Governor Mike Rounds' revised budget plan calls for the elimination of state funding for the South Dakota Arts Council, effectively closing the state's office of arts established by the Legislature in 1966, and making South Dakota the only state in the nation without a State Arts Council or Arts Program.
Last fiscal year, the state of South Dakota's investment in the arts was
86 cents for each state resident. The return on that investment included
$48 million in economic impact from programs by arts organizations across the state. In addition, that 86 cents for each citizen sent 26 artists to 162 schools for 231 weeks, bringing arts opportunities to 35,000 South Dakota young people. And that same 86 cents per person investment made $1.1 million available on a matching basis to 530 local arts organizations and other non-profit arts programs, schools, artists and units of government in every county of South Dakota.
"The elimination of funding for the South Dakota Arts Council not only reduces the quality of education that our children receive, it takes income away from businesses, communities and families," said Pat Boyd, executive director of South Dakotans for the Arts, the state's arts advocacy group. "For less than a dollar for each South Dakotan, the state reaps millions of dollars of economic impact for every corner of the state."
The state's 23 largest arts organizations use $300,000 in state/federal funds from the SD Arts Council to create budgets totaling $11 million. Those arts groups attract an audience of 1.6 million people, a number that indicates that South Dakotans often attend several events. Americans for the Arts estimates the local economic impact from those audiences to be $48 million-and arts and cultural organizations including arts festivals, Native American events, national monuments and memorials attract more than 3 million visitors per year to the state, leaving behind millions of dollars more in visitor spending.
"There are those who see the arts in South Dakota as a needless luxury in times of fiscal crisis," Boyd said. "But this elimination of funding will immediately impact 18,000 artists and thousands of other South Dakotans whose livelihood is based in part on cultural tourism, visitor spending and community performances. Our modest state investment in the arts is leveraged into a vital element of our state's economic success. We must restore funding to this critical state program."
