California Governor Wants to Slash Arts Funding

California Governor Jerry Brown’s budget proposal for 2015-16 could see taxpayers’ investment in the arts slashed to $1.1 million, the LA Times reports. The plans represent a potential $5 million dollar drop, compared to last year’s budget.

Governor Brown’s overall investment in the California Arts Council, the agency responsible for distributing grants to the state’s non-profit arts organizations and public schools, would then total $4.9 million, with the majority of the money coming from federal sources or donations.

The proposed $1.1 million arts budget represents one-thousandth percent of the total $113.3 billion California budget, putting the state amongst the bottom in per-capita government arts spending in the US: about 13 cents in arts spending per California resident.

“It’s more than slightly absurd, and it’s extremely frustrating, given what the arts and entertainment economies do [for California],” assemblyman Adrin Nazarian told the LA Times.

But Richard Stein, president of California Arts Advocates, a private nonprofit arts lobbying group, remains optimistic. “The kinds of things we’re hearing from elected officials indicate they would like to build arts [expenditures] up to a level more appropriate to the pride we take in the state’s premier role [in the arts]” he told the LA Times. “We’re very optimistic that there will be another increase this year,” he added.


Follow Artnet News on Facebook:


Want to stay ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the breaking news, eye-opening interviews, and incisive critical takes that drive the conversation forward.

Share

Article topics
Subscribe or log in to read the rest of this content.

You are currently logged into this Artnet News Pro account on another device. Please log off from any other devices, and then reload this page continue. To find out if you are eligible for an Artnet News Pro group subscription, please contact [email protected]. Standard subscriptions can be purchased on the subscription page.

Log In