In early July, 4Culture learned that it had been awarded $250,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts as part of the $50 million appropriated through the NEA from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA.) ARRA funding is all about jobs. It is essentially a jobs retention program.
Our region has done well garnering ARRA arts jobs funding. The NEA awarded grants totaling $450,000 directly to 12 Seattle arts organizations. Additionally, our colleagues at the Washington State Arts Commission received ARRA funds to distribute state-wide, and recently announced awards totaling $285,000 to 24 arts organizations, including six in Seattle. The Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs (SOACA) announced last week that it had awarded another $250,000 in ARRA funds to 22 Seattle-based arts organizations. We are proud to report that the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs and 4Culture were two of only sixteen local arts agencies nation-wide that received ARRA funds to sub-grant to our constituents. We believe that is testament to the NEA’s regard for the quality of our nationally respected arts community.
With all three public funding entities receiving ARRA dollars, we worked with WSAC and SOACA to devise an application process that would ensure that arts organizations wouldn’t have to submit multiple applications. An organization may only receive funding from one ARRA source. WSAC considered its applications first. Any applications from Seattle or King County organizations that were not funded by WSAC were sent for consideration to SOACA and 4Culture. All of the SOACA applications that were not funded by SOACA were also sent to 4Culture. Many King County-based organizations applied directly to 4Culture. The result is that 4Culture will be reviewing 99 applications to determine how to award $250,000 to organizations throughout the County. It will be a daunting task. 4Culture will announce its awards following Board approval on September 23rd.
I’ve read numerous reports and surveys about how the recession is impacting arts organizations, but nothing I’ve read has been more revealing about the current state of the arts than the applications for ARRA funding. All of the 99 applications we’ve received are from organizations which have had to cut programs and staff positions in response to reduced income. Every one of the positions they are hoping to sustain with ARRA funding represent a real job that serves a critical organization and programmatic need. Positions threatened for elimination range from executive management to production personnel to artist fees. It is a sobering picture. As exciting as it was to receive the NEA funding, it is clear that the funds available are entirely insufficient to the task.
There is some indication that the economy may have hit bottom and that recovery may be on the horizon, best captured by the phrase “the rate of decline has slowed.” Not exactly a resounding expression of confidence, but more optimistic that several months ago.
ARRA applications also reveal the creativity and resourcefulness of our local arts managers. Not one applicant organization suggested that they are considering closing the doors. Most will hunker down, maintain mission critical programs, defer major new initiatives, delay capital projects and sustain education programs at a reduced level.
Michael Kaiser, the President and CEO of the Kennedy Center for the Arts in Washington, D.C., was in town last week to speak to a packed Nordstom Recital Hall audience about the Kennedy Center initiative called “The Arts in Crisis.” It was a wonderful presentation, engaging, anecdotal and encouraging. Mr. Kaiser cautioned against the impulse to cut programs and marketing, arguing that to do so would begin an inevitable slide to irrelevance. His advice to the crowd was to focus on producing great art.
That’s something we can accomplish. I see you do it every day.
Jim Kelly
