Arts funding in jeopardy

Dana Sullivan sent this along:

Friends - This is a little dense but important. I'm writing to ask you to help 4Culture out with its legislation currently being considered in both houses of the legislature in Olympia. Please write your legislators today to ask for their support of arts and culture funding in King County. Tonight will not be too late. No need to specify a bill number - simply ask for support of funding for arts and heritage in King County, and include the benefit that you see for yourself and your community.

Here is the website where you can find your legislators and email them: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Default.aspx Here is the Advocate 4Culture blog where you can keep updated: http://advocate4culture.blogspot.com/ Please share this information with your friends and colleagues by forwarding or speaking with them.

4Culture funds arts and cultural organizations throughout the count; supports local arts agencies; funds sustained support (the running of an organization) for small heritage museums and arts organizations like the Seattle Opera, Village Theater and Northwest Ballet as well as project and equipment support for those same organizations; individual artists and artist groups like Seattle Print Arts, Hugo House, Barbara Robertson, Heather Oakson, Tess Martin, Dan Corson and Dan Webb as well as writers like Nancy Rawles whose book, My Jim, was a Seattle Reads selection last year; Lucia Neare's incredible Lullaby Moon performances and the like through Site Specific programming; opportunities to exhibit at Gallery 4Culture for emerging artists like Dawn Cerny, Zack and Gala Bent. Hotel Motel funding supports overhead for Public Art, supporting artwork in public spaces and fantastic artworks by Sheila Klein, Cris Bruch, Buster Simpson, Glenn Rudolph and the beloved Poetry on Buses program.

Most of you have a relationship with 4Culture; even those of you who haven't gotten direct funding benefit from 4Culture's programming. Here is the deal: If 4Culture does not get its funding renewed by the end of this session - March 11 - then 2011 will be spent downsizing from roughly $15,000,000 to $1,500,000. This will mean closing the office, reducing to a much smaller staff and, obviously, much smaller granting capability. Organizations and individuals and the work they do will be affected. Public Art will be reduced to a few project managers and the curator. Though we will still be able to lobby the legislature next year we will not be able to count on funding, so will be downsizing.

Laptop rally from 5-7 tonight at Stellar Pizza in Georgetown. Come join us in writing to your legislators.