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Can you remember what happened five years ago on May 14? Close your eyes (virtually)...think back...busloads of arts advocates gathering on a cloudy day bringing a wave of color to West State Street. There was a Chinese dragon marching, docents dressed in colonial costumes, Tony Randall, Eric Bogosian, John Amos, Kiki Smith, Joe Piscopo, and a throng of cultural advocates waving placards and banners demanding that New Jersey arts and history funding be saved from elimination. On that day in May state legislators promised survival and enough to get by for one year, but also a new and dedicated source of State funding that would guarantee increased support in the future.
Okay, open your eyes. It's five years later...we have a hotel/motel occupancy fee that is the dedicated source of guaranteed increased funding and yet the Governor has proposed the level of state cultural support to be exactly the same as the year of bare survival. This is a promise?
The legislation passed in June 2003 to create the occupancy fee, the result of your advocacy, will this year grow to $90 million in State revenues, over three times the amount mandated under it for distribution to cultural agencies. It has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in property tax relief as it was designed to do. Yet State arts and history funding only achieved the level promised by law in FY05 and FY06. Ever since it has fallen short, and now we are back to the bare minimum allowed before the law no longer exists. This is a promise?
Can YOU keep a promise for more than five years??? ArtPride thinks you can, so NOW is the time to click on Action Alert at the ArtPride web site and email your district legislators that NJ Arts & History Make Dollars & Sense! An industry that contributes over $2 billion a year to New Jersey's economy is worth the promise made five years ago on May 14. Any questions? Don't hesitate to call ArtPride New Jersey at 609.443.3582. |
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