Every year, I champion arts funding in the state Legislature, and this year is no exception. It's never easy, but this year we had special challenges. State revenue projections declined, and the need for education, health care and job creation programs is growing. The arts face stiff competition for every dollar.
Over time, though, I'm encouraged by the growing effectiveness of local advocacy for arts funding. This year, I was especially pleased to see more than 200 arts supporters in the Senate gallery on Arts Day on Feb. 19. That was the day the Senate passed an important bill to preserve funding for 4Culture, the public/private King County arts and heritage agency.
The funding for 4Culture had been threatened by a complex set of circumstances that involved an endowment that has under-performed because of the stock market's nose dive, and a hotel and motel tax that has been used to pay off stadium debt as well as fund the arts.
This funding scheme may be complicated, but the result fortunately wasn't. This session, which ended last Thursday night, we passed Senate Bill 6638, sponsored by Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, and me. The bill, when signed into law by the governor, will permit 4Culture to continue to fund and support the artists and arts and heritage organizations that enrich the quality of life of everyone in King County for another year.
As a member of the State Arts Commission, I follow arts issues closely, and with every passing year, my admiration and respect for the arts and heritage communities grows. We are incredibly fortunate to have an effective network of community advocates for the arts, and a vibrant and growing culture of creativity and artistic innovation. Besides the obvious contributions of the arts to our cultural heritage and lifestyles, they also are invaluable in stimulating tourism, creating jobs and making a vital contribution to the educational success of students in every corner of our state.
Nurturing and supporting arts and cultural heritage activities will always be a top priority for me. I am grateful to my fellow legislators and the many local artists and arts organizations that are helping to raise the profile of arts funding issues and win important victories such as secure and stable funding for 4Culture. This year we also added funding in our budget for HistoryLink to present a project on the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, and a grant for the Pacific Science Center for an exhibit on the Lucy fossils from Ethiopia.
In addition, we are fortunate to have newspapers like the Queen Anne & Magnolia News that provide outstanding coverage of the arts and to have so many arts organizations and artists for them to cover. And the Queen Anne/Magnolia area is home to scores of literary, visual and performing artists and organizations, such as the world-class Olympic Sculpture Park, the Northwest Craft Center, Pottery Northwest, the Pacific Northwest Ballet, the Seattle Opera, the Seattle Children's Theatre, the Seattle Repertory Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare Company, the Seattle Children's Theater, and On the Boards, as well as the headquarters of organizations like the Arts Alliance, ArtsFund, the Folklife Festival, Rain City Projects, and the Artist Trust. There are way too many to include all of them in this short column.
In creativity and culture, ours must surely be the richest legislative district in the state. That is a source of great pride - and a great responsibility. We must all continue to work together to ensure that the arts we treasure continue to flourish, and to win the public support and funding they deserve.
Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, represents the 36th Legislative District. She is also chair of the Senate Labor, Commerce, Research & Development Committee.
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