Indiana

The Art of the Matter

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

After sitting for an hour and listening to the arts community cry bloody murder about proposed cuts in funding, I decided to go check and see how much they actually get from the taxpayers.  Back in May the City-County Council passed an ordinance giving the arts groups more than $1.5 million.  Here’s a breakdown of what each organization received.  The number in parenthesis is how much of grant makes up their operating budget.

• American Pianist Association - $35,000 (2.27%)
• Art With a Heart - $10,000 (4.32%)
• Asante Children’s Theatre - $10,000 (4.32%)
• Big Car Media - $3,000 (4.99%)
• Children’s Museum of Indianapolis - $85,000 (1.04%)
• Claude McNeal Production - $3,000 (0.88%)
• Clowes Memorial Hall Butler University - $41,000 (1.28%)
• Dance Kaleioscope - $56,000 (4.77%)
• Eteljorg Museum of American Indian Western Art - $85,000 (2.22%)
• Encore Vocal Arts - $10,000 (11.34%)
• Festival Music Society - $7,000 (4.48%)
• Footlite Musicals - $5,000 (0.94%)
• Freetown Village - $40,500  (26.22%)
• Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre - $16,000 (4.48%)
• Harrison Center for the Arts - $12,000 (2.82%)
• Heartland Truly Moving Pictures - $20,000 (0.61%)
• Indiana Historical Society - $13,000 (0.13%)
• Indiana Repertory Theatre - $85,000 (1.93%)
• Indiana State Museum Foundation - $61,000 (0.55%)
• Indianapolis Art Center - $62,000 (3.04%)
• Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra - $44,000 (7.37%)
• Indianapolis Children’s Choir - $35,000 (2.75%)
• Indianapolis Civic Theatre - $49,000 (3.10%)
• Indianapolis Museum of Art - $85,000 (0.53%)
• Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art - $9,000 (2.02%)
• Indianapolis Opera - $71,000 (2.91%)
• Indianapolis Symphonic Band - $9,000 (19.21%)
• Indianapolis Symphonic Choir - $85,000 (0.86%)
• Indianapolis Symphonic Orchestra - $71,000 (2.91%)
• Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival - $10,000 (2.70%)
• IndyChoruses - $3,000 (3.16%)
• InterAction Theater - $8,000 (15.81%)
• International Violin Competition of Indianapolis - $40,000 (3.90%)
• Madame Walker Theatre Center - $15,500 (0.99%)
• Motus Dance Theatre - $5,000 (8.60%)
• Music for All - $27,5000 (0.50%)
• New World Youth Orchestras - $8,000 (4.09%)
• Philharmonic Orchestra of Indianapolis - $16,000 (6.36%)
• Phoenix Theatre - $40,000 (8.06%)
• Pike Performing Arts Center - $6,000 (1.72%)
• President Benjamin Harrison Foundation - $5,000 (0.85%)
• Primary Colours - $7,000 (10.50%)
• ShadowApe Theatre Company - $4,000 (7.02%)
• Storytelling arts of Indiana - $31,000 (11.71%)
• Summer Stock Stage - $3,000 (4.22%)
• VSA arts of Indiana - $52,000 (4.23%)
• Young Audiences of Indiana - $62,000 (3.55%)

As you can see, most of what these organizations get from the city makes up a small portion of their actual budgets.  On average the city funds about 4.6% of the operating budgets of these organizations.   If they are going to go out of business over what amounts to basically an average 1.5% budget cut then maybe they should spend a little less time on art and more on math.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on September 09, 2008 (boomark / email).