Developing Policy Positions on the Arts, Culture & Tourism in PA September 2014
Submitted by Citizens for the Arts in Pennsylvania, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, PA Arts Education Network/EPLC, Pennsylvania Association of Travel and Tourism, Pennsylvania Humanities Council, and PA Museums.
Candidates for Governor and the General Assembly usually include policy positions on issues ranging from economic growth to education to taxation in their platforms. Reference to the arts, culture & tourism is less frequent despite these sectors’ significant size, scope, and impacts.
This document is a call from Citizens for the Arts in Pennsylvania, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, PA Humanities Council, PA Museums, PA Arts Education Network/EPLC, and the PA Association of Travel and Tourism for candidates to include policy positions on the arts, culture & tourism in their platforms. What follows are policy ideas that candidates can draw upon during their campaigns and, if elected, with their transition teams. The ideas reflect: 1) the Commonwealth’s policy history in the arts, culture & tourism, 2) innovations from other states, and 3) our own recommendations.
front cover image: Jenny Holzer’s For Pittsburgh, on the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA 1
Policy Issues for 2014 Campaigns and Transition Teams to Address • Vision Provide a vision for how state policies to advance citizen access to the arts and culture can impact the Commonwealth’s talent creation, capacity for innovation, job growth, quality of life, tourism, civic discourse, youth development, and community revitalization.
• Collaborations Articulate how these types of impacts can be more effectively achieved through the building of collaborations between the arts, culture, tourism, businesses, non-profits, and a diverse range of public agencies in and outside of the arts and culture.
• Assessment Call for research & evaluation by state agencies and partners into: 1) the cultural objectives of PA citizens and 2) arts learning opportunities for PA students to create future policy options for the Governor, General Assembly, and PA citizens.
• Dedicated funding Assess whether and how the Allegheny Regional Asset District can serve as a model for dedicated funding for the arts, culture & tourism in other regions and across the state.
• Infrastructure State whether arts, culture & tourism in PA (and PA citizens) would benefit from being housed and supported (via dedicated funding) in a single, statewide “creative industries” or “natural and cultural legacies” agency (as in Minnesota).
• Direct support Make a case, pro or con, on 1) why funding for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, while increased 5% in 2014, should rise from its 27th place of $.74 per capita spending to $1.66 per capita (the average among states bordering PA?), and 2) why the current $2 million for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s Cultural and Historical support grants should be increased.
• Indirect support Address: 1) uncapping or raising the state’s film production tax credit, 2) increasing the capacity of the Educational Improvement Tax Credit to target arts programs in its provisions, 3) incentivizing the creation of cultural districts in the state’s cities, towns, and neighborhoods, and 4) resisting an increase in the 6% tax on transactions involving business and leisure travelers.
• Arts education State why (or why not) the Commonwealth should: 1) make the visual and performing arts core academic subjects, 2) encourage school districts to use Title I and II funds for arts programming, and 3) restore the Governor’s School for the Arts.
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9 Reasons for Candidates and Elected Officials in Pennsylvania to Develop Policy Positions on the Arts, Culture & Tourism #1
Policies directly impact PA citizens and visitors
Knit the Bridge, the Portside Arts Center, the Power Within project and Learning Lamp were each winners of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) “Best of the Best” awards in 2014. Together they illustrate how state arts funding impacts local communities, since all received grant support via PCA’s “Partners in the Arts,” the agency’s re-granting policy to promote local access to its funds in all 67 counties statewide. Knit the Bridge was a project of the Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh’s annual Fiberart International in which 1,900 artists and volunteers knitted, crocheted, and then mounted 580 blankets over the 1,061-foot Andy Warhol Bridge in August 2013. It generated regional tourism and tourist spending, positive national press, praise from elected officials as a showcase of the area’s capacity for innovation, and gratitude from homeless shelters and nursing facilities who received the blankets once the project was over. Portside Arts Center is a community-based, educational arts center that empowers children and adults in Philadelphia’s Port Richmond neighborhood through opportunities to develop their artistic abilities, awaken imaginations, and build their self-esteem. The PCA grant supported scholarships for economicallydisadvantaged youth to participate in Portside’s 42-week after-school program, which creates a safe environment for the children while providing artistic instruction and homework support. Power Within, led by PA artist Julie Norman, was a special project designed to encourage art appreciation and increase awareness among PA citizens of the role art and nature can play in fighting cancer. The project’s art exhibit traveled throughout Cameron, Elk, Forest, McKeon, and Jefferson counties between March 2013 and January 2014. Learning Lamp started as a simple idea - to provide children in Johnstown, PA access to high quality tutoring. In 10 years it has grown into a multi-faceted program serving 18,000 children across 32 PA counties, annually. Learning Lamp’s 5th Annual Children’s Book Festival included book signings and presentations, crafts, live theater and music, and all children received a free book.
images top to bottom: Andy Warhol Bridge during Knit the Bridge, photo by John Robert Pankratz Nick Bruel visits Glendale Elementary, courtesy of Learning Lamp
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Statewide policies are a key component of the arts & culture funding mix
State funding of the nonprofit arts & culture is part of an inter-connected system of funding sources--“a delicate 60-30-10 balance of earned revenue, private sector contributions, and government support”--according to Americans for the Arts. Earned income represents 60% of total revenues, private sector contributions (individuals, foundations, and corporations) are next at 31% (with individual giving at 24%), and local and federal government support is at 7%, with state funding at 2%. But even small fluctuations in any element of contributed revenues, including funds from state agencies, can mean deficits for arts & culture organizations, projects canceled, and gaps in programs for the public.
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Arts and culture comprise many activities in which PA citizens and visitors engage Through attendance at performances and exhibitions, do-it-yourself creative activities, and student learning, PA citizens participate in the arts through many disciplines: music (classical, jazz, traditional, etc.), dance, theatre, opera/ musical theatre, visual arts, photography, design arts, crafts, media arts, literature, folk/traditional arts, and interdisciplinary arts. 49% of adult Americans attend at last one visual or performing arts event annually and 49% engage in an art-making activity. The humanities cover a broad range of arts and culture topics—such as literature, history, philosophy, languages, religion, folklore, and criticism—which help people come together and explore new ways of thinking in communities and in schools. Finally, tourism by individuals, families, businesses, and conventioneers engages all of these arts and culture offerings plus other commercial destinations--amusement parks, movie theaters, popular music venues, golf courses, and wineries, as well as hotels and restaurants. An estimated 170 million visitors, almost 62 million of them overnight visitors, travel to or within the Commonwealth annually.
image: Pennsylvania State Capital Rotunda detail, photo by Jen Saffron
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9 Reasons for Candidates and Elected Officials in Pennsylvania to Develop Policy Positions on the Arts, Culture & Tourism #4
The scope of providers of arts and culture programs is large and diverse
Providers in the non-profit arts include theaters, museums, galleries, auditoriums, community institutions, and other spaces who produce and present performances, exhibitions, and educational programs for the general public, students, and educators. Humanities programs are delivered by a range of entities--history museums, local arts centers, heritage districts, libraries, archives, public television and radio, colleges & universities, and social service groups. Instruction in the arts & humanities in K-12 public schools is an integral part of arts & culture sectors. Culture is often extended to include science and technology museums, historic and archaeological sites, zoos, arboreta, aquariums, aviaries, and, in some contexts, public parks. As for numbers of arts and culture providers, in Greater Philadelphia alone, there are 1,788: • 543 performing arts • 792 museums, visual arts, science, and history organizations (Philadelphia has one of the highest number of history organizations in the nation) • 371 community arts and education • 80 support and other organizations In Greater Pittsburgh, there are 493 arts and culture providers: • 193 performing arts • 187 museums, visual arts, science, and history organizations • 58 community arts and education • 38 support and other organizations Greater Pittsburgh’s rate of 248 individual artists per 100,000 in population is much higher than the national average of 148 per 100,000. Non-profit humanities providers in the Commonwealth include: • 1,884 historical organizations • 476 libraries • 334 museums • 247 media arts
image top to bottom: King for a Day by Thaddeus Erdhahl Contemporary Texture Ballet and Cello Fury, photo by Jen Saffron
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Arts, culture & tourism provide a high yield on investment and many public benefits
Arts and culture yield the Commonwealth a significant return on investment. Again, the Commonwealth spends 74 cents per person on the arts. Direct spending by arts and culture organizations and their audiences totals $2.5 billion annually. As those dollars are re-spent and ripple throughout the economies of Pennsylvania’s communities, they: • Support 81,000 full-time equivalent jobs (4 out of 5 in sectors outside the arts & culture) • Yield over $1.8 billion in household income (spent on housing, gasoline, utilities, cheesesteaks, and pierogies) • Generate $201 million in state tax revenues and $159 million in local tax revenues 2013 revenues for humanities organizations in PA totaled $1.5 billion. Travel and tourism is the state’s second largest industry and generates $38.5 billion annually in visitor spending. The industry also employs over 470,000, representing 1 out of 16 employees in the Commonwealth’s workforce. There are many other reasons why states invest in arts & culture: • to generate other economic benefits besides jobs, household income, tax revenues--e.g., talent recruitment and creation, tourist spending, and increased property values • to preserve and pass on our diverse artistic and cultural heritage to future generations • to help to develop in young people the critical thinking, communications, collaboration, and innovation skills essential to a robust 21st-century economy, and • to engage citizens in civic dialogue, collective problem-solving, and community service Lawmakers in many states also recognize that well-developed policy for arts & culture improves the impact of other state agencies in economic revitalization, tourism, education, workforce development, and human services.
image above: Carrie Deer by the Industrial Arts Co-op at the Carrie Furnaces site; Rankin, PA
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9 Reasons for Candidates and Elected Officials in Pennsylvania to Develop Policy Positions on the Arts, Culture & Tourism #6 A policy infrastructure for arts and culture The Commonwealth has an extensive infrastructure of agencies with capacities to implement policy in the arts, culture & tourism: • The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) is run out of the Office of the Governor with a mission to foster the excellence, diversity and vitality of the arts and to broaden the availability of the arts throughout the state. The primary manner in which the Council carries out this mission is through its grants programs: 1) Arts Organization and Arts Programs (AOAP), which offers multi-year grants, 2) Entry, a track that is the entry point to AOAP, 3) Program Streams and Project Streams via which PCA re-grants funds to support a wide variety of local and community arts activities, and 4) Arts in Education, which places professional artists in school and community settings. • The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum & Commission (PHMC) is the official history agency of Pennsylvania, with a mission to preserve the Commonwealth’s natural and cultural heritage as a steward, teacher and advocate. In addition to managing the Pennsylvania State Archives, the State Museum of Pennsylvania, and overseeing 35 other historical sites and museums across the Commonwealth, PHMC, since 2013, has administered the Cultural and Historical Support grants for non-state-owned museums and historic sites. • The Pennsylvania Humanities Council (PHC) is the federal/state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Commonwealth’s primary champion and resource for the humanities in public life. PHC engages PA citizens and students through original programming, including its teen programs and civic engagement shows, direct grants, and advocacy. • The PA State Board of Education and Pennsylvania Department of Education set state policy regarding academic standards, PK-12 curriculum, assessment of student learning, high school graduation requirements, teacher preparation, and certification, and, in 1973, established the PA Governor’s School of the Arts (discontinued in 2009) • The bi-partisan, bicameral Arts and Culture Caucus of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, established in 2013 and currently with 91 members, supports members in their efforts to draft and pass legislation that advances the arts & culture • The Governor’s Travel and Tourism Partnership advises the Governor on policies and legislation that affect tourism in the state, including cultural tourism. • The Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program provides tax credits to eligible businesses contributing to, among others, an Educational Improvement Organization (including arts and culture organizations). • Pennsylvania offers a 25% Film Tax Credit to films that spend at least 60% of their total production budget in Pennsylvania. • The arts, culture & tourism in PA also have an extensive policy infrastructure at the regional and local levels, including organizations such as: Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, Allegheny Regional Asset District, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, Philadelphia Arts Education Partnership, Arts Education Collaborative, Visit Philly, and Visit Pittsburgh.
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#7 Despite this infrastructure, PA still lags in its support for arts and culture •
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PCA: While its grants budget increased 5% to $8.59 in 2014, the state ranks 27th in per capita support the arts (at $.74 per capita. Not yet recovering from a 47% reduction to the line item for Grants to the Arts, the PCA grants line item went from a high of $15.225 million (in 2008) to a low of $8.179 million (in 2013). PHMC: In 2013, the Cultural and Historical Support grants program for non-state-owned museums and historic sites was re-established with a budget of $2 million, still a far cry from the agency’s $9 million grant-making budget in 2009. In general, museums have been funded at considerably higher levels in the past than they are today. PHC: In 2014, PHC received a 10% cut in federal dollars. The National Endowment for the Humanities is at its lowest level of funding since 1971. With the Film Tax Credit capped at $60 million, there is evidence Pennsylvania has lost film projects to other states which have no cap (or have a higher cap). The Governor’s School for the Arts, the first such school in the nation, was discontinued in 2009. A Governor’s School in science has been re-established as a public/private partnership, but prospects for a school for the arts are unclear.
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Other states are arts and culture policy innovators
Many states, following the lead of the National Governors Association and the National Conference of State Legislatures, have made arts and culture a priority in their policy portfolios. So Pennsylvania need not re-invent the wheel in developing policy positions in the arts, culture & tourism. Statewide Dedicated Funding: Some state governments (as well as cities and regions, including Allegheny County), have dedicated funding streams for arts and culture in order to provide permanent and adequate funding for the sector. Governments have utilized various revenue resources in order to generate the needed funds, but most often it comes from sales taxes, hotel/motel taxes, and/or property taxes. Statewide examples include: Minnesota’s Legacy Amendment, Oregon’s Cultural Trust, and California’s license plate program. Other areas of policy innovation at the statewide level include: • the establishment of incentives to create cultural districts • statewide public art programs • rural arts initiatives • international cooperative programs, and • statewide K-12 arts education initiatives
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Arts and culture patrons vote at high rates
Research shows that greater participation in the arts in PA correlates strongly with higher voting rates, according to the 2010 Philadelphia-Pittsburgh Arts Voter Analysis Project.
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Additional Resources for the Development of Policy Positions on the Arts, Culture & Tourism PA arts, culture & tourism advocacy and policy development networks These networks have resources for candidates, campaigns, and elected officials to draw on in developing arts and culture policy positions: • Citizens for the Arts in Pennsylvania is a nonprofit grassroots advocacy organization that works to create awareness of the importance of the arts & culture in the state. It works closely with legislators to develop and support public policies that positively affect the arts. Each year Citizens organizes Pennsylvania Arts Advocacy Day and serves as the Pennsylvania state captain for Americans for the Arts advocacy campaigns. On all of these efforts, Citizens collaborates with their regional partners - Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, and the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. •
The Pennsylvania Humanities Council’s policy focus is on engaging the state’s 20 members of the U.S. Congress for increased federal humanities funding. It mobilizes a statewide network of individual, organizations, and communities that champion the humanities in Congress, in state districts, and through Town Hall meetings.
• PA Museums is the Commonwealth’s statewide museum association. Its advocacy work focuses on state government policies and issues that directly affects its membership. Its other activities include professional development programs, networking projects, and an annual awards program to recognize exemplary work in PA museums. • Pennsylvania Arts Education Network is a coalition of arts, arts education, and advocacy organizations and individuals working together to strengthen public and policymaker support for arts education in Pennsylvania. Operated through the Education Policy and Leadership Center (EPLC), the network was created after EPLC’s 2012 report, Creating Pennsylvania’s Future through Arts and Education. • The Pennsylvania Association of Travel and Tourism (PATT) is a statewide, bipartisan association representing travel and tourism in all 67 Pennsylvania counties. Its mission is to present one voice on travel and tourism policy issues, such as advocating against expansion of the state sales tax and amusement taxes, while serving the needs of its members.
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Selected Publications •
National Governors Association, New Engines of Growth: Five Roles for Arts, Culture and Design, 2012
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National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, Why Should Government Support the Arts?, 2013
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Education Policy and Leadership Center, Creating Pennsylvania’s Future through the Arts and Education, 2012
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Citizens for the Arts in PA, Arts & Economic Prosperity IV in the State of Pennsylvania, 2012
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American Academy of Arts & Sciences, The Heart of the Matter: The Humanities and Social Sciences for a vibrant, Competitive and Secure Nation, 2013
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For more information, please contact Jenny Hershour at jlh@citizensfortheartsinpa.org