Save the Arts in PA

From the Chambersburg Public Opinion
By Rob Luff

FRANKLIN COUNTY — A tentative solution to the 85-day state budget impasse could make a number of organizations, school districts and municipalities happy, but arts and entertainment venues are not among those rejoicing.

The new budget deal, which is yet to be officially passed and approved, extends the statewide 6 percent sales tax to arts and entertainment venues and performances.

Tickets for concerts, plays, ballets and other performances were previously exempt from the sales tax but will soon lose that exemption if the budget is approved. Museums and zoos are also included in the tax, but tickets to movie theaters and professional sporting events remain exempt.

Local theaters react

Several local arts organizations say they are concerned and confused at the news of the new tax as they continue to watch their revenue from the state decline.

They expect it to harm their already-wilting budgets and deter patrons from attending as many shows as before.

“That’s an awful amount of tax when ticket sales are already down,” said Linda Boeckman, manager of the Capitol Theatre in Chambersburg.

She said the tax comes at a difficult time for theaters and play houses as they suffer with the recession.

Ticket sales took an “absolute nosedive” for the theater last year as the economy worsened, Boeckman said. Sales picked up this year, but they are still down by about 10 percent compared to average years.

Now, the theater’s $30 ticket price would jump by about $1.80.

That’s not a significant amount, Boeckman said, but it would cost a family of five almost $10 more to attend a play. Those families would probably cut back on buying concessions items, she said, which affects the theater’s bottom line.
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Excerpt from the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center.

The budget agreement cuts spending from $28.1 billion in 2008-09 to $27.95 billion in 2009-10 and relies heavily on reserves and fund transfers to balance the budget. The agreement includes $1.2 billion in “recurring revenue”; however, some of the revenue sources are temporary. Based on media reports, the major components of the revenue plan are:

• $300 million from business tax changes. They include temporarily freezing the Capital Stock and Franchise Tax at the 2008 rate for the next three years. The increased revenue is offset by further tax cuts for large businesses. On balance, this will raise $300 million in 2009-10 and $458 million in 2010-11. The tax cuts represent a permanent revenue loss in exchange for a temporary tax increase.
• $200 million for the introduction of table games in casinos.  Most of this first-year revenue is for licenses; the revenue declines to $121 million in 2010-11.
• $100 million from lifting the sales tax exemption on admissions costs for theater, dance, concerts and performing arts, as well as museums, historical sites, zoos and parks.
• $171 million by redirecting to the General Fund 25 cents of the cigarette tax that was used to help offset doctors’ malpractice premiums.
• $97 million in 2009-10 and $146 million in 2010-11 from a 25-cent increase in the cigarette tax.
• $30 million by adding mini cigars – cigarette-sized cigars – to the state cigarette tax. These products fall under the federal cigarette tax.
• $20 million in 2009-10 and $45 million in 2010-11 from taxing small games of chance.
• $65 million in leases from drilling on state park lands in the Marcellus Shale.
• $40 million in cuts to tax credits.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer

By Stephan Salisbury
Inquirer Culture Writer

The budget deal reached late Friday in Harrisburg, which includes an extension of the state sales tax to cultural performances and venues – including museums – has stunned and angered the arts community.

“We heard nothing about this until late last night,” Peggy Amsterdam, head of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, said yesterday. “It must have been a very last-minute deal. Not only will it hit the arts organizations, but it will make it harder for people to pay.”

Details of the ticket tax began to become clearer yesterday.

Sources familiar with the final package said the deal calls for the creation of a special fund for cultural institutions and the arts.

The fund would get the bulk of the ticket-tax revenue – the exact percentage was unclear – and use it to support institutions previously subsidized by the general fund, such as museums, theaters, and zoos.

Senate Republicans, who had steadfastly opposed any new taxes, insisted on the fund.

Even though state officials said some portion of the new cultural sales tax would flow back to venues – and the exact nature of this remained murky – arts administrators pointed out that state support had already been radically reduced. In fact, in the case of historical museums and sites, it has been eliminated. Now cultural officials contend that audiences and visitors will be hit in the pocketbook, possibly reducing their desire to attend events and further reducing revenue.

“What we are really hoping for is a funding source that will help organizations operate in a stable manner,” said Hal Real, founder of World Cafe Live and board chair of the cultural alliance. “Now what we’re looking at is for these arts organizations to bail us all out.”

The $27.9 billion state spending plan announced Friday night includes expansion of the state sales tax to performing-arts programs – dance, music, theater – and other cultural venues, such as museums and zoos, to generate about $100 million.

The tax would not be imposed on movies or sports events.
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Tomorrow is week two of artless Wednesdays in Pennsylvania.  How will you be participating?  For tips visit http://bit.ly/4r8vX.

The media is reporting that the PA General Assembly may be close to agreeing on a state budget for FY09-10.  An announcement is expected at 11 AM during a press conference at the State Capitol.  The press conference can be followed online at http://www.pcntv.com .  Stay tuned.

I was on a conference call this afternoon with U.S. Congressman Todd Platts.  He represents the 19th Congressional District in PA which includes York, Adams, Cumberland and parts of Perry County.  The point that he kept pressing home about advocacy was the need to make personal contact with members of Congress.  He suggested that we invite the members to our arts events made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as making frequent visits to district offices.

His comments sounded very familiar to me and could easily apply to the advocacy that we do in Pennsylvania surrounding the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.  Frequent and personal contact with legislators and their staff could only help our case.  Inviting legislators and staff to events that are funded with PCA grants helps create friendships.  So I urge you to contact your legislators today and tell them that funding $14 million for the PCA grants to arts organizations and $1.2 million for the administration of the Council is a priority to you and tell them why.  What do you do with the funds that you receive from the PCA?  Do you fund a artist residency in an elementary school?  Do you provide free admission to your event to senior citizens?  Please visit or call your legislators TODAY!

Contact information for your legislators can be found at http://capwiz.com/artsusa/pa.  Or give me a call at 717-234-0959 and I’ll locate the information for you.

Thanks,

Jenny Hershour
Managing Director
Citizens for the Arts in PA

From the Ridgeway Record.
By Amy Cherry, Staff Writer

9/9/09 marked the beginning of “Artless Wednesdays” being held across the state each Wednesday until a state budget is approved.

Elk County Council on the Arts, located on Main Street in Ridgway, was closed yesterday as it participated in the statewide arts advocacy mission.

The gallery windows were draped in black fabric with signs posted on the windows in demonstration of the 50 programs and projects in Elk, Forest, Jefferson and McKean counties which received funding from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts since 2007.

“As citizens we deserve a responsible state budget, to be passed in a timely manner,” noted Abbi Peters, ECCOTA executive director. “I urge residents to continue applying pressure to our legislators, call, e-mail, stop in their offices and remind them of the faces, the lives, the jobs that are affected by the drastic cuts and elimination in programs and services that are currently being proposed in the budget. These programs and services are vital to the quality of life and future of our community.”

The Artless Wednesday initiative was started by discussion of arts advocacy groups, Save the Arts of PA and Citizens for the Arts in PA.
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By DAVID TWIDDY (AP) 

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Ben Ahlvers is a full-time arts education coordinator, but his passion is with the fanciful creatures, human figures and oversized hammers he fashions from clay.

The nationally recognized ceramic artist was chosen to receive a fellowship from the Kansas Arts Commission to attend an artist residency in Montana. But after Kansas officials cut the commission’s budget midyear by $300,000, he didn’t receive the $1,000 check.

“They were still going to have a reception and I joked to somebody that I was going to go and eat $1,000 worth of finger food,” said Ahlvers, 35, who said he and his wife had to live off their credit cards and sell more of his artwork to fund the trip.

“The $1,000 would have made it a lot easier and I wouldn’t have had to fret as much,” he said.

States across the country are slashing their arts funding for the second year in a row as they cope with falling tax revenues. Those cuts, which often happen during recessions, are a serious blow to arts agencies and individual dancers, painters and actors at a time when private donations are down and many art organizations are being more selective in what they produce.
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The Save the Arts in PA Petion site is close to reaching 2000 signatures.  Have you signed it? http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/SaveArtsinPA