority for me," Sen. John Douglas (R-Social Circle), a Senate Appropriations Committee member, said in a recent interview.

Douglas did not return e-mails and calls seeking comment Tuesday.

In a statement, GCA chief Susan S. Weiner said she was thankful for Tuesday's change. "With the votes of the full Senate and the conference committee, Georgia will not lose its federal and regional funding," she said. "Though our state funding will be down 88 percent from fiscal year 2008, GCA can continue to support our highly productive nonprofit arts industry."

Meanwhile, another bill intended to aid the arts, by allowing counties to hold referendums on dedicating up to 1 cent of sales tax for arts and cultural groups and other economic development projects, passed the Senate Finance Committee on Monday. Floria Maria Garcia, CEO of the Metro Atlanta Arts & Culture Coalition, said she was "very hopeful" that the measure will make it to the full Senate and governor before session's end.