State arts council leader appointed

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has named Muriel Johnson, a veteran Republican politician and arts advocate from Sacramento, to run the state’s arts agency, the California Arts Council. But she will have scant resources at her command: The $3.2-million budget Schwarzenegger proposed Monday means that California again will likely rank last in the nation in per-capita state spending on the arts.

“I think it’s appalling and embarrassing,” Annette Bening, the film star who joined the 11-member council last February, said of the arts funding proposal. Bening, who was appointed to the unpaid position by then-state-Sen. John Burton (D-San Francisco), added: “I was really excited to be appointed, then I realized there was basically no money to give out. It’s the result of a political point of view which says that arts funding is the private sector’s job, not the government’s. It’s wrong.”

Bening concedes that her fellow thespian in the governor’s office is in a tough spot: “When you’re talking about cutting services for underprivileged people versus funding for the arts, it’s a terribly difficult conversation to have. I hope he would think carefully; there’s a lot he can do to bring attention to [the arts] and make it a priority.”

Johnson, 71, retired from the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors last month after 12 years in office. She will oversee a department that has seen its budget plummet during the state’s fiscal woes from a peak of more than $30 million four years ago. The arts council staff has been cut from 45 positions to 19, and the wide-ranging grants to artists and arts organizations that once accounted for most of its spending have dropped to about $800,000 a year, narrowly targeted toward arts education.

Last summer, the Legislature asked for an additional $1 million in arts spending, but Schwarzenegger vetoed the increase, saying the state couldn’t afford it during a fiscal emergency.

Johnson was not available to comment on her new job. In a written statement, Schwarzenegger said, “I am confident that ... she will be a strong advocate for California’s creative community ... and I look forward to working with her to support [the state’s artists] and give Californians more opportunities to enjoy their work.”

Michelle Walker, longtime head of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, credits Johnson with shepherding legislation that doubled fees local developers pay to fund public artworks, and with steering a community task force that helped rally support for a fledgling orchestra, the Sacramento Philharmonic, after its predecessor, the Sacramento Symphony, had collapsed. She regards Johnson as an effective out-front advocate and behind-the-scenes fundraiser for the arts.

“Her background in politics is going to serve her and us in the arts community very well,” Walker said. But she doubts that Johnson, who will earn $109,000 a year, will be able to advocate boldly for increased arts spending, given the state’s fiscal crisis. “She’s a smart and savvy woman, and she’s not going to march in there and demand something when everybody’s having their budgets cut. She knows what it will take in the interim to keep the doors open, keep the arts alive and plan for that day when things turn around.”

“She’s warm, she’s open, she’s great with the public,” said Juan Carrillo, who got to know Johnson during his 26-year tenure as an administrator for the California Arts Council. Carrillo has been the agency’s interim director since last May, when Barry Hessenius, a Gray Davis appointee, resigned after four years in office. The arts council director serves at the governor’s pleasure.

Another Sacramento arts figure, Marcy Friedman, will chair the arts council in 2005, stepping up from her slot as vice chair. The outgoing chair, Barbara George, remains on the council, whose members are appointed by the governor and legislative leaders. The arts council meets several times a year, setting policies that are carried out by the staff Johnson will direct.

George said she had been worried that the arts council faced possible eradication under Schwarzenegger’s attempt to restructure state government. “We’re just happy to be in the budget, and that we can continue.” Arts advocates are hopeful about Johnson’s arrival, George said. “She’s a terrific, inclusive, intelligent woman. I gather that’s a sign the governor wants us to remain a strength in his administration.”

Statistics compiled by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, a Washington, D.C.-based service organization, place California 50th in state government spending on the arts, at 9 cents per capita for fiscal 2004. The national average is $1.17; matching that would require the state to raise its arts budget to about $40 million.

Some of the old arguments for government support of the arts -- such as promoting aesthetic enjoyment and creating a proud legacy of cultural achievement -- are used less often now than practical and economic reasons. Advocates point to studies in which arts instruction, often among the first school programs cut in budget crunches, correlates with stronger student performance in core academic subjects; other studies have depicted the arts as an effective engine of job creation and economic development -- although some experts contend those studies fail to take into account whether alternative uses of the money might be more effective. Advocates of public funding also note that government arts grants, which are made by panels of experts, lend smaller nonprofit groups a stamp of approval that helps them attract additional money from private donors.

But even as they see great need, some California arts partisans are downscaling their goals as the budget crisis lingers. During last year’s budget process, state Sen. Jack Scott (D-Altadena), who chairs the Joint Legislative Committee on the Arts, called for a minimum arts-funding benchmark of $17.5 million. Now, he says, “that amount would be hard to get through the Legislature or the governor’s office.” Persuading Schwarzenegger to go for the additional $1 million he vetoed last year might be more realistic, Scott said.

State Rep. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) plans to introduce a bill this year that would assess a 1% fee on entertainment admissions -- including movies, sports events and county fairs -- to establish a reliable funding base for arts education. Leno says it would generate $35 million a year, but he admits that in this fiscal climate, it’s an idea whose time could take a while to come. The bill would include an additional 1% entertainment fee for physical education programs, another need that Leno says is underfunded and potentially popular.

“There’s value in moving forward, if only to raise the level of awareness. Not every bill prevails in its first attempt, but you’ve got to start somewhere. I know the support is out there.”