Protect Funding for Arts and Culture in Michigan
Background Information
In her FY 2010 budget, Governor Granholm eliminated $6.1 million in grant funding for arts and culture administered through the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA).
Last year, over 290 arts and cultural organizations received nearly $8 million in funding for worthwhile projects that are essential to local economies across the state. These grants are the only source of state funding for historic preservation non-profit projects, and have assisted a wide variety of projects statewide, including the Detroit Historical Museum, the Cranbrook Educational Community, Old Schoolhouse in Douglas and the Park Theater in Holland. MCACA funds are also used as a match for federal Preserve America grants.
In addition to the near elimination of the only source of this type of state funding, the governor's decision to cut funding will have other drastic consequences including:
- Potential loss of thousands of jobs locally.
- MCACA’s loss in status as a state arts agency, which means that the National Endowment for the Arts will stop granting them federal money.
- Michigan would be the first state in 40 years to provide no programmatic funding for arts organizations.
- Decimation of Michigan’s creative communities, as well as the state’s ability to attract and retain business and talent.
These are tough economic times, especially in Michigan, but we must recognize that these grants were used in part to hire and retain workers in support of local programming. If this funding is lost, potentially thousands of additional people will lose their jobs, adding to the already high unemployment rate in Michigan. Furthermore, arts and culture provide a unique quality of life in communities, which helps to retain and attract businesses, families and creative talent.
Take Action
Use our online e-mail form to contact Governor Granholm's office today. Let her and her staff know that you oppose the elimination of grant funding to arts and cultural programs. Ask that funding for MCACA be retained at $7.9 million for FY 2010.
For additional information, please contact Genell Scheurell of the Midwest Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation or Nancy Finegood of the Michigan Historic Preservation Network.
Submitted by Alex at: July 11, 2009
Please do not cut funding for the arts in Michigan! Our state has already lost so much in the past year, and cutting the arts would not only create more job loss, it would destroy our creative communities and suck joy out of the lives of Michiganders.
Submitted by waabanoqua at: June 2, 2009
Please support the arts for our families in Michigan who are already dealing with the lost of jobs and security.