Arizona arts organizations see multimillion-dollar cut under new state budget

Arizona arts organizations will see a dramatic drop in state funding this year after the Legislature on Saturday, June 15, approved a $16.1 billion spending plan that allocates just $2 million to the agency tasked with doling out arts grants.

But Arizona Commission on the Arts officials said the $2 million was far better than what they were anticipating based on earlier budget discussions. The state in its negotiations late last week appeared ready to cut arts funding altogether.

“It’s certainly better than zero,” said Steve Wilcox, the commission’s communications director. “Considering the general challenges of the state, budget-wise, we’re considering this a win.”

The director of one of the Southern Arizona’s biggest arts presenters, though, says any cuts in arts funding creates “a massive hole for us to fill.”

“That speaks to our ability to keep employees and the new work we’re going to be able to do,” said Kate Marquez, the longtime executive director of the Oro Valley-based Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance. “It’s a 60% cut across the board and more people are going to be applying so the cuts could be much deeper for us. We’re still not sure how that’s going to work.”

The cuts could go deeper for rural communities, said Adriana Gallego, executive director of the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona.

“We are deeply concerned with the funding that directly impacts our Southern Arizona corridor,” Gallego said in a written statement. “We are paying particular attention to rural communities who rely on funding from the Arizona Commission on the Arts to sustain their cultural production and support for artists and culture bearers.”

The foundation relies on commission funding for its general operations, Gallego said, “but more importantly to demonstrate to private funders that there is public investment in the arts at the state level.”

“Although the $20,000 we receive in yearly funding is a modest grant, this investment helps us make a case to private funders that there is buy-in on a local level, which is of great importance and value in leveraging dollars at the national stage of philanthropy,” she said.

SACCA relies on $30,000 in commission funding to to cover general operating expenses in its annual $1.2 million budget. The money supports the group’s 127 arts and cultural events held regionwide including last weekend’s annual World Margarita Championship, arts exhibits, concerts and other events.

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Losing the commission funding is “a bigger one for us to swallow because if we receive any other grants, they are designated and we can only use them for that,” Marquez said.

State lawmakers going into Saturday’s budget vote had “zero” as the amount penciled in on the line item for the Commission on the Arts, the longtime state agency tasked with doling out state-funded grants to arts organizations. The state funds the agency through one-time appropriations that are not guaranteed year to year, Wilcox said.

In 2023 and 2024, the commission received $5 million — which made up two-thirds of its annual budget of just under $8 million. Wilcox said the commission this year requested $8 million before the scope of the state’s $1.4 billion deficit came to light.

Marquez said one of the problems is that the state has no permanent funding mechanism for the arts.

“We are one of the only remaining states without this permanent funding,” said Marquez, adding that SAACA will be “entirely focused on changing or moving the dial” for arts funding.

“We will collaboratively come up with a solution, whether it is something that goes to the ballot or something that goes through advocacy, we are dedicated to ensuring a future solution,” she said.

The newly released Arts and Cultural Production Satellite Account report shows that arts and culture contributed $14.2 billion to the state’s economy in 2022, a 16.6% boost over 2021. The report, produced for the National Endowment of the Arts and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, tracked 35 commercial and nonprofit arts and cultural industries nationwide.

Nationally, arts and culture made up 4.3% of the national gross domestic product in 2022, adding $1.1 trillion to the economy, according to the report.