11 minute read
NONPROFITS
Art of the State
Public patrons fund Alaskan artists
By Rachael Kvapil
In early May, Nancy DeCherney gave her last presentation as Executive Director of the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council (JAHC) to the Juneau City and Borough Assembly. With retirement on the horizon, DeCherney is shoring up JAHC program funding for the upcoming fiscal year before handing over the keys to current Operations Manager Reggie Schapp, who will serve as interim director. After sixteen years as JAHC’s executive director and more than ten years in various arts administrative roles, DeCherney understands the cycle of arts funding and the adaptation by arts organizations. Most recently, funding and adaptation came to the forefront as the COVID-19 pandemic a ected budgets within the industry and health and safety protocols forced arts agencies, arts organizations, and individual artists to feature and sell their work using streaming and virtual technologies.
Anyone who’s heard the term “full-on Monet” could easily apply this concept when it comes to the importance of the arts industry: easy to appreciate from a distance but messy up close. It’s easy to miss the full picture by looking at only one impact the arts have on a community. Stepping back to examine the interplay of fi nancial, educational, and cultural signifi cance reveals a greater contribution to the vitality of Alaska.
The Grantors
Though local arts agencies existed in several Alaska communities prior to 1965, the establishment of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) increased funding opportunities. The NEA is the only funder, public or private, to support the arts in all fi fty states, US territories, and the District of Columbia. To help facilitate NEA funding, state art agencies (SAAs) were created by every US state and jurisdiction. SAAs coordinate cultural policies and manage arts programming on behalf of, or as part of, state government. In 1967, the legislature established the Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA) to apply for NEA funds and manage funding requests from local Alaska arts agencies, arts organizations, and individual artists.
On this level, the process begins with the NEA designating 40 percent of its grantmaking budget to the state and regional arts organizations through partnership agreements. SAAs like ASCA must then match the federal dollars one-to-one with state government funds. Once matching funds are secure, ASCA develops grant programs to which local arts agencies apply on behalf of their local communities.
The one-to-one match between the NEA and SAA funding is the minimum to meet federal requirements. A state government can choose to allocate additional funds to an SAA, much like the Alaska legislature did during the ‘70s and early ‘80s during the construction of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System, when higher oil prices increased state revenue. Benjamin Brown, appointed board chair for the Alaska State Council on the Arts, says back then almost all of its budget was state and federal dollars.
“In the mid-’80s oil plummeted,” says Brown. “Our budget dropped from $6
STEW ARD SHIP
SETTING THE HIGHEST STANDARDS
As the only mine within a protected national monument, we hold ourselves to a higher standard. Every day we work hard to keep our footprint small by recycling our waste, conserving water and utilizing a dry stack tailings system. We also use hydropower whenever it’s available. It’s all part of our commitment to go beyond what’s required.
That’s the Greens Creek Difference.
heclagreenscreek.com
Thank you for voting us BEST PLACE TO WORK
1-250 EMPLOYEES
WE CARE ABOUT OUR EMPLOYEES
WE CREATE EXCEPTIONAL SOLUTIONS FOR OUR CLIENTS
#154 on Engineering News Record (ENR) TOP 500 DESIGN FIRMS list
DESIGN FIRMS
WE GIVE BACK TO OUR COMMUNITIES
$100K charitable contribution in support of the American Red Cross Home Fire Campaign $10K charitable contribution to the Alaska Food Bank - $5K of total donation came from employees through our match program
WHAT SETS US APART
LOCAL & PERSONALIZED SERVICE ENTERPRISING LEADERSHIP
DISCIPLINE & RIGOR EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE
MULTIDISCIPLINE SERVICES
million, and we’ve never returned to that level of funding again.”
According to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies FY2021 State Arts Agency Revenues report, ASCA received $697,100 in legislative appropriations from the state’s general funds, a 0.5 percent increase from FY2020 when ASCA received $693,500. Despite the increase, ASCA did not receive funding for Arts in Public Places, the Governor's Arts Award, or program receipts in FY2021. Compared to the rest of the United States and six jurisdictions, Alaska ranks among the lowest for state allocations, with only Montana, Kansas, the US Virgin Islands, Northern Marianas, Guam, American Samoa, and Arizona providing less.
By the ‘90s it became clear to ASCA that additional funding from non-government sources was needed to provide grants to local arts agencies, Arts in Education programs, and individual Alaskan artists and to manage the Alaska Contemporary Art Bank (a collection of works loaned to public buildings). In 2017, the legislature redesignated ASCA as a public corporation within the Department of Education and Early Development but with separate and independent legal existence. Brown says the redesignation exempts ASCA from the state’s procurement code, allowing it to operate more nimbly and obtain autonomy over its website.
“We weren’t the first state arts agency to go this route,” says Brown. “Public corporation doesn’t solve the world’s problems, but it does make some aspects of collaboration easier.”
Even with public corporation status, ASCA is still required to meet the NEA match requirements and partnership agreements. In 2019, ASCA nearly lost its entire $2.8 million budget when Governor Mike Dunleavy initially vetoed legislative appropriations. Though Dunleavy eventually approved a budget with arts funding, for a short time ASCA prepared to shut down its operations.
The Grantees
Nationwide there are 4,500 local arts agencies with the mission of supporting arts and artists while making the arts widely accessible to all community members. In Alaska, there are approximately six professionally sta ed local arts agencies in Juneau, Ketchikan, Fairbanks, Homer, Seward, and Sitka, as well as a number of volunteer agencies in rural areas. Anchorage does not have a local art agency, opting instead for an Arts Advisory Commission that works within the local government. Local agencies often use the term “umbrella organization” to describe their collaborations with artists and arts organizations.
Jess Peña, executive director of the Fairbanks Arts Association (FAA), says the role of a local arts agency changes with the needs of the community. In its earliest days, FAA hosted ballets, operas, and theatrical events not available in the Interior at the time. Now, as performing arts groups increase in numbers, FAA primarily supports and amplifies artistic endeavors and arts education.
“At all times we seek to be a resource for artists and arts organizations,” says Peña. “We also raise awareness of the arts in Interior Alaska and encourage participation.”
Peña says FAA’s arts funding is a mix of federal, state, and local grants along with institutional and private donations. FAA is one of the local arts agencies that regularly applies for ASCA grants used in part for the operation and administration of agency arts programs and the Artist in Schools grant that partially pays for
“A Walk in our Boots” on display at Fairbanks Arts Association’s Bear Gallery in May for the exhibition Forget-me-not: Art Therapy with Alaska’s Military Population, curated by art therapist Alexis Castriotta.
Nicole Wills
artists to work directly with students on mid- to long-term projects. Peña says arts organizations and individual artists also receive foundation and corporation contributions and earned income through the sales of tickets, artworks, or some other goods or services. Charitable giving and ongoing memberships or subscriptions are other critical funding pieces. Both FAA and JAHC earn commissions from gallery and gift shop sales. DeCherney says most local arts agencies have a similar earned income setup from galleries, gift shops, or facility rentals.
The level of arts funding varies between communities, as do the programs that need additional funding. Though DeCherney feels the arts community in Juneau is thriving, she is still bothered by the lack of a ordable health insurance for artists. None of the arts organizations she’s worked for could provide those options until this year, when JAHC will o er a Reimbursement Health Arrangement.
“For what the arts community brings to our state culturally and economically, it doesn’t make sense why artists aren’t protected,” says DeCherney. “Artists create and manufacture things just like other industries. They should also have similar protection.”
For Peña, her biggest concern is the lack of funding for arts education. She says budget cuts and political infl uence continue to disrupt arts programs in schools. However, Peña points to the educational benefi t and skills developed through arts education including critical thinking and problemsolving, in addition to increased empathy, communication, patience, and an expanding worldview.
“The arts are often eyed for reduction or elimination when budget cuts are looming,” says Peña. “That’s when it’s most important to retain and strengthen arts education. It feels like a leap of faith investing in an area that contains ambiguity and the results can be di cult to quantify. However, we need to invest in our young people who will be the community leaders and decision-makers of tomorrow.”
The Impact
Though the benefi ts of the arts industry can’t be entirely quantifi ed, its economic contribution is measurable.
(client testimony)
We can help you get your life back!
If you or someone you know needs help with substance abuse or behavioral health disorders call us today. Mat-Su 907.373.4732
Homer 907.235.4732
Serving the Mat-Su and Homer communities SETFREEALASKA.ORG
Students of UAF professor and local cartoonist Jamie Smith document the display of works by local K-12 students at the annual Up With Art exhibit at the Fairbanks Arts Association Bear Gallery in March 2022.
Jess Peña | Fairbanks Arts Association
Peña points to the 2016 Arts and Economic Prosperity 5 study by Americans for the Arts that showed $166.3 billion generated nationwide by the nonprofit arts industry. The US Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that in 2020, during the pandemic, arts and cultural production accounted for $1.3 billion and 2.6 percent of the Alaska economy. However, Alaskan employment in the arts during the pandemic decreased by 11 percent while overall state employment decreased by 7 percent. Even with this decrease, the same report shows the arts as a significant part of Alaska's economy with an impact larger than the utility, agriculture, and forestry industries.
On a local level, both JAHC and FAA report bringing around $18 million into their respective communities this year. Both organizations had to adapt financially and systematically to manage operations and events online instead of in person during the pandemic. DeCherney says this meant adding an online gift shop to JAHC’s website, reformatting the scheduled Artists In-School residencies for at-home participation by students and parents, and presenting concerts online.
“It was a di cult time for everyone,” says DeCherney. “But it did force us to make changes that we needed to make anyway.”
FAA also found itself adapting inperson events for online delivery. This included a website featuring the annual K-12 “Up With Art” exhibition. Sta ers spent hours photographing, editing, and uploading 200 works of art within days of the gallery’s closure.
“There was no way we were letting the pandemic take down the collective e orts of young artists, the teachers who installed the show, and the families who support their creativity,” said Peña.
Both DeCherney and Peña say local performing organizations got creative with social engagement and held virtual events and provided additional resources for the general public, parents, students, and instructors.
Aside from the economic factor, DeCherney says the arts industry is the foundation of cultural identity. When people travel, she says, they go to new places to eat, view performances, visit museums, sculptures, and monuments. She feels there is a revival of indigenous art in Juneau as indigenous people reclaim their heritage.
“There is a mental health benefit to be able to say who we are, what we are, and why we are those things,” says DeCherney.
During the pandemic, many organizations relied on federal CARES Act relief funds to make up for lost revenue. As in-person events return, Peña says the pandemic has spurred important conversations about the role of philanthropy and the reevaluation of programs. FAA is also participating in Americans for the Arts’ next study, Arts and Economic Prosperity 6. This study examines the economic impact of the nonprofit arts and culture sector in Fairbanks and 386 other communities in all fifty states and the District of Columbia.
As for DeCherney, she is already seeing a sea change in the Juneau community as a younger generation settles in the city, opens businesses, and brings new energy and fresh perspectives. She feels she has accomplished many good things during her career and is leaving a healthy vibrant organization for the next person with exciting ideas.
