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.