Missouri Arts Council left out of governor’s proposed state budget

Many state arts agencies, including the California Arts Council, are facing the possibility of massive budget cuts in the 2003-04 fiscal year. But the Missouri Arts Council could become the first state arts council to receive no appropriations from the state’s general budget.

Missouri Gov. Bob Holden’s proposed state budget for fiscal 2003-04 would eliminate funding for the council, which has suffered cuts in the last two years.

“I think certainly other states have been taking major cuts, but certainly no one has talked about zero funding for their arts agency except Missouri so far,” said Kimber Craine, communications manager for the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.

But Craine added that it is too early in the year to tell whether the proposed budget will stand. “You still have to hear from the Legislature, and the people, and so on,” he said. “When we are talking about budgets, the numbers are moving targets.”

Missouri arts funding may come from another source: The governor proposes that the council pay for arts programs by dipping into the Missouri Cultural Trust, a state savings account that matches private donations with public funds. Norree Boyd, executive director of the arts council, has said that Holden’s proposal could leave the agency with as much as $3.1 million to distribute, including federal arts funding -- about the same total as last year.