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deep south. The answer is. . . (your state’s name here).
Gov. Wilder has proposed to make Virginia the only state without an arts agency by eliminating the Virginia Commission for the Arts. In the language of political spin, he calls it transferring the responsibility to the Virginia Museum of Fine Ails in Richmond. However, he is eliminating all state funding for the * arts so they will have no hinds to ad- ' minister. In addition, the $500,000 that the National Endowment for the Arts gives as a block grant to the Virginia Commission for the Arts will in all likelihood be lost in this transfer to the museum.
At 25 cents per capita (that’s right, each of us spent half as much on public funding for the arts last year as we did for this newspaper), Virginia already has one of the smallest allocations for the arts in the nation. The arts budget was cut from $5.8 million in FY 90-91 to $1.5 million in FY 91-92 to absolutely' nothing for next year.
Although the numbers are small, this money has made it possible for non-profit community arts organizations to present a wide range of artistic activities in the schools and in rural communities such as our own.
To our way of thinking, the arts are a part of education that speaks directly to the fundamental human values that are a basic ingredient of a healthy society. Libraries are also part of this same fabric. They have fared only slightly better—binding is merely being cut in half this year.
Are we being told that the arts and the humanities should pay for themselves like any other business?
Like the Savings ^nd Loan industry,
78.0%