Interviews on the Possible Devastation of the Arts, Culture and Economy of Texas

Could you briefly tell us how the TCT and TCA work together? From our understanding, both organizations support arts and arts education in Texas, and the Texas Cultural Trust raises money to do this from the private sector. Is this an accurate description?

Jennifer: The Texas Cultural Trust was initially created in 1995 to raise private dollars for the Texas Cultural Endowment Fund, which was one of the four issues identified in the Sunset Commission staff report. The Sunset report deems the Endowment “ineffective” and recommends it be dissolved simply because it is unlikely that the original goal of $200 million will not be reached.  However, there is currently $13.2 million in the Endowment, about $2.5 million of which the Trust has raised with the rest coming from General Revenue appropriations.  The TCA would like to repurpose the Endowment to support a specific program.

Two legislative sessions ago, the State stopped appropriating money to the Endowment and because of that uncertainty, it is very difficult to convince people to donate to the Endowment.  Now the Texas Cultural Trust raises money directly for TCA programs, most of which are for arts education, another area that the Sunset staff recommends eliminating from TCA’s functions.

So if the Sunset Committee does decide to restructure the TCA so that it is only funded privately, what will be its main financial sources?

Rick: It would have to be private sector sources only. The State of Texas would lose the federal money that comes from the NEA and there would be no other resources, as we would likely also lose the license plate revenue.

Do you think the purpose of the TCA can be better accomplished primarily in the private sector?

Jennifer: Absolutely not.  It is very difficult raise to private money for programs that are statewide.  Donors generally like to support their own communities (e.g., Austin donors generally like their money to go to Austin causes).  Since the bulk of the wealth in Texas is in major cities, it will primarily be those cities that receive the benefits.  The TCA has an equity mandate from the State to give out grants across Texas. Furthermore, it is well known that receiving governmental funds leverages gifts from other sources.  A TCA grants gives an arts organization symbolizes a “stamp of approval” for other donors.

Rick: No, the Commission’s Mission is a public mission. Were we a private organization, we wouldn’t have the same imperatives to serve a broad public.

To provide its grants, what is the current funding percentage that the TCA receives from the state vs. private sources?

Rick: The combined state money is approximately 66%. That includes appropriated money that accounts for about 50% and the balance is interagency contracts.

The Sunset Committee's decision threatens to dramatically change the scope and function of the TCA. How would you recommend that people continue to speak up about allowing the TCA to continue to have the power to fund the arts that it has had since 1965?

Jennifer: Although the deadline for the public to send in a response to the Sunset Commission has passed (April 7), it doesn’t mean that you can’t voice your opinion to those legislative members sitting on the Committee.  They are listed on the Sunset Commission’s website. Also on the website, you can read through the testimony from the public. The views are diverse, but they all point back to the impact that the arts has on every single person in Texas.

Rick: The scope and function of TCA remains the same as per our enabling legislation.

The real essence of the question is “Does our work reflect our enabling mission or our budget structure?” The Sunset staff recommendation is based on the budget structure, which we changed in coordination with the legislative budget board staff. It was never our intention to limit our scope, just to streamline that process. The legislature as a whole, while in our new budget structure, wasn’t being punitive or saying that we needed to limit our scope of service.

In terms of people speaking up…those that are interested in public policy for the arts, whether a producer or consumer, need to understand that public policy is driven by their participation in the political process. Not only do they need to inform elected officials of the benefits of public arts support during a moment of crisis, it needs to be something they do regularly through any number of venues (i.e. working on campaigns, attendance at candidate forums, inviting elected officials to events, providing a forum for elected officials to speak to their constituents, writing letters and having individual meetings with elected officials, and joining Texans for the Arts. They need to do this at the national, state and local level. It is the way our political system works.

In doing so, they need to speak from the heart about the real economic, education and social impact of the arts on their constituents. The degree to which they can relate those benefits to the catalytic nature of public funding for the arts, the “good housekeeping seal of approval” that comes from rigorous public review, and the life-altering experiences that we all know result from engagement in the arts, will be very important to policy makers.