ASC announces “as much as 50%” drop in funds. It’s time for Charlotte and Mecklenburg to act on arts

Last fall, after voters rejected a Mecklenburg sales tax that would have helped rescue the county’s struggling arts infrastructure, we urged county commissioners to do what they had urged voters to do — support the arts.

That time is now.

On Thursday, Arts & Science Council President Jeep Bryant told arts groups that the ASC faces budget cuts of up to 50 percent in the coming fiscal year if the ASC is unable to secure additional resources from funders. The ASC already reduced staff expenses last year in the wake of the failed referendum, but much more significant cuts may be imminent. “Any improvement in our outlook for the grants budget will be contingent on how discussions proceed with various funders — including corporations, foundations, local governments and individual supporters — over the coming months,” Bryant said in his message to arts groups Thursday.

Those local governments include city and county officials who publicly supported the sales tax referendum last fall. That includes members of the Mecklenburg Board of Commissioners, which voted last year to put before voters a clumsily conceived referendum that was poorly timed and too vague. Now the board must do its job by developing an urgent and long-term plan for reasonable and sustained funding for arts that begins with the next county budget.

That plan should include, from ASC and arts leaders, detailed proposals that fulfill promises made and repeated for years about expanding access to arts and enriching families and children of all socio-economic levels. The lack of specific measures and projects was one of the flaws that doomed the referendum last fall.

Officials, however, shouldn’t take that vote as a lack of support in the community for the arts. Charlotte and Mecklenburg already give some public dollars to the arts, and while such funding may be politically delicate, it’s no different than government support of recreation, professional sports and anything officials think might improve quality of life.

The arts, certainly, are a critical part of what makes Charlotte a vibrant place for residents and attractive place for new businesses and talent. The county can and should acknowledge that by making it a formal budget priority at its budget retreat agenda later this month.

This story was originally published January 16, 2020 at 2:07 PM.