This week starts a countdown to a really unfortunate event in the arts: on Friday, the Kansas Arts Commission will cease to exist, making Kansas the only state without an arts agency, the commission members will be out of a job, and Kansas arts organizations will be looking for a new form of seed funding and programmatic support.
I mention it again not just because of that deadline, which I think is worth marking, but because I was poking around trying to see if there was a common backer behind the move in several states to entirely eliminate arts agencies. And unsurprisingly, the Kansas chapter of Americans for Prosperity, the Koch-funded political action group, is a big fan of eliminating the KAC and trusting private giving to take care of the arts. Similarly, Americans For Prosperity was quite happy to see Gov. Bob McDonnell veto what he said was Virginia public broadcasting funds—though what he actually cut was money for educational program development that’s shared across Virginia school districts as a cost-savings measure. None this is evidence that AFP is the source of the bills, and AFP chapters in a number of states, including South Carolina, where arts commissions are facing total elimination have been silent on this specific issue while pushing for budget cuts more generally.
But AFP’s positions on government arts funding, where it’s taken them, is particularly ironic given the Koch family’s recent experience in this field. David Koch, of course, is a noted lover of the arts, particularly opera—in 2008, he gave $100 million to renovate the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center, home of the New York City Ballet and the New York City Opera. That donation was, of course, keeping in practice with the principles for arts funding laid out by Derrick Sontag, the Kansas State Director for Americans for Prosperity, in a recent statementinsisting that the demise of the Arts Commission was no big deal, and that private donations would easily fill the gap.
I mention it again not just because of that deadline, which I think is worth marking, but because I was poking around trying to see if there was a common backer behind the move in several states to entirely eliminate arts agencies. And unsurprisingly, the Kansas chapter of Americans for Prosperity, the Koch-funded political action group, is a big fan of eliminating the KAC and trusting private giving to take care of the arts. Similarly, Americans For Prosperity was quite happy to see Gov. Bob McDonnell veto what he said was Virginia public broadcasting funds—though what he actually cut was money for educational program development that’s shared across Virginia school districts as a cost-savings measure. None this is evidence that AFP is the source of the bills, and AFP chapters in a number of states, including South Carolina, where arts commissions are facing total elimination have been silent on this specific issue while pushing for budget cuts more generally.
But AFP’s positions on government arts funding, where it’s taken them, is particularly ironic given the Koch family’s recent experience in this field. David Koch, of course, is a noted lover of the arts, particularly opera—in 2008, he gave $100 million to renovate the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center, home of the New York City Ballet and the New York City Opera. That donation was, of course, keeping in practice with the principles for arts funding laid out by Derrick Sontag, the Kansas State Director for Americans for Prosperity, in a recent statementinsisting that the demise of the Arts Commission was no big deal, and that private donations would easily fill the gap.
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