Today is the day to Save the Arts in SD! Act now!!

Dear Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society Supporter:

Today is the day to help save the arts in South Dakota! And I need your help. The Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society receives funding from the South Dakota Arts Council in order to keep JazzFest free, tour across the state with our Jazz Diversity Project, present quality concerts in our series, as well as our provide other educational outreach programs.

This week, a bill was introduced HB1229 (Click for a fact sheet) which proposes to provide funds from a .5% tax increase on what is best known as the “tourism tax.” It passed as amended in the House Taxation Committee by a vote of 15-0. This would keep the arts office open and help us receive a nearly 2 to 1 increase in our NEA grants due to Obama’s new stimulus package.

Most importantly it will insure that our quality of life in South Dakota continues to rise and that we have great art all across our state, helping to education and inform, entertain and enlighten!

Our representative’s will need to hear from you TODAY! This bill will be voted on as early as THIS MONDAY, Feb 23rd!

Please take a moment and send a quick message to our legislators, letting them know you support House Bill 1229. Something as simple as:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am in favor of HB 1229 as a way to help save the South Dakota Arts Council and keep the arts alive in our state! Thank you!

Be sure to add your town to your signature.

Click below and send your short message!
http://legis.state.sd.us/who/index.aspx

Thank you for what you are doing to help the arts in our state and the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society.

Robert Joyce
Executive Director
Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society
605-335-6101 rjoyce@sfjb.org

Busy Week of Education Programs

We had a busy week with educational outreach in the community.

The Jazz Diversity Project played for six schools in the past week, visiting Sioux Falls Patrick Henry, Axtell Park, Memorial, Edison, and Whittier along with Brandon Valley Middle School.


Over 1,200 students saw the Jazz Diversity Project. Not bad for one week.

(See pic - Jimmy and Nate thought that as horn players, they deserved to take a seat on the thrones at Axtell Park.)

On Tuesday, the second Jazz 101: For Adults was held at CJ Callaway's. Over 50 people gathered to learn about jazz guitarists and the history of Blue Note Records while meeting other music fans.

Thanks so much to Randy, Tina and the team at CJ Callaway's, PRIME Magazine, and Paul Schilf for making this program a success!

The next Jazz 101: For Adults will be held on April 14th in celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month. Stay tuned for more information!

Letter to the Editor

This is Katrina from SFJB writing. I got the OK to air my grievances about my letter to the editor in the Argus Leader that was printed today.

I understood when submitting that there might be some edits and cuts, but I feel they took out my most important points and also made a few changes that altered the implications of my ideas.

Click here to read their version.

Here is my original letter:

Governor Rounds set goals in the 2010 Initiative to double visitor spending and develop SD’s quality of life as one of the best in the nation. Without the foundation of the South Dakota Arts Council, how will these goals be met? Cultural tourism revenues and the creation and development of vibrant, creative, economically progressive communities is a residual effect of government support of the arts.

I was one of those Gen-Xers that wanted to get away from the rural life of South Dakota as soon as I graduated from SDSU. That was, until I discovered that I could find a career in the arts here.

I’ve worked for a non-profit arts organization for the last eight years that receives a grant from the South Dakota Arts Council. Each time my organization produces an event our patrons and vendors positively impact the state through sales tax revenues.

A report from Americans for the Arts shows that as of January 2008, South Dakota is home to 1,287 arts-related businesses that employ 6,368 people and it is estimated that these businesses and arts workers create a local economic impact of $48 million.

The foundation that the SD Arts Council provides my organization keeps one more young person in this state to pay taxes, buy a home and start a family.

My life is a microcosm of the trickle-down effect of how funding the SD Arts Council benefits our communities.

I’m tired of the argument that funding the arts is frivolous and meaningless. Ideas like this are millions of miles away from the reality of how government funding of the arts truly does benefit us all, not only intrinsically, but in regard to our economy.

JazzFest Named one of SD's Top Ten Events!

JazzFest has been chosen by the website www.topeventsusa.com as one of the top ten events in South Dakota! The listing of SD's Top Ten Events can be found here.

JazzFest 2009 will be held July 17-18 at Yankton Trail Park in Sioux Falls, SD.

More information at www.jazzfestsiouxfalls.com.

What You and Every Legislator Should Know about SDAC Funding

As the South Datkoa Arts Council faces elimanation here are some things that you and every legislator should know.

- The revised budget would cut all state funding to the Office of Arts. This would eliminate our state arts agency, the Office of Arts/South Dakota Arts Council, which has only two sources of support, state and federal.

- Without a state agency and investment of state funds, South Dakota is ineligible to receive its annual appropriation, $746,000 for 2010, from the National Endowment for the Arts, our federal arts agency.

- The economic stimulus package that passed in the House and is headed for the US Senate includes an increase in funding for the National Endowment for the arts that would increase South Dakota’s 2010 appropriation to over $900,000. With no state funding for its state agency, South Dakota would receive $0.

- Local arts grants totaling $1.1 million and annually funding 8,000 events, across every legislative district in South Dakota, would be eliminated, beginning July 1, 2009. These grants are awarded to 530 local arts organizations and other non-profit arts programs, schools, artists and units of government.

- These grants are matched on the local level by 14:1, generating over $14 million annually in communities all across South Dakota. These grants are critical to the state’s large and small arts organizations, providing matching funds for other grants and contributions. Some form of financial support for more than 18,000 professional and amateur artists would be impacted.

- The loss of our state arts agency would reduce the state’s rankings for federal and private grant organizations who rate quality of life, educational opportunities, economic development, cultural tourism, and overall attractiveness to businesses, visitors, and citizens.

- The Artists in Schools & Communities Program will end. This program has been active for 35 years. Annually, 26 artists travel to 162 schools for a total of 231 weeks, educating 35,000 young people in South Dakota.

- The Touring Arts Program will end. 45 endorsed performing and visual arts groups provide 255 engagements, and reach an audience of 335,000 annually, primarily in rural areas. State funding for the arts in 2009 was $636,000, an investment of 86 cents from each state resident.

- The Office of Arts is a part of the Department of Tourism and State Development. It is a supporting piece of the infrastructure of state government. State funding of this office is an investment with a significant return for the people of South Dakota.

- The South Dakota Arts Council is exemplary among state arts agencies (50), and received highest ratings from the National Endowment for the Arts on its grant application for 2010. Nevertheless, without substantial reinstatement of state funds, we will not receive this federal funding.