Funding the Arts Makes Good Dollars-and-Cents Sense for O.C.

In observance of National Arts Advocacy Month, we want to express our concerns regarding growing misunderstandings about the role of arts in the community.

Americans are losing sight of the importance of the arts in their communities. In the nation’s public schools, art and music classes are now the first victims of budget cuts. Also, there are people who advocate that federal and local governments stop funding arts groups.

The current need to reduce government deficits has found its way back to the area of school arts programs, already weakened from past budget cuts. Providing our children with a balanced education requires that music and art be part of it. Without this attention to future generations, arts organizations will lose the audiences that are needed to provide private support, and society as a whole will lose its grasp of a cultural past.

Here in Orange County, where the arts continue to influence community identity, government funding is under attack. The Garden Grove City Council plans to end grants to the Grove Shakespeare Festival, just as it is gaining a national reputation. In Costa Mesa, a much-needed $50,000 supplemental arts funding measure recently was defeated.

The reasons for government funding of the arts, both locally and nationally, are clear:

* By its nature, art cannot survive in the marketplace. The arts celebrate life, with an emphasis on beauty and the power of the creative imagination. Creating art is labor intensive and built on creative risk. Realizing this, governments for centuries have given financial support to the arts because of art’s ability to provide insight into, celebrate and record a society’s values and truths.

* Arts organizations contribute to the economy. A 1990 survey of 37 county arts groups shows that, as a whole, they pumped 100 times the amount of their grants back into the economy. In the 1988-89 season, $50 million was spent by these organizations on personnel and materials, making them the area’s eighth-largest employer outside of government.

* Quality arts organizations promote cultural tourism. Of the 1.5 million people who attended performances or exhibits during the survey period, many came from other communities. Cultural tourism brought an estimated $62 million into the economy--food, hotels, transportation and other services. When you combine this with the money spent by the arts groups, their employees and the companies with which they do business, you find that the county arts make an annual impact of $259 million.

* A community’s identity is enhanced by the presence of quality arts organizations. Future residents may first visit Orange County to see a performance or exhibit. Corporations looking for a home always take into account an area’s cultural environment. The infusion of new people contributes to an area’s commercial and cultural vitality--directly and indirectly sending tax dollars back to the local government.

* Virtually every arts group offers educational outreach. In addition to programs that introduce children and adults to sources of inspiration in the world and in themselves, most of these programs use government funding to make the arts accessible at a reduced cost. The survey shows that 40% of admissions during the survey period were free. Local government funding helps to ensure and promote access for all.

* The government provides a needed partnership. Government funding endorses the central role of arts in the community and sets an example for private financial support. In 1989, Orange County and city governments contributed just $2 million. That was just 4% of total income at the 37 surveyed organizations. Yet because it acts as a seal of approval, that funding had a ripple effect through other sectors, sparking more than $13 million in donations from individuals, corporations and foundations.

Therefore, we urge the people of our community to speak out in support of government funding for the arts. We call upon our representatives and civic leaders to recommit to the government’s role in fostering the vitality of the arts in our community. To do otherwise might be easy and expedient, and the short-term costs might seem bearable. But the long-term costs, to both our economy and our cultural life, would surely be profound.

DAVID EMMES, Producing Artistic Director

MARTIN BENSON, Artistic Director, South Coast Repertory