[Peace] Save Urbana's Public Arts Program! -- this Monday, June 16 at 7 PM

[Danielle Chynoweth]

Dear Arts Supporters,

The Urbana City Council recently voted to establish a Public Arts Program
starting in 2008.  This program would provide grants to artists of all media
(visual, music, dance, theatre, spoken word, etc.) to produce and present
their work throughout the city in response to an annual council-approved
arts plan.

Despite the vote to establish this public arts program, its future is in
jeopardy because the city's 2008-09 proposed budget includes ...  (drum roll
please)  ...

--->  ZERO PUBLIC DOLLARS FOR ART!  <----

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Come out to support PUBLIC FUNDING FOR ARTS
this Monday, June 16th 7 PM in Urbana City Hall
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In the proposed budget, all public dollars allocated to the arts program are
proposed to go to administration and businesses.  All money for actual art
programming would have to be raised privately.   A public arts program
WITHOUT FUNDING ART is not a public arts program.  And forcing the program
to fundraise is going to compete with our partnered arts organizations for
scarce arts dollars, which was not the intention.

Properly funding this program in its first year will be critical for its
success in the future.  The Council recognized this when it voted in 2005 to
establish "a dedicated revenue stream for public art."  In addition, the
city's task force on the arts proposed that $3 per capita ($115,000) be
spent on arts and arts programming.

Last week, it appeared that at least 4 out of 7 council members were open to
increasing funding for art.  Mayor Prussing, Dennis Roberts, and Heather
Stevenson were opposed and Lynne Barnes was absent.
On Monday, there will be a motion to amend the budget to fund art and arts
programming at a minimum of $76,000, or $2 for every Urbana resident (less
than the cost of one month of recycling).

Please come to the next city Council meeting this Monday, June 16th at 7 PM
to urge the Council to properly launch the public arts program by including
funds for public art.  City Council meets at 400 S. Vine Street at Illlinois
Street. Every attendee has the right to speak for up to 5 minutes, or you
may fill out a form in support of funding, and not speak.  You do not need
to be an Urbana resident to show support for funding the arts in our
community.

You may also email your support to:

Mayor Laurel Prussing - llprussing at city.urbana.il.us
Dennis Roberts - droberts at uillinois.edu
Lynne Barnes - lcbarnes at city.urbana.il.us
Robert Lewis - relewis at city.urbana.il.us
Charlie Smyth - csmyth at sbcglobal.net
Brandon Bowersox - bowersox at prairienet.org
Danielle Chynoweth - dlchynoweth at city.urbana.il.us


To mail them all at once copy and paste:

<dlchynoweth at city.urbana.il.us>, <lcbarnes at city.urbana.il.us>, <
relewis at city.urbana.il.us>, "Stevenson, Heather" <hstevenson4 at yahoo.com>,
"Brandon Bowersox" <bowersox at prairienet.org>, "Charlie Smyth" <
csmyth at sbcglobal.net>, "droberts at uillinois.edu" <droberts at uillinois.edu>,
"Prussing, Laurel Lunt" <llprussing at city.urbana.il.us>,
dlchynoweth at city.urbana.il.us

You can find phone numbers for Council Members and the Mayor here:
http://www.city.urbana.il.us?URL=/urbana/city_council/members.asp

FOR THOSE WHO LIKE DETAILS:

Here is the proposed Public Arts Program from the Arts Task Force.:
http://che.ojctech.com/~chyn/public/PublicArt/PublicArtsProgram.pdf

Flier: Where there is Art There Is - talking about the social benefits of
the arts:
http://che.ojctech.com/~chyn/public/PublicArt/WhereThereIsArt.doc

Flier: More Public Arts - that illustrates where wasteful spending could be
cut to make even more room for arts funding:
http://che.ojctech.com/~chyn/public/PublicArt/MorePublicArts.pdf

Funds Comparison - shows what we spend on items similar to or less of a
priority than art:
http://che.ojctech.com/~chyn/public/PublicArt/FundsComparison.doc


QUESTIONS?
Contact Council Member and former Public Arts Task Force Chair Danielle
Chynoweth at chyn at ojctech.com or 344-0183.
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