WARNER, N.H.—Money from the state arts council has helped provide for classes at the Mount Kearsarge Indian Museum, such as drum-making, pottery and beadwork. It's also kept its admission prices stable for three years.
But the monthly classes could go away and the price -- currently $8.50 for an adult -- would likely go up if the money disappears.
The House has abolished New Hampshire's Department of Cultural Resources in its budget, stripping funding for the arts council and sending divisions such as Film and Television and the Division of Historical Resources to other departments.
The museum has received grants from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts for its operations and exhibits for several years; it received $7,100 during the last fiscal year. The grants are not large amounts, ranging from a few hundred to dollars to up to $15,000. But they fill gaps in arts and cultural organizations' budgets. Plus, the council's fund is matched by dollars from the National Endowment for the Arts, making more money available to applicants. In fiscal year 2010, the state council awarded over $776,000 to 166 organizations.
If the council loses funding, the state would not qualify for any federal arts money; it would go to other states. Nationally, the endowment and other federal arts/cultural agencies have taken hits to their grant-making abilities for the rest of the fiscal year; they face more deep spending cuts in the following budget.
The absence of funds would leave New Hampshire -- one of the first states to support public funding of the arts -- the only state without an arts council, Cultural Resources Director Van McLeod said. In Kansas, legislators recently rejected Gov. Sam Brownback's call to eliminate the state arts commission as a state agency and replace it with a private, nonprofit foundation. But they expect Brownback to veto any state funds for the commission. In Washington state, Gov. Chris Gregoire also has proposed getting rid of the arts commission.
"Without program grant support from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, Mount Kearsarge Indian Museum will not be able to program the Native American arts demonstrations and performances and classes that we currently offer," said Shawn Olson, executive director of the museum in Warner. "The private sector is not doing a lot."
Olson said she recently sent in an application for a grant that would help make the museum's doors accessible to the handicapped. She said it's hard to find a grant program to fund such small-scale projects.
Gov. John Lynch budgeted about $427,000 for the grants for fiscal year 2012, which starts July 1. With the federal match, the amount would double to $854,000. The House budget takes all but $4,700 away, leaving the state with too low a threshold to qualify for the federal money.
"You ask yourself in any budgeting environment, `Is this a core function of government? Is this something that only government can do? Are there other alternatives?' " said Rep. Bill Blevin, R-Amherst, who headed the House Finance division responsible for handling the cultural affairs budget. "If you answer `Yes,' then you're also able to ask a second, and I think very relevant question, `How well do we do this function?'"
Blevin said it's easier to answer those questions for an agency like the Department of Safety, which makes sure state police enforce motor vehicle laws on the highways, for example.
"I think that there are more cautions and concerns when you say `Cultural Resources,' " Blevin said. "Is that a core function of government and how well do we do it?"
The Senate Finance Committee has indicated it doesn't support the breakup of the department, but it has not made a recommendation about the future of the council yet. The Senate has a June 2 deadline to act on the budget.
"The perception is we give money to street musicians," McLeod said. "We don't do that. We really don't even give money to individual artists. There's fellowships we give in recognition of somebody's great work. We also have apprentice programs where kids are learning a tradition, whether it's fly-tying, basketweaving, furniture makers, whatever it may be."
Money goes to schools, hospitals and communities, McLeod said.
In 1931, New Hampshire Gov. John Winant was the first governor to get public funding for the arts, creating an organization that evolved into the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen. The arts council was created after the NEA was formed in 1965.
"The New Hampshire State Council on the Arts is a valuable member of a national network of state arts agencies that works in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts," Laura Scanlan, the NEA's director of state and regional partnerships, said in a recent letter to Roger Brooks, head of the council. "We believe that the long-standing partnership between the council and the National Endowment for the Arts has brought substantial benefits to the people of New Hampshire. We hope that the challenges facing the state can be addressed without sacrificing the outstanding programs of its state arts agency."
Joan Chamberlain is the executive director of St. Kieran Community Center for the Arts, which converted a closed church in Berlin to a performance space. Grants from the arts council have helped fund various projects, such as putting seat cushions on the pews.
"People just really don't understand; they think grants are freebies," she said. "They don't realize they are contracts that hold you to very high standards of performance ... you have to work hard and you know you are accountable." Grant applicants also have to come up with business plans to show how they intend to match the amount awarded, she said.
Chamberlain said she knows how to run a lean and mean budget and build partnerships with other funding sources such as businesses and foundations. But St. Kieran recently lost two long-standing business donors because of the economy -- and there just aren't that many donors in the area.
"I didn't foresee this continual closure of businesses up here," she said. "Right now, we're still waiting for the mill to open. We don't know when the federal prison is opening. We don't know if they're closing our state prison. We don't have Shaw's anymore, we don't have (J.C.) Penney's. We're on a downward spiral. ... If businesses aren't coming, all we have is our arts, cultural and natural resources to draw upon; it's all we have."
A study done for the state by Americans for the Arts, a national nonprofit group, showed that as of January, New Hampshire is home to about 4,000 arts-related businesses -- about 4 percent of all businesses in the state. They employ about 12,000 people.
"These arts-centric businesses play an important role in building and sustaining economic vibrancy," the study said. "They employ a creative workforce, spend money locally, generate government revenue, and are a cornerstone of tourism and economic development."
The group's research shows that in 2006, about 40 percent of visitors to New Hampshire participated in activities provided by museums, galleries and historic sites, and that 24 percent attended a concert, fair or festival.
Roger Brooks, the council president, said studies done in the Monadnock Region and in Portsmouth show the arts have a strong economic impact in those areas and help build communities.
"We know businesses like to locate and attract good workers in places where the arts flourish," he said.
Looking through her guestbook, Olson noted entries from last summer from visitors as far away as Australia and the Netherlands. They see the museum's sign on Interstate 89 and stop by.
"Personally, I cannot believe that the state legislators don't see that just cutting the arts and tourism budgets, much less eliminating them, is going to severely hurt the entire state of New Hampshire and residents from loss of jobs, drop in tourism with further loss of jobs, and the decrease in our quality of life," she said.
