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What budget cuts mean for arts in Lawrence
BRIANNA CHILDERS
@breeanuhh3
As the State of Kansas continues to work to repair budget issues, federal funding for the arts may be cut.
The State General Fund is estimated to decrease by $353.6 million over fiscal years 2016-17, according to the state's consensus revenue report. Kansas might lose federal art dollars because the state is underfunding art programs.
Sarah Bishop, director of grants and special projects at the Lawrence Arts Center, said that the cuts on art funding will have an impact on not only Lawrence, but also the Lawrence Arts Center and Free State Festival.
The Lawrence community receives a lot of their funds from the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission and the largest grant it has offered is the Creative Economy Support Grant, Bishop said. The grant that offered up to $175,000 was cut from the program.
"The idea behind the grant was that when you put art and artists at the center of the community, you are generating socio-economic benefits for the entire community," Bishop said.
Aside from the Creative Economy Support Grant, KCAIC has two other grant programs: a strategic investment program and
arts integration program. These programs offer only around $5,000, which is $170,000 short of the original grant amount.
However, Bishop said the Arts Center is a strong organization with a $2.5 million budget and is also funded by private donations, federal grants and public grants at the state level.
"Generally when you take money away from a state arts agency, we believe that has consequences for the entire state of Kansas as well as the art culture in all states," Bishop said.
Bishop said she thinks that the ramifications are not usually obvious but rather indirect.
"When you have less grant funding, it makes it harder to do more art projects, which means [art programs] can't hire artists and they don't have money." Bishop said. "There are a lot of consequences but they are more long term."
The decrease in arts funding doesn't look like it will affect the University's art history program, the chair of the art history department. David Cateforis, confirmed in an email. He also said that the art history department does not receive state arts funding.
Bishop said the short-term problems affect gaining more grant dollars whereas the long-term effects have more of an impact on the economy and art industry.
Henry Bial, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Director of the School of Arts, said because the University is a state agency, they have never been eligible for direct support for the Kansas Arts Commission.
Despite that, the University will feel the funding cuts indirectly, Bial said. Art research requires money and those researchers need support at a state and federal level.
"Reduced funding for the arts means reduced grant opportunities for students and faculty research, and fewer opportunities for students to access the arts off-campus." Bial said.
Bial added that many of the art graduate students go on to work in the non-profit arts sector and reduced public funding may affect their prospects for future employment.
On a city level, the Lawrence Arts Center had planned on applying for the Creative Economy Support Grant in partnership with Lawrence to help fund the Free State Festival.
6 things to know about Native American Heritage Month
COURTNEY BIERMAN
@KansanNews
Native American Heritage Month is observed each November to promote awareness and understanding of the United States' indigenous peoples.
Here are six things you need to know about the month:
1. It has roots in Lawrence:
In 1915 after holding its annual meeting in Lawrence, Arapaho minister Reverend Sherman Coolidge, the president of the Society of American Indians, called upon the country to set aside a day of observance for Native Americans. Shortly after, Coolidge issued a proclamation that declared the second Saturday of May as American Indian Day. The same document also appealed for U.S. citizenship for American Indians, but it would not be granted until 1924.
2. It took more than 80 years to achieve a full month of observance:
In 1992, the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the western hemisphere President George H.W. Bush designated November as National American Indian Heritage Month. He also declared the entirety of 1992 as the "Year of the American Indian."
3. A new proclamation is issued each year:
Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush continued to issue yearly proclamations to observe November as National American Indian Heritage Month from 1994 to 2007. It wasn't until 2008 that President Obama changed the name to Native American Heritage Month.
4. Native American Heritage Month is also known as...
Always refer to someone by their tribal identification when possible. Lakota activist Russell Means famously rejected the
American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month to include those who do not identify with the Native American title. This includes Inuit peoples, who differentiate themselves from the tribes of the continental U.S. because of their distinct languages and history.
5. "Native American" isn't necessarily the preferred term:
term, saying: "I prefer the term American Indian because I know its origins ... As an added distinction the American Indian is the only ethnic group in the United States with the American before our ethnicity" Some historical figures such as Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull "proudly" referred to themselves as Indian. Terms such as First Nations (more common in Canada) and indigenous are used as well.
6. There are 566 federally recognized tribes in the U.S.:
The Navajo tribe is the largest with more than 300,000 members. There are also many more tribes that do not have federal recognition.
The closing ceremony for Native American Heritage Month will be streamed online Nov. 18 starting at 10 a.m. EST and will feature a lecture from Kevin Washburn, the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior.
- Edited by Maddy Mikinski
Ron Ford and George Clinton of Parliament Funkadelic perform at the 2015 Free State Festival on June 24.
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