The
Arts Ky Advocate – July 2003
"I do not want art for a few anymore than
education for a few, or freedom for a few."
~William Morris
==============================
The mission
of Arts Kentucky is to provide resources and tools to people
who are working to improve their communities through the arts.
To
learn more visit our website:
http://www.artsky.org
To contact your state and national representatives visit:
http://www.kyartsadvocates.com
==============================
This monthly advocacy newsletter is a benefit
of membership in Arts Kentucky.
If someone is sharing this email with you, won’t you please consider becoming
an Arts Kentucky member? You can join online at our website:
http://www.artsky.org Thank you!
==============================
CONTENTS
NATIONAL NEWS:
KENTUCKY NEWS:
==============================
The U.S. House
of Representatives is expected to begin floor debate on either July 16th or
17th on the FY 2004 Interior Appropriations bill, which includes funding for
the NEA and NEH. We encourage you to visit Americans for the Arts' CAPWIZ
advocacy website below to send an e-mail to your Member of Congress urging
them to support the Congressional Arts Caucus amendment, which would increase
funding for the NEA by $10 million and funding for the NEH by $5 million.
To send an e-mail to your
Representative, please follow these EASY steps:
1. Log onto:
http://capwiz.com/artsusa/issues/alert/?alertid=2800981
2. Enter your ZIP Code in the box to
access your Member of Congress
3. Customize the message if you want
with the various listed talking points or your own text
4. Fill in the personal contact
information (this is important to prove you're a constituent!)
5. Click the SEND MESSAGE button!
======TOP
==============================
New Jersey
Budget Includes Funding for Arts Groups
Levin, Anne. "Arts Community Gives
Sigh of Relief on Funding." Trenton Times 07/02/03.
http://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1057133274319533.xml
After months of public rallies and
e-mail campaigns orchestrated by advocacy group ArtPride New Jersey
http://www.artpridenj.com/, Governor James E. McGreevey has signed a
2003-04 budget that contains $19 million for arts and cultural groups in New
Jersey, after proposing earlier this year that state funding for the arts be
scrapped entirely, the Trenton Times reports.
While arts advocates claimed victory,
that sum still represents a big decrease from the $31.7 million earmarked for
arts and culture in the previous fiscal year. The New Jersey State Council on
the Arts
http://www.njartscouncil.org/ and the New Jersey Historical Commission
http://www.state.nj.us/state/history/, which both provide operating
support to arts and cultural nonprofits, will together receive about $3
million less than last year, while the New Jersey Cultural Trust (
http://www.njartscouncil.org/njculturaltrust.html ) will absorb most of
the reduction.
"The Trust is for financial
stabilization and capital projects, not for operating funding," said Jeffrey
Woodward, president of ArtPride and managing director of the McCarter Theatre
Center (
http://www.mccarter.org/ ) in Princeton. "So even though it's a 40
percent [overall] reduction, it's a much smaller reduction for the two
agencies that provide operating support, and that's what is very positive news
for us."
Arts advocates were also pleased with
the passage of a 7 percent tax on hotels and motels, a portion of which will
be used for future arts funding. Under the slogan "Save New Jersey Arts," the
campaigners had brought to the attention of government officials studies
showing that arts and historic sites contribute $1.5 billion to the state's
economy and more than $90 million to the state tax coffers. "[W]e know that
tens of thousands of people contacted their legislators," said Woodward. "I
think we've demonstrated that not only is this a quality-of-life issue for New
Jersey, but that we are an economic engine and we provide eleven thousand jobs
in our state. It was the people who did this, and I think everybody in the
arts community is extremely grateful for it."
======TOP
==============================
Florida's
80% Arts Budget Cut
State budget paints arts into
corner
By LAURA STEWART, Fine Arts Writer
Last update: 25 June 2003
Florida's arts community was sent reeling
this week when Gov. Jeb Bush signed a state budget that slashes cultural
grants funding by nearly 80 percent.
The budget, signed into law Monday,
provides nearly $5.9 million for the state's arts organizations, down from the
$28 million they got last year and a far cry from the $35 million they'd
requested for the coming year.
Add to deep budget cuts the difficulty
arts groups have raising money, and the result is a collective gasp.
"It's dismal because the economy is so
bad," said Sherron Long, president of the Florida Cultural Alliance, a
statewide arts-advocacy organization. "We have heard that next year will be
even worse than this year."
FOR COMPLETE STORY VISIT:
http://www.n-jcenter.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Local/03AreaEAST01062503.htm
======TOP
==============================
Minnesota Cuts Arts Employees
State arts board lays off 8 of 19 employees
BY DOMINIC P. PAPATOLA,
Pioneer Press
Posted on Wed, Jun. 25, 2003
Eight of 19
employees at the Minnesota State Arts Board received termination notices
Monday, representing a 42 percent cut in the staffing of an organization that
has supported art and artists in the state for a century.
The cuts
were made necessary when the state agency's administrative budget was slashed
by 61 percent in a budget approved in May by Gov. Tim Pawlenty. The overall
budget of the organization — which gives money to individual artists,
big-budget theaters and a variety of artistic endeavors in between — was
reduced 32 percent.
"This isn't
about doing more with less," said communications director Sue Gens. "This is
about doing less with less."
But David
Strom, legislative director for the Taxpayers League of Minnesota, an advocacy
organization that fights for lower taxes, said the arts cuts, though painful,
were necessary.
FOR COMPLETE STORY VISIT:
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/entertainment/6162663.htm
======TOP
==============================
The End of
Arts Funding?
The NEA stayed alive during the culture wars, but its survival strategy
may have done more harm than good
By Douglas McLennan, NEWSWEEK WEB
EXCLUSIVE
May 29 — Across America, government
is getting out of the arts business. While states like Massachusetts,
California, Florida and Michigan slash their arts budgets by half or more,
lawmakers in Colorado, Oregon and New Jersey consider eliminating their arts
agencies altogether.
THE LAST TIME state governments
attacked a program with such cost-cutting zeal was welfare reform in the
mid-’90s.
So why the arts, and why now? The
obvious reason is that state governments are hurting for money and have big
deficits they have to close. If it’s a choice between arts and public safety
or arts and roads, you know that truck has already left the turnpike.
Anticipating these all-too-familiar
choices, arts leaders have spent much of the past decade churning out dozens
of economic-impact studies to show that the arts are a great public
investment: You want return? For every dollar government invests in nonprofit
arts, eight dollars are returned to the economy. You want economic stimulus?
The arts generated $134 billion in economic activity across America in 2001.
You want jobs? The arts produce 4.85 million full-time equivalent American
jobs. If money seems to be a language legislators understand, then arts
leaders figured they’d give them economic ways to think about the arts.
FOR COMPLETE STORY VISIT:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/919695.asp
======TOP
==============================
FROM National
Assembly of State Arts Agencies:
GOVERNORS
ASSOCIATION
RECOGNIZES THE
ARTS AS A
PUBLIC POLICY
ASSET
The
National Governors Association's Center for Best Practices and NASAA have
collaborated to produce a series of Issue Briefs that document the
value of the arts in public policy:
- Arts Help Governors Achieve Global Trade and
Tourism Goals
This latest briefing from the National Governors Association illustrates how
states are expanding international trade opportunities through culture. Case
studies demonstrate ways that the arts encourage tourism, strengthen
business networks, build "brand identity" and position states for success in
a global marketplace.
- Arts Education Improves Workforce Development and
Student Success
Second in the series, this Issue Brief shows how the arts shape the
skills that 21st century employees need to succeed. "The Impact of Arts
Education on Workforce Preparation" documents the positive outcomes of
integrating the arts into K-12 education and youth intervention programs.
- The Role of the Arts in Economic Development
First in the series, this Issue Brief reveals how the arts revitalize
communities, contribute to a region's innovation habitat, and help states
remain competitive in today's economy.
These Issue Briefs are among
the most popular items on the
National Governors Association Web site. Each includes case studies and
examples of successful programs as well as research citations and useful
quotes. Supported with funding from the
National Endowment for the Arts, this collaboration aims to increase
understanding of the public benefits of the arts among top state officials.
The arts field is using these tools to document the impact of its work and to
show how the arts help states address their most pressing goals. For more
information, contact Kelly Barsdate at NASAA or Phil Psilos at the NGA.
Updated 5/9/03
FOR COMPLETE INFO VISIT:
http://www.nasaa-arts.org/nasaanews/nga.shtml
======TOP
==============================
FR: Cecelia
Wooden, Legislative Agent, Arts Kentucky
DT: 23 June 2003
RE: Legislative Update on CATS/No Child Left Behind
INFORMATION ONLY – NO ACTION REQUIRED AT THIS TIME
The Education Assessment and
Accountability Review Committee (EAARS) met today in Frankfort. This Review
Committee is a statutory committee of the Kentucky General Assembly with
bi-partisan representation from both chambers. Members of EAARS are:
Co-chair:
Representative Harry Moberly (D-Richmond)
Co-chair: Senator David Williams (R-Burkesville)
Members: Representative Frank Rasche (D-Paducah)
Representative Mary Lou Marzian
(D-Louisville)
Representative Jon Draud (R-Crestview
Hills)
Senator Lindy Casebier (R-Louisville)
Senator Dan Kelly (R-Springfield)
Senator Ed Worley (D-Richmond)
This statutory committee has been
charged with several actions such as monitoring legislation passed by Congress
and that passed by the Kentucky General Assembly; working closely with the
Kentucky Department of Education and the Office of Education Accountability,
etc.
Today’s meeting was designed to hear
an update on the progress of SB 168 (an act relating to reducing the
achievement gaps in the public schools – enacted in 2002), and to hear a
status report from the KDE on the implementation of the federal “No Child Left
Behind Act.”
Most germane at this time was the KDE
report. Board Chairperson Helen Mountjoy, Commissioner Gene Wilhoit and
Deputy Commissioner Kevin Noland testified. Items relating to that report
follow.
1. Kentucky has been granted
“conditional” approval by the USDOE on its plan to integrate increased testing
in mathematics and reading. Given that NCLB must be enacted by 2006, all
states currently have “conditional” approval of their state plans. There are
several issues yet to be resolved with Kentucky’s plan.
2. The state board of education views
NCLB and the current high stakes accountability and assessment system as
“mirrors”. Where Kentucky’s program leads the nation, according to USDOE
Secretary Paige, is in the elements that differentiate it from any other state
and, potentially, set it up as a “model”: assessment is tied to standards;
the sub-categories of students are treated as such so as to pursue
improvements in learning and not penalize entire schools for sub-category
scores; report cards to the state; the competencies that Kentucky assesses are
more than reading and mathematics, etc.
3. The KDE is hoping to reach a
compromise with the federal guidelines on several issues:
- the USDOE legislation is very prescriptive when scores
do not meet expectations. KDE is seeking flexibility in meeting the
improvement goals based on the holistic approach to education.
- NCLB’s definition of “full academic year” penalizes
schools with transient populations, and in particular, urban schools.
- NCLB requires that assessment results be made
available and Adequate Yearly Progress (ADP) determinations be made prior to
the start of the next school year. This is particularly important in
enacting the “school choice” component. As it stands right now, it is not
possible to meet this expectation without moving the testing window to
earlier in the prior school year. This is strongly opposed by Kentucky
teachers and others.
4. The major issues with NCLB
(according to Deputy Commissioner Kevin Noland) are three:
a. NCLB requires a single
baseline to be determined for each school, starting at 20% from the bottom.
This sets unreachable expectations for some lower-performing schools, while
discouraging achievement for high-performing schools.
b. NCLB progress is
measured annually, instead of every two years, as is Kentucky’s CATS program.
It is suggested that every two years provides a more complete view of
cumulative progress.
c. NCLB emphasizes
reading and math only, while Kentucky’s program demonstrates proficiency in
other content areas.
Next steps: After much discussion, is
it apparent that the EAARS will pursue a discussion of a two dimension high
stakes accountability and assessment program that meets both Kentucky’s
educational values and goals and the federal NCLB legislation. Chairperson
Mountjoy and co-chairs Moberly and Williams concurred that thoughtful
discussions must be pursued by the KDE, state board of education, and EAARS.
It is estimated that these committee
hearings will continue well into the fall, likely leading to some legislative
recommendations for the 2004 Kentucky General Assembly, which convenes in
January 2004.
I will continue to attend the meetings
and will encourage other statewide groups associated with educational
professions to keep informed as to the progress. The committee has scheduled
their meetings for the 4th Monday of each month at 10:00 a.m. in
the Capitol Annex in Frankfort (unless otherwise noted). Next meeting: July
28th.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Cecelia Wooden, Arts Ky Legislative Agent
ceceliaw@woodenassoc.com
======TOP
==============================
ART is not a thing; it is a WAY.
–Elbert Hubbard
========================================
This
email newsletter is a benefit of Arts Kentucky membership. If you would like
to be taken off the list please send an email to:
mailto:connect@artsky.org with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. Thank you.
Arts Kentucky, 624 West Main
Street, Louisville KY 40202, 502-561-0701, toll free 877-561-0701.
http://www.artsky.org ;
mailto:connect@artsky.org
Partial funding has been provided by the Kentucky Arts Council a state agency
in the Education, Arts & Humanities Cabinet with support from the National
Endowment for the Arts.
