Extended Interviews with Washington arts leaders Kris Tucker and Mary Langholz

Questions for Kris Tucker, executive director, Washington State Arts Alliance

Interview by Mark Baumgarten

The governor just announced a preliminary budget proposal filled with cuts meant to bridge a $2.3 billion budget gap. What’s you’re attitude going into what is looking like a very difficult legislative session for the Washington State Arts Commission?

The governor’s budget included a big cut to us. It’s an additional 15 percent cut to our budget, and its for the biennium that is already more than a quarter underway so that means the 15 percent overall is going to translate to another approximately 28 percent next year. I mean, the accumulative is that next year we’re going to be cutting about 37 percent of our state funding.

Oh goodness!

We’re still doing the math in every category that we can to figure out, but this is going to be a really big hit to us, but that’s the governor’s budget; I work for the governor. They’re clearly in a dilemma, this legislative session. They’ve got a big gap in state revenues and state expenses and it’s a challenge to how to fill that.

What do you say to arts groups who think the sky is falling? How do you shore up the confidence that the state is still invested in the arts when these cuts are being made?

Right. There’s every reason to believe that state-wide elected officials – including the governor and most legislators – continue to see the arts as important to the economic stability, the economic future, the quality of life and the strength of our education system.

Mmm-hmm.

Everything that the state is doing right now is losing some money - from scholarships for low-income kids, health insurance for children, unemployment costs are up - all kinds of real needs and expenses that the state has. It’s really a difficult time for elected officials and so I understand that budgets need to be cut. Arts organizations see that too, because I know our research shows that all arts organizations are seeing cuts in all categories as well. So it's just a tough time. But we really see that legislators support the arts, that the governor supports the arts, it's just that the state's investment in the arts right now, and in the near future, is going to be smaller than it has been in the past.

It could be for some organizations that this economic downturn is something they will not endure and I think we have to mourn those losses and then move on. We can’t stabilize the budget of every arts organization. In fact, our grants are very small. They’ve always been too small and we’ll keep those as effective as possible, but we’re also going to be doing some other things with our money. We have some other things that we want to do, that we have to do, that are critical to the arts in the state beyond our grant-making.

Can you point out what a couple of those things are?

Well, we’re going to invest in the Creative Vitality Index, for example, so that we have a continuous stream of data that documents how the arts contribute to the creative economy. We’re going to continue to invest in our Web site so that we can have online resources that are useful to communities. We’re going to continue to do some training events, the Culture Congress is one that we help to support. But there will be some things that we’ll be doing, training for arts education leaders to make sure that the professional development opportunities are still there.

The shape of our economy is changing drastically. Do you see the state’s support of the arts looking substantially different from now on, or is everything going to go back to what it was before eventually?

That’s a tough question. I don’t see that we’re going to go back to previous funding levels in the near future; not within the next three years, that’s my projection. I do think that the next few years are going to be really tough for arts organizations and, in a lot of ways, for some of our communities.

There are lots of things that are overbuilt. There’s no way to say that shortly without people thinking I’m looking at them, but, you know, we’ve had too many apartment buildings in some communities, we have too many roads in others. The public dollars are going to be stretched really thin for a while.

Do you believe the composure of Arts Day changes?

Yeah I think it does. I think that Arts Day is going to be a great opportunity for constituents to talk to legislators about experiences and arts opportunities in different areas of the state. It’s not going to be a great opportunity for arts leaders to be demanding more. So the arts commissioners will be very present on Arts Day and our messages will be very sensitive to the difficult decisions in front of legislators and, we hope, informative. We hope to say, “These are the things that are happening in communities across the state, here are some examples of how the arts are making a difference in people’s lives. And thank you.” I think that’s another message of Arts Day: thank you for being in a leadership position, thank you for recognizing the potential of the arts.

Visit the Washington State Arts Commission's Web site for more information.

Questions for Mary Langholz, executive director, Washington State Arts Alliance

Interview by Bond Huberman

What is Arts Day, and why is it important, especially this year?

Arts Day has been an annual event in Washington State for about twenty-six years now. It’s an opportunity for art advocates to travel to Olympia, discuss arts issues with legislators, enjoy a lunch buffet and guest speakers, and often we have a performance. This year it will be Tuesday, February 2, Groundhog Day.

This particular year is going to be challenging. [State organizations] have more budget cuts — and our arts leaders need to share with legislators that they understand.

Arts organizations and artists in business know what it means to cut back, yet they continue to live out their mission. [They] provide that anchor in communities — that inspiration, that entertainment that people need to get through difficult times.

Often, it is artists that create the history of our moment: the plays, the screenplays, the music. They all reflect the times we’re in.

Can you give examples of two important issues that organizations will bring to Arts Day this year?

4Culture. They fund over 300 organizations in capitol programming, technology and more — their funding from King Country lodging tax will end in 2012 to pay for Qwest Field.  For the past ten years they have had to put 40 percent of the revenue received into a special fund to cover the years from 2012 to 2020. It’s somewhat of an endowment fund. And of course with the recession, that has not performed as well as they had hoped ten years ago.  So in 2020 we want that lodging tax back.

In addition — this was introduced last year and we will partner and support again this year — Puget Sound Regional Planning Council has got their new partnership program. Designed for economic growth in Puget Sound, they have put together a proposal to start cultural access authorities in counties across the state of Washington.

The state legislature needs to authorize that counties can put this on their public ballot: a tiny increase in some tax, much like they would do for a parks levy.  The fund would provide revenue for cultural organizations’ sustainability, and more importantly, for access.

A component of that would be funding for buses for schools to pay for children to come to cultural performances and the aquarium; it would likely fund discount tickets or a free fun day at organizations.  Different organizations could come up with creative ideas.

If the state legislature does authorize that counties can do this, then it would need a whole campaign to bring the community awareness up to a level of understanding.

Those of us that work in this creative industry are aware of what’s going on.  In the Arts Alliance, we try to keep people very aware of the local, state, regional, national, legislative happenings. But those outside the sector are not often aware of the statistics, the economic impact of arts education and the importance of creative thinking and innovation. There is always a lot of work to do in the public realm.

What is the best way for people to stay aware of these things?

One way is to join the Arts Alliance and be a part of the meetings that we have state-wide. Another way is to access Americans for the Arts. They have a wonderful Web site with lots of information on arts education and advocacy.

We have advocacy training sessions and newsletters, also. There is also a tool kit on our Web site that people can get information from on what to do.

What do you think the WSAA accomplished in 2009?

Seattle Arts Commission reached out to us to help with the mayoral and city council candidates — we did an arts related survey for them that we put on our website. We also sponsored televised interviews with each Mayoral Candidate; those were broadcast on Seattle Channel and were also available on our web site.

I’m very happy and proud of the new meetings that I’ve set up in Spokane and Pierce counties; I’m expecting to do the same thing up in Whatcom County.

Also, on top of a successful Arts Day and Cultural Congress, in the legislature we were able to get passed a bill that allows greater flexibility of rental usage for arts centers, science centers and museums.  So that was huge. We’d been working on that for three years.

With new leadership — mayors and city council members in Seattle and Tacoma — do you foresee a big impact on the arts ahead, or is it still too early to tell?

Well, we were very encouraged here in Seattle. The cultural community met with both mayoral candidates prior to the election just to help them better understand what’s been going on, the history, the impact of the arts and culture on the city.

A good testimony to the support of the City Council up here is that the Mayor’s budget was passed and the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs’ budget was maintained. That’s a really good thing. We’re very confident that they understand the importance of a creative industry.

Tacoma, I am just learning. We are setting up some meetings with new Mayor and city council in a similar fashion to do the same thing [that we did in Seattle], to have dialogue, to keep those windows of conversation open. 

What are the Arts Alliance’s “resolutions,” or what does it seek to accomplish specifically this year?

Those of us that work in the creative sector, we are eternally optimistic people. [laughs] We’re positive; we try to find creative ways to find solutions, to make things happen. I’m hopeful. I know it’s going to be a tough legislative year and I think we all need to be aware of that.

We need to make sure we keep our schools healthy and not let arts education fall off there. Fortunately it’s a core subject. 

But we need to get passed the funding for the Basic Education Fund. The bill was passed last year but the funding has not yet been passed. We need to get that bill funded. In that bill are two arts requirements for graduation; one can be filled in middle school.

How were you drawn to arts advocacy?

My father was a political science and history teacher in Ohio.  He was a principal and a teacher, so our discussions around the dinner table were often and always involved in elections and historical and political figures. My mother was very artistic in voice and visual art. My great-grandfather even made violins.

I was in arts administration for 25-30 years, starting at Kennedy Center in Washington DC in the press office. When I moved to Florida, I opened a performing arts center in the Tampa Bay area and was an administrator there for about twenty years.  When I moved out here to Seattle, I took on the responsibility of opening Benaroya Hall, and was director of PR for Seattle Symphony for eight or nine years.

During that time, another one of my responsibilities was government relations, which I enjoyed. I would attend city council meetings, county council meetings, I would go to Olympia for hearings, I would organize the staff there for Arts Day.  I’d get a whole group to go down. So I worked very closely with my predecessor in this position; I knew her very well. 

I’ve known a lot of the people in this area for a number of years.  I’ve enjoyed it. I love my job.  I love collaborating and partnering and working in dialogue with all of them.

What was the best arts event you witnessed in 2009?

I went to a PLU Choir of the West concert at Benaroya Hall. It was fantastic; very moving.

To learn more about Arts Day, visit the Washington State Arts Alliance's Web site.