Arts News

Dear Friends of the Arts, Artists, and Arts Administrators,

The Arts Council of Fairfax County invites you to join us on April 11, 2013 between 5:00PM – 6:30PM to support our speakers as they thank our Board of Supervisors for their continued investment in the arts.  

The Conferees are appointed

The Members of the Joint Conference Committee on the Budget Bills were appointed yesterday.  Budget conferees will begin meeting today in order to resolve differences between the budget approved by the House and the budget approved by the Senate.  Please take a moment this week to reach out to the budget conferees listed below.  Please thank the conferees for their support for the arts and ask them to adopt a Conference Report that includes the additional $300,000 in funding for the Virginia Commission for the Arts that is in the Senate’s budget.  The funding would provide additional grants to arts organizations statewide, promoting tourism and broadening access to the arts for Virginians in rural and underserved areas.

Find contact information for the House of Delegates here at:

On Tuesday, November 6th, 2012, Virginians go to the polls to elect a variety of officials from the United States president to the senator. No matter your party or your ideology, on behalf of the Arts Council of Fairfax County, I urge you to exercise your constitutional right and responsibility to VOTE!

Here is a lengthy but informal article by Virginians for the Arts (VFTA) on the legislative process for arts funding in the Commonwealth. In 2011 the Commission granted $274,000 to 28 arts organizations in Fairfax County.

VFTA advocates for state funding for the Virginia Commission for the Arts (VCA), the state agency in Virginia that awards grants to arts organizations statewide. VFTA also works to garner support and appreciation for the important role the arts play in the economic, educational and cultural life of all Virginians.
 
Beginning in the late spring or early summer each year, the VFTA legislative team meets to work on a strategy for the upcoming General Assembly session. The legislative team consists of VFTA leadership, legislative counsel, and representatives of the VCA commissioners and the VFTA legislative committee. The legislative team determines the what the "ask" - the level of funding that VFTA will ask the Governor and the General Assembly to appropriate for VCA - will be for the next budget year. The legislative team also develops an overarching message and talking points to be used when advocating for VCA funding.
 
Over the summer, the legislative team meets with members of the Governor's policy office and the Secretary of Education's office, and sometimes additional Administration and legislative committee officials, to present VFTA's request for funding for VCA. These meetings are also good opportunities to share jobs and economic development statistics and other related anecdotes that highlight the positive economic impact of state funding for the arts in Virginia.
 
Beginning in mid-summer and through the fall, VFTA members - in coordination with the VFTA legislative committee - meet with legislators in their district offices and frequently invite legislators to attend arts events. These are wonderful opportunities to develop strong relationships with legislators and to get them involved in the arts on a personal level. During election years, legislative counsel provides additional materials related to General Assembly elections, so that VFTA members are prepared to meet with and learn more about candidates running for office.
 
In mid-December, the Governor presents his recommended budget to the General Assembly in a special meeting, where he outlines his budget priorities. The appropriation for VCA in the Governor's proposed budget sets the stage for VFTA action during the General Assembly session.
 
After the General Assembly session convenes in early January, the Governor's budget is referred to the Appropriations Committee in the House of Delegates and the Finance Committee in the Senate in the form of a bill. Members of the General Assembly offer amendments to the budget bill that are reviewed by the appropriate Subcommittees in each House. The Education Subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee and the Higher Education Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee oversee funding for VCA. The legislative team, with help from the VFTA legislative committee, works closely with senior members of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees to submit budget amendments that provide additional funding for VCA for arts grants.
 
In January and February, Subcommittees hold hearings and sometimes invite individuals and organizations to speak to different aspects of the budget. Subcommittees do not vote publicly on individual budget amendments, but working with staff, they begin to draft recommendations on budget amendments. The legislative team meets frequently with members of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees, including the chairmen of the Committees, and other influential legislators, asking them to support VFTA's budget amendments.
 
In early February of odd-numbered years and late February of even-numbered years, Subcommittee Reports are presented to the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. The Appropriations Committee and the Finance Committee then vote to accept or reject the budget amendments outlined in each Subcommittee report.
 
A few days after the Committees vote, the amended budget bills move to the floor of each House, where additional amendments can be made. The full House votes on its budget bill and the Senate votes on its bill, then the two bodies exchange bills and vote on each other's version of the budget. A conference committee is appointed to resolve differences between the two budgets. The conference committee usually consists of six members of the House and six members of the Senate. At this point, the legislative team focuses its lobbying efforts on the budget conferees, encouraging them to support increased funding for VCA.
 
After the conferees reach an agreement on the budget, the House and Senate vote to adopt a Conference Report, which contains the amendments to the budget that have been agreed upon by the conferees. The amended budget bill is then sent to the Governor for his review.
 
The Governor may sign or veto the budget, or he may choose to veto or amend sections of the bill. If he vetoes the bill or any items in the bill, it goes back to the General Assembly during a reconvened session, usually held in April. If he recommends amendments, the bill goes back to the General Assembly during the reconvened session for consideration and action on the proposed amendments. If the Governor vetoes or reduces funding for VCA in his budget amendments, the legislative team and VFTA members contact legislators asking them to reject the Governor's amendments.
 
Once the Governor sings the budget, it becomes law on July 1 in even-numbered years and the date of passage in odd-numbered
years.

On June 11th, 2012, Governor McDonnell signed the budget bill for 2012-14, which takes effect on July 1st. The budget restores $149,793 to the Virginia Commission for the Arts (VCA) for arts grants in each of the next two fiscal years, an amount equal to the 4.5% cut the Governor proposed in his introduced budget.

Beginning last summer in 2011 and throughout the budget process, the Virginians for the Arts legislative team met with legislators, members of the Governor's Administration and the Secretary of Education's Office to make the case that investing in the arts makes good business sense for Virginia.  The legislative team assisted Senator Watkins and Delegates Ingram and Kilgore in developing budget amendments for VCA and encouraged legislators to include additional funding for VCA in the budget. The General Assembly voted on April 17th to restore funding to VCA. Please let your elected state official know that you are thankful for their hard work.

Dear Arts Leader,

April 16 - 17, 2012 is the National Arts Advocacy Conference and Advocacy Day in Washington DC, sponsored by Americans for the Arts.  Arts leaders from across the United States will travel to our Nation’s Capital to attend the conference (16th) and meet with state representatives on Capitol Hill (17th). The National Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill is free.

The Arts Council of Fairfax County is the State Captain for this year’s Advocacy Day.
If you plan to attend the conference and/or visit with your representative, please let us know by Wednesday, April 4, 2012.  As a State Captain we will assist our arts representatives by providing National Advocacy Day information, legislator contact information, and talking points.

It can be difficult for arts organizations to come up with the budget and the time to prepare each board member for the tasks that lie ahead.

The Arts Management Program at George Mason University can help with that process through the Board Member Institute. The GMU Arts Management Program has two different informational offerings: (1) our semiannual New Board Member Orientation—a half-day training session designed for new board members in arts organizations offered once in the Fall and again in the Spring and (2) Financial Responsibilities session offered in the Spring.

As many of you may have read, Peggy Baggett, Executive Director of the Virginia Commission for the Arts (VCA), is retiring as of December 1, 2011.

Ms. Baggett has been with the Commission for 35 years, 31 of which as Executive Director and has worked for over three decades with artists, arts administrators, board members, and thousands of volunteers throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, including nine different Governors. She led the creation of the Virginia Heritage Awards as part of the ongoing efforts of building the arts across the state and helped to make possible the unprecedented collaboration within the cultural community of MINDS WIDE OPEN; Virginia Celebrates Women in the Arts, which included over 10,000 arts events in 400 locations across the state on the theme of women in the arts.  
To quote Ms. Baggett,"I am grateful to have had a career that I continue to love and am richly rewarded to have had a small role in the flourishing of the arts across Virginia."

In the Virginians for the Arts latest newsletter, they published some very interesting points on the economic impact of the arts in Virginia. For those organizations who receive VCA grants, we hope that some of you will come down to the ArtWorks Conference & Reception sponsored by the VA Commission for the Arts on January 24-25, 2012 and the Arts Advocacy Day sponsored by VFTA January 26, 2012. Enjoy the read.

It is important for elected officials to understand the huge economic impact - as high as $1.13 billion, based on Virginia's current population and the results of the last economic impact study - that the arts have on the Commonwealth.

From: Thomas L. Birch, Legislative Counsel, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

Senate Appropriators Set 2012 NEA Funding at $155 Million

Here is an interesting study by Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, on which social media tools and intensity of online activity, non-profits are deploying to talk to their constituents.

The study shows that income doesn’t necessarily increase a nonprofit's interactions on social media. Some of the most engaged organizations on social media are not the one’s with the highest income on the list, yet they are doing a good job with their social media. Why? Because they are fostering conversations and interactions.