Action Alert - May 22, 2004
GOOD NEWS FOR THE ARTS!
Assembly Budget Subcommittee 4 Approves Additional $10 Million
for the California Arts Council
On Thursday, May 20th, Assemblymember Sarah Reyes (31st District-Fresno) introduced a motion to add $10 Million to the California Arts Council budget at the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 4 on State Administration meeting. The vote passed the committee 4-0! Hugo Morales of Radio Bilingüe and Amy Kitchener of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) testified on behalf of the arts community.
On May 18th, arts supporters from around the state converged on the State Capitol to rally and meet with legislators to make the case for an increased arts budget. What a difference we can make! ACTA co-sponsored the day, along with the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission (SMAC), California Black Arts Alliance, California Asian American Pacific Islander Arts Network, Friends of SMAC, Latino Arts Network, SpeakArt and others.
The Governor's Budget proposes $1.1 million in General Fund support for the California Arts Council. Since 2002-03, General Fund reductions of $18.3 million (a 95% cut) have all but eliminated the ability of the Arts Council to perform its core mission of providing grants for local arts programs. California is currently the lowest contributor to public funding for the arts in the nation.
In order for the $10M augmentation to become a reality -- a ground swell of support is needed from all sectors for letter writing, rallies, letters to the editor, meetings with legislators, and more. Next, the joint budget conference committee will be selected (anticipated in the next 10 days) and will begin meeting to settle differences between the Assembly Budget sub-committee recommendation ($11.1 M) and the Senate's ($1.1 Million).
In the coming days and weeks we will alert you via email, our website, and our e-newsletter, The New Moon, of important advocacy efforts and events. Please join us in fighting for increased support for the arts in California. And let us know if you’d like to get more involved in organizing efforts.
ACTA thanks the members of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee 4 for supporting the arts! If you’d like to send your own message, the members are listed below:
Assembly Budget Subcommittee (Four Members)
Assemblyman John A. Dutra, Chair
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0020
Phone: (916) 319-2020
Fax: (916) 319-2120
Assemblyman John J. Benoit
State Capitol
Room 4144
Sacramento, CA 94249-0064
Phone: (916) 319-2064
Fax: (916) 319-2164
Assemblyman Rudy Bermúdez
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0056
Phone: (916) 319-2056
Fax: (916) 319-2156
Assemblyman George Nakano
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0053
Phone: (916) 319-2053
Assemblyman George A. Plescia
State Capitol
Room 40009
Sacramento, CA 94249-0075
Phone: (916) 319-2075
Fax: (916) 319-2175
Assemblywoman Sarah Reyes
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0064
Phone: (916) 319-2031
Fax: (916) 319-2131
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