01/09/2012

Kansas Governor Rethinking Arts Funding

"Gov. Sam Brownback is working on ways to provide funding for the arts after his controversial veto last year that made Kansas the first state in the nation to stop funding the arts.

Rep. TerriLois Gregory (R-Baldwin City) said arts funding strategies are being developed by the governor’s staff.

She said the funds may be channelled through the Kansas Department of Commerce in the form of grants, and that the still-existing, but unfunded Arts Commission could be merged with the Kansas Film Commission.

'The grants would be more focused on job creation,' Gregory said.

The 2012 legislative session started January 9 and Brownback will outline his priorities in the State of the State address on January 11.

At a Lawrence Chamber of Commerce breakfast with legislators, Gregory said some of the avenues being explored is providing arts funding through the sales of a special arts supporter license plate or donations through a tax checkoff.

In a recent interview with the Lawrence Journal-World, Brownback said he would re-visit the issue but didn’t elaborate.

Brownback vetoed state funding of the Kansas Arts Commission, saying that the arts was not a core function of state government and that he expected private donors to step up. After his veto of the $689,000 state appropriation, the state lost $1.2 million in federal funding."

Lawrence Journal-World 01/09/2012