CALIFORNIA’S ARTS FUNDING IS BELOW AVERAGE

California ranked 27th among the states in per-capita funding for its Arts Council and 40th in the percentage of its state budget going to its arts agency, according to figures revealed at the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies convention here.

The state is appropriating almost a nickel more per capita than last year (45.6 cents over 41.4 cents). Arts Council funding from the state amounts to $11,692,000 at present.

Officially, California ranks 33rd, but that ranking includes the six special jurisdictions--the District of Columbia and the territories. In this listing, California is ahead of Maryland and just behind Rhode Island.

The top five per-capita states are oil-rich Alaska, $8; Massachusetts, $2.82; New York, $2.48; Hawaii, $2.15, and New Jersey, $1.38. (Washington, D.C., gives $2.68 per capita.) Ranking last was Idaho at 13.7 cents.

The survey noted that large individual state increases over last year were registered in Tennessee, which quadrupled its per-capita figure, and in Texas, Missouri and New Hampshire.

The Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities ranks first in percentage of total state budget for the arts--.2911%; the Wisconsin Arts Board ranks 50th at .0234%. The California Arts Council’s piece of the total state budget for fiscal 1985-86 is .0412%. In this listing, California is immediately behind Arizona and ahead of Wyoming.

The survey also took note of the states’ percentage for arts programs--usually 1%--out of annual capital construction expenditures for state facilities. Altogether, 21 states, including California, are counted as having some sort of percentage for arts programs.

In California there is no actual percentage--only a specific line-item in the Art Council’s budget. This fiscal year that amount is $120,000.