IF THERE'S MONEY TO BE HAD, WHY YES, A ZOO IS AN ARTS ORGANIZATION
Or so it would seem to some members of the Minnesota House of Representatives.
It took seven years of toil for advocates to get a constitutional amendment passed that would provide a steady source of funding for arts and cultural endeavors in Minnesota. Now, a battle is brewing at the Capitol over who should get the money.
Earlier in this session, the House and Senate passed radically different plans for divvying up money generated from the Legacy Amendment, a constitutional provision approved by voters in November that raised the state sales tax by a fraction in order to fund preservation of land and water resources, parks and the state’s arts and cultural infrastructure. The arts groups’ slice of that pie is expected to add up to about $45 million a year starting in 2010.