Recently, the Fulton County Commission made its annual foray into non-profit arts community services and programs by proposing to slash the arts and culture budget yet again. And yet again, there were hundreds of emails, telephone calls, testimonials and letters from vast numbers of arts supporters, which got the commission to change its mind once again — for now.
In a mere eight months, this cycle starts all over again, as Fulton arts and culture moves to a calendar year budget.
Respectfully, when will our elected officials finally recognize, with some semblance of permanence, the proven value of the arts to their constituents and communities?
Annually, when budgets come down to the wire, the arts become the “turkey on the chopping block.” Arts organizations have almost grown accustomed to this annual exhaustive initiative of contacting their constituents who, in turn, plead their case to their elected officials. Sometimes, all or some of the funding is restored, and sometimes it isn’t. The state has previously decimated the Georgia Council for the Arts budget, and now Fulton is precipitously close to falling into step.
I believe there is often a misunderstanding of the power of the arts as an agent of economic development and in the quality of lives our citizens lead; and, similarly, a dangerous disregard for the importance of the arts in education.
The arts are fundamental to our very humanity. They ennoble and inspire us by fostering creative thinking, goodness and beauty. They help us express our values, build bridges of understanding between cultures, and bring us together regardless of ethnicity, religion or age. But just as importantly, the nonprofit arts in the United States are a business generating $135 billion in economic activity annually, supporting 4.1 million jobs and generating $22 billion in government revenue.
Students with an education rich in the arts attain higher scores on standardized tests, lower dropout rates and inspired attitudes about service to others. An investment of seed support in the arts generates so much more by creating jobs, growing tax revenues, promoting tourism, educating our children and advancing our creative-based economy.
Atlanta can never be the world-class city it strives to be without a world-class arts community.
For many nonprofit arts organizations, the constant reduction of public funding will not necessarily close their doors. But who will suffer the consequences? Community and educational outreach programs may become a thing of the past, and constituents will see higher ticket prices, declining senior and student discounts, and the elimination of free tickets and programs for underserved citizens.
Translation: less diversity, and the elite “haves” will have far greater access to the arts than the “have nots.”
I urge our elected representatives to genuinely listen to the citizens they are sworn to represent. Rather than habitually putting the arts on the chopping block year after year, perhaps sustainable funding sources at the local, regional and national level is a conversation that can result in a win-win for all. I, for one, would welcome that conversation.
Robert J. Farley is co-founder and artistic director of the Georgia Ensemble Theatre & Conservatory in Roswell.
