Without the messy nuisance of public debate, Gov. Sam Brownback issued an executive order abolishing the Kansas Arts Commission and transferring its duties to the Kansas Historical Society. Gov. Brownback also proposed creation of a private, non-profit corporation that will raise money for the arts in competition with all the other fund- raisers in the forest.
Gov. Brownback couldn’t do Iola and its Bowlus Fine Arts Center more grievous damage — short of dropping a bomb on Madison at Sycamore Street.
WHAT WOULD abolishing the Kansas Arts Commission do to Kansas? Here’s a run down:
— The loss of the Kansas Arts Commission totals a loss to the state of over $1.2 million each year. Without funding from the state to match federal dollars, Kansas loses $778,200. The state also loses $437,767 in grants, programs and services provided by the Kansas Arts Commission’s regional partner, Mid-America Arts Alli-ance.
— State and local governments would lose a large percentage of the $15 million in revenue generated by the Kansas nonprofit arts and cultural sector.
— The arts are a powerful economic development tool — governments, chambers of commerce and conventions and visitors’ bureaus use the arts to recruit businesses, employees and tourists.
— Many Kansas cities, especially in rural areas, do not have the ability to replace these lost state funds. If the Kansas Arts Commission is eliminated, smaller and rural communities will lose disproportionately.
HOW ABOUT Iola in particular? The Kansas Arts Commission provided an operations grant to the Bowlus Fine Arts Center of $5,285 this year. In addition, it provided $1,000 as its share of the cost of bringing the Lyric Arts Trio to the Bowlus, and has paid 40 percent of the cost of the story-tellers, and the speakers, performers and artists who provide the programs for the Creitz Recital Hall series and the exhibits shown in the Mary Martin Art Gallery.
As Iola Industries, Inc., the Chamber of Commerce, the City Commission and concerned Iolans from other sectors of the community work overtime to build the community and compensate for the loss of the Haldex plant and its 160 employees, Gov. Brownback’s decision to weaken one of the least expensive and most effective economic development tools that Iola has is as discouraging as it is astounding.
Over the 47 years that the Bowlus Fine Arts Center has enriched our community, Iola has welcomed many new employers. Some of them, such as Haldex, provided good jobs for decades and then moved on, for whatever combination of reasons. But, like Berg Manufacturing Co. — the company which became Haldex over the years — they came to Iola because, among other reasons, they were entranced by the fact that a city of Iola’s size had the Bowlus Fine Arts Center and provided Iolans with such an outstanding cultural arts series every year.
The Bowlus is Iola’s crown jewel. It is what sets us apart from all of the other cities of our size in Kansas and, for that matter, most anywhere else. And it is also because of the Kansas Arts Commission and the Mid-America Arts Alliance that the Bowlus has been able to bring outstanding performances to Iola and its neighbors.
ELIMINATING SPENDING on the arts is a poor bargain because the matching funds which will be lost are more than the $797,980 cut from the budget. But even if there were no matching funds, the savings — about 33 cents for each of the 2.8 million Kansans — is so paltry that an exasperated sigh is the appropriate response.
Why on earth do so much harm for so little reward? The Legislature should come to the governor’s rescue, reverse his decision and let everyone busy themselves doing things to build Kansas. The memory of the boo-boo will fade soon enough.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
