Arts funding deserves support in Pennsylvania and everywhere
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had a brief, none-too-flattering moment in the national spotlight during his failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination this year. Some of the descriptors used in reference to DeSantis were “arrogant,” “awkward,” “belligerent,” and “unlikeable jerk.”
He retreated to Tallahassee after his campaign reached its Hindenburg-style end, and people who work in Florida’s arts community have undoubtedly been using the same words – or worse – to express their feelings about DeSantis in recent days. That’s because DeSantis vetoed $32 million in funding for arts groups across the Sunshine State. This will hurt museums, theater companies, symphonies and other nonprofit cultural organizations.
Steven Haines, executive director of the Symphony of the Americas, which is based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., told the Sun-Sentinel newspaper, “Something like this could literally be the death knell for some organizations and succeed in doing what COVID could not. We don’t want to sound alarmist, but yet it’s an alarming situation.”
DeSantis has not elaborated on why he axed state arts funding, but it’s likely that DeSantis wanted to put on a show of budget-slashing rectitude, and, perhaps more importantly, “own the libs,” particularly those fancy pants types who prefer a trip to the Sarasota Opera than the Daytona Speedway.
We can be glad that there is no similar effort afoot in Pennsylvania. In the proposed 2024-25 budget, $15 million was carved out for arts funding, and no one is beating the drums to eliminate it. But the reality is that when it comes to arts funding, the commonwealth is pretty parsimonious.
In a recent survey, Pennsylvania ranked 33rd among the 50 states in funding for the arts. Harrisburg puts forth about 81 cents per resident. That’s a little less than West Virginia, which spends 87 cents per resident, considerably less than Ohio’s $2.16 per resident and a pittance compared to New York’s $5.38.
Cutting funding for arts organizations impoverishes a state’s cultural life in its biggest cities and smallest towns. Arts education programs fall by the wayside, exhibits are canceled and talented artists and administrators sometimes end up decamping to greener pastures. But slashing arts funding is also a prime example of being pennywise and pound foolish.
According to a study conducted last year by Americans for the Arts on the social and economic benefits of the nonprofit arts and culture industry, audiences in Allegheny County spend more than $700 million annually on the arts, and about 18,000 people are employed as a result of the arts. Arts and culture in the county brings in $42 million in local tax revenue and $57 million in state tax revenue. Patrons spend about $54 per event.
If the $15 million for arts funding in Pennsylvania is approved, it would bring state arts spending up to $1.16 per resident. That’s good, but it needs to be better.