California Governor Moves to Modestly Improve Meager State Arts Budget

California has long ranked at or near the bottom nationally in per capita taxpayer funding of its state arts agency. The $5-million increase from the $1.1 million in Brown’s initial arts budget would push the state’s arts spending to about 24 cents for each state resident. The national per capita average is $1.09, according to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. To reach it California would have to increase the arts council budget to $42.3 million.

But the increase to $6.1 million in state tax appropriations is significant because of the fine print, said Daniel Savage, chief of staff to Assembly member Adrin Nazarian (D-Sherman Oaks), who has pushed for better arts-grant funding over the last three years with mixed results. Last year, Nazarian and other arts advocates went through a similar exercise with a similar bottom-line outcome: Brown started by proposing the usual $1.1 million from the general fund, then agreed to an increase to $6.1 million in the home stretch of the annual budget process. The $1.1 million commitment is the amount needed to fully qualify for matching federal funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.