Call to Action: Contact Your NC Senator about House Budget
The NC House of Representatives have approved their budget for the 2019-2021 Biennium and sent it to the Senate for consideration. As the Senate works through their budget, we want you to be aware of arts related funding and policy that was included in the House Budget, particularly the funding for equitable and accountable grants through the NC Arts Council, so that you can have informed conversations. Please call or email your Senator this week.
- Grassroots Grants Programs: There is an additional $1,000,000 in nonrecurring funding for the NC Arts Council Grassroots Arts Grant program for FY2020, however it is not included in FY2021. It also, contains language that prohibits those dollars from being distributed to ten Tier 3 counties with populations over 100,000. Please call or email your Senator and tell them you support this allocation and would like to see this funding become recurring without language that restricts it from being distributed to all 100 counties.
- General Grants: There is no additional funding for NC Arts Council’s General Grants which includes the State Arts Resources Operational and Rural Touring grants, Veterans Arts, SmART Initiative, Education and Program Support grants, and much more. Please encourage the Senate to include at least $500,000 in increased funding for these vital General Grants programs.
- Arts High School Graduation Requirement: The language from H56 and S238, which both establish a requirement of one arts credit between 6th and 12th grade for high school graduation, is included in the House Budget and Arts NC is encouraging the Senate to allow that provision to remain to insure all North Carolina students have access to arts education.
Other Funding for the Arts in the House Budget not in the Arts NC agenda
- Carolina Ballet has been allocated $4,000,000 in non-recurring funds in the House Budget ($2M in FY2020 and $2M in FY2021) to be used to increase the profile of the ballet, including travel, advertising, and personnel.
- NC Symphony and NC Museum of Art were not recommended for any increase to their state funding in the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources budget.
- UNC School of the Arts has been allocated $42,200,000 for renovations to the Roger L. Stevens Center in the proposed bond referendum
- UNC – Pembroke has been allocated $31,200,000 for renovations to the Givens Center for the Performing Arts in the proposed bond referendum