Carolina Arts Unleashed

I know I touched on this subject before in this blog and I mentioned it in my commentary in the Jan. 09 issue of Carolina Arts, but I’m going into this puzzling situation in some detail, and that takes more space than I’ll ever have in the paper.

Now, the claim from these two entities is that they are both separate organizations. The SC Arts Commission is a SC State arts agency and the SC Arts Foundation is a separate arts non-profit - independent of each other.

But here’s part of the picture of reality. The SC Arts Foundation has a separate board - made up of members - some of whom are SC Arts Commission board members, past board members, and staff members of the Arts Commission. The Arts Foundation’s only known contact is an employee of the SC Arts Commission - Rusty Sox. And, if you want to call the Arts Foundation, you have to call the SC Arts Commission.

That’s what they call being totally independent - while at the same time they are dependent on the Arts Commission for almost everything I can find out about them. I’m sure their records are kept at the Arts Commission’s office in Columbia, SC. In fact, pretty much the only information you can find about the SC Arts Foundation is posted on the SC Arts Commission’s website. So when the Arts Foundation says it has forged a strategic partnership with the Arts Commission - you can bank on that.

This is what is posted on the SC Arts Commission’s website.
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The SCAF has forged a strategic partnership with the S.C. Arts Commission, the state’s government arts agency, linking its mission to the Arts Commission’s goals of :

* Artist development
* Arts education
* Community development through the arts

While operating independently of one another, the partnership between these two key statewide organizations allows them to maximize resources and realize the greatest impact from programming and financial support statewide. Working with the S.C. Arts Commission, the SCAF has helped advance the arts in South Carolina in some significant ways:

* Funding artist training and development through Artist Fellowships.
* Designating proceeds from Driven by the Arts license plate sales to benefit in-school artist residencies and other arts education programs in schools and communities across the state.
* Purchasing new work for the State Art Collection - the state’s growing collection of contemporary South Carolina visual art.
* Recognizing outstanding achievement in the arts through its support of the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner/Governor’s Awards for the Arts.
* Providing exhibition and sales opportunities for South Carolina’s visual artists with the Verner Art Sale.
* Giving the private and business communities an opportunity to support the statewide growth of the arts through tax-deductible contributions.

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This is what the SC Arts Foundation’s stated purpose is. But due to State budget cuts, the SC Arts Commission announced that it would suspend adding to the State Art Collection this year and cancel the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner/Governor’s Awards for the Arts, the awards luncheon and the Verner Art Sale. That’s three of the Arts Foundation’s six functions. Leaving - funding the Artist Fellowships, deciding where funds go from license plate sales to arts education and taking in donations from the private and business community.

Let’s take the license plate sales out of the picture. I have no problem with this program - arts education needs all the funding it can get, but this program can’t put a lot of burden on the Arts Foundation.

Then there is the Artist Fellowships - six a year at $5,000 a pop - unless that has been cut this year too - which amounts to $30,000. Again, not a big burden for the Art Foundation (more about that later).

That leaves taking in donations from the private and business communities.

If I was an arts group in the non-profit arts community in South Carolina - I’d have a problem with this part of the SC Arts Foundation. You’re in competition with an organization and its twin agency, the SC Arts Commission, to secure money from the only other group - other than government agencies. And they’re the ones giving out awards to those who support the arts (business and private sector). To whom would you rather give money - a group who will give you their unending thanks, until next year - or the group who can give you statewide recognition in the form of a major award - even though no one is getting an award this year. Frankly, with all the non-profit arts groups in SC, I think there are plenty of opportunities for businesses and private individuals to support the statewide growth of the arts through tax-deductible contributions - who needs another one to do it for them?

So here’s a couple of big questions to wonder about. Why is the SC Arts Commission cutting from its budget three of the six functions of the SC Arts Foundation and what will the Arts Foundation be doing with half of its purpose for being - shut down this year? I mean what are they going to be spending their time doing - concentrating on collecting more donations?

Well, I know they now have set up a way to take electronic donations on - the SC Arts Commission’s website. I would wonder if there is some State law about that???

So what kind of money are we talking about anyway? Not sure. I’m sure there is someplace where the SC Arts Foundation has to register an Annual Report as a non-profit, but it’s not offered with all the other info about them that exist on the Arts Commission’s website. But this is what I found on the website of the Office of the Secretary of State for SC.
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South Carolina Arts Foundation, 1989 (that’s the year they registered with the Secretary of State)
Patrick Van Huss, CEO
c/o South Carolina Arts Commission
1800 Gervais St.
Columbia, SC 29201

Exemption Status: Registered: Information from this organization’s annual financial report is listed below.

The following is financial information that has been provided to the Office of the Secretary of State by the above-named organization. Figures are for the organization’s fiscal year 7/1/2007 - 6/30/2008.

TOTAL REVENUE: $271,688.00
PROGRAM EXPENSES: $205,301.00
TOTAL EXPENSES: $211,209.00

According to the financial information filed with this office, this organization devoted 97.2% of its total expenses to program services during the year reported.

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That’s the info they provided to the Secretary of State.

First off I want to take exception to the statement made above where the Arts Foundation says in their own description - “these two key statewide organizations” - spending $200,000 doesn’t make you a “key” statewide organization - even in this small state. That’s way, way under expense levels of many of SC’s nonprofit arts organizations - even some artist guilds. What makes them so key with so little money? Maybe it’s who they are attached to?

You’ll notice that there was a $5,908 difference between the Foundation’s program expenses and total expenses. Can this be a fee paid to the Arts Commission or to Rusty Sox? Don’t know. You should also notice that for that fiscal year the Arts Foundation had a left over amount of $60,479.

Now if we subtract the $30,000 for the Artists Fellowships ($5,000 each for six awards) for this year (the only financial obligation left them this year) - even if the Arts Foundation didn’t take in any donations this year - that leaves a remaining $30,000 plus some change.

Like I said before, we’re not counting money taken in for license plates - that is going to art education projects anyway, so there is no need to factor that money into anything. It should already be factored into their programing expenses.

They are not putting any money into purchasing works for the State Art Collection - so the only other expense left was the Verner Awards. And of course the big awards luncheon - a.k.a. - the big party.

The Verner Awards amount to seven awards a year and not knowing how much those statues cost, you have to wonder if the real problem this year was that there wasn’t enough money left for the big party. Could this be why these awards were cut? ($30,000 divided by 7 = $4,285. Do you think they are paying that much for those statues? Don’t know. But, I’m not really sure why these awards were cut - again from the Arts Commission’s budget - when the Arts Foundation says it pays for this program.

Besides seven entities not getting the recognition this year - artists, art administrators, business supporters, etc. - the other victims here are the artists who used to sell works at the luncheon. And, of course the Governor of SC - since these are supposed to be his awards. Maybe there is more to this cut than money. After all the Governor did call for the cuts to the Commission’s budget. Of course he could have given them an exemption to budget cut, so maybe this is payback. Who knows? It’s just something to think about.

Well it’s not hard to believe that this year it is harder for the Arts Foundation to pull in donations from SC’s private and business communities, but it is just as hard to believe that the Foundation hasn’t taken in any donations since July of 2008. But we won’t know that until the Arts Foundation files their 7/1/2008 - 6/30/2009 fiscal year financial info with the Secretary of State. And that won’t be until near the end of 2009 - if that. These non-profits don’t always file on time.

The point of all this is - what, if anything, does purchases for the State Art Collection and the Verner Awards have to do with reducing the SC Arts Commission’s budget - when funding for these programs are supposed to be provided by the SC Art Foundation? I can understand that if the Foundation’s revenues are down or nonexistent that their programs would have to be stopped, but how does cutting these two things reduce the Arts Commission’s budget - because they were listed by the Arts Commission as ways they were reducing their budget.

It’s a puzzle. A real puzzle.

Now, I don’t spend a lot of time pondering this puzzle, but I’m sure I spend more time on it then these two groups would like. But it makes you wonder what is going on here.

Did the Arts Commission just pad their list of where they would be making cuts to their budget? Don’t know. I do know we’ll never see a detailed flow of expenses by either organization.

It’s just another couple of items we’ll never know about the SC Arts Commission.

Like suspending purchases of art for the State Art Collection. Is this really a cut? I haven’t seen any info about these purchases for several years. I checked the Arts Commission’s archive of press release - back to Aug. 2005 and there was no mention of art purchases. Looking at the Arts Commission’s website where they post info about the collection - all 441 works - I couldn’t find but a couple of works with dates in 2006 and only one with a date of 2007. Of course they could have purchased a shipload of works that were produced in previous years, but you would think they would at least brag about it - they’re not usually shy about bragging about what they do or what they provide to the citizens of South Carolina.

Of course this is another responsibility of the Arts Commission’s busy Visual Arts Coordinator - unless the Arts Foundation really does have something to do with this program. But my guess is that this is a failing program the Arts Commission is trying to keep quiet about. That’s why it been under the radar of public information for some years now. There never was much public disclosure about the program anyway.

Let’s revisit those fiscal year 7/1/2007 - 6/30/2008 financial figures. The Arts Foundation reported that they spent $205,301 on programs. Take out the $30,000 for the Artists Fellowships - that leaves $175,301. The only other things the Arts Foundation says it funds is purchases for the State Art Collection, money from license plates to arts education, and the Verner Awards - and of course the luncheon - or what I like to call the big party.

If we divide the remaining funds by 3 that gives $58,433 to each of those three programs. But… $58,433 seems a little high as revenue coming in from license plates. If you buy a plate from the Arts Commission at $170 each - they only had 200, that equals $34,060) and the highway department sells them for $70 - that would equal 349 people buying license plates. There are not that many people who support the arts in SC and we’re a small state. I don’t think 349 people purchased Driven by the Arts license plates that year.

$58, 433 would purchase a very nice piece of art for the State Art Collection - if they did buy anything during that fiscal period. But, we don’t know.

And, $58,433 seems like it would buy seven Verner Awards and throw a very nice luncheon - which most people have to purchase an expensive ticket to attend.

If you take out any large purchase of art for the State Collection and say maybe 200 people purchased license plates - that would leave a lot of money for the Verner Awards. But, it’s hard to imagine that they were spending nearly $100,000 for those seven awards and that luncheon. Isn’t it - or is it?

Other than the $30,000 for the Artists Fellowships, speculating where the other $175,301 the Arts Foundation spent during that year is - well speculation. But we do know they spent the money on something. And, I guess we know that the Arts Foundation or the Arts Commission doesn’t have that money this year to spend on these programs.

We also know that the Arts Foundation has had 50 percent of its stated function reduced. Or do we - remember the Arts Commission is claiming these programs as reductions to their budget.

It’s so confusing.

The fact is we do know that those people and organizations who received funding support from the SC Arts Commission took a 25 percent cut - due to mandated State budget cuts - 14 percent right away and the remainder being held in reserve by the Arts Commission - just in case more cuts are called for - and they are being called for as I write this. But I, for one, am not really sure what kind of cuts the Arts Commission is really taking themselves. This business of listing cuts that are supposedly funding provided by the SC Arts Foundation leaves me wondering how up front the Arts Commission is being with us and the State. It’s not the first time I have had a lack of trust for info provide by the Arts Commission and I’m sure it’s not going to be the last.

I also don’t like the fact that a State employee is working for a private non-profit - strategic partnership or not. Is this the only case? I think not. There have been other instances where services have been rendered to a few that are not really being offered to all. Like helping law firms find art for their offices.

But, when you’re a small State agency (small in terms of total budget) you don’t get a lot of oversight. You just don’t concern State auditors or legislators. You’re pocket change in their view.

And, don’t even think about a newspaper like The State investigating these puzzling items. They’re being supportive of the arts and besides they’ve received a Verner Award for their support of the arts.

And, all I can do is deliver a little sting occasionally - like a no-see’um. You know, those little pesky bugs near the marsh. I’m just giving people something to think about. And, I hope they do.

P.S. We have now learned that the SC Budget and Control Board has issued a 7 percent across-the-board cut to state agencies in addition to cuts passed earlier this fiscal year.

Here’s what the SC Arts Commission’s answer is to this call for cuts. “To implement this most recent cut, the agency will: Increase the number of mandatory staff furlough (unpaid leave) days from four to seven; Reduce most current (FY09) grants by an additional 4 percent, bringing the total cumulative grant reduction for most grantees to 18.2 percent; and Continue to reserve 25 percent of original grant awards pending additional mid-year cuts. This latest cut brings the cumulative total cut to the agency’s budget for FY 2009 to 23.9 percent. The agency continues to do everything it can internally to reduce costs while maintaining service to constituents.”

I don’t care how you say it - if you are holding 25 percent of grant monies from organizations in reserve that’s a 25 percent cut. Three more days of unpaid leave still leaves all their staff members with a job and full benefits. SCETV, SC’s public TV and Radio network laid off 43 employees - now that’s an internal cut. Saying you’re taking a 23.9 percent cut while everyone else has taken a 25 percent cut doesn’t exactly make everyone think the agency is doing everything it can to reduce costs while maintaining service to constituents. I’m not buying that and I don’t think their constituents are either, and I know the people they don’t serve think it’s justice finally served, but they don’t see where the pain is. I can’t find it either.

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On Oct. 14, 2008, I posted comments wondering how the SC Arts Commission would make cuts to its budget as the State of SC was facing an almost half a billion dollar shortfall. At that time people were thinking 10% cuts were in line. In my comments, I doubted that the Commission would take much of the brunt of the cuts on themselves and made suggestions where some cuts could be made. But, I expected the real cuts to come in services to the arts and the public.

By Oct. 22, 2008, Jeffrey Day in The State newspaper in Columbia, SC, our capital city, offered an article where he used the 10% figure and offered quotes from a commission staff member that this figure might just represent the start of cuts. There wasn’t much offered in the article about any cuts the Arts Commission would make on itself.

Day often runs blocking plays for the Arts Commission so I expected as much from his article. Let’s see if he has a follow-up story on the real cuts.

Well, now I’ve heard from a source that those individuals and groups who received grants from the Arts Commission had their funds cut by 25% - 14.2% is an immediate cut and the other half will be held by the Commission - in case of further cuts down the road. If you don’t know - grantees never get all the money up front when they receive funding from the Arts Commission - so the Arts Commission always has control of the money.

This is kind of like a temporary tax issued to raise funds for a project and once the project is finished the tax is dropped, but the tax never seems to get dropped. The house never loses - they’re holding all the cards.

This same source said that the Commission for its part would be cutting its administrative budget 14.2% through a number of measures, including 4-day furloughs by all of their employees, reduction in leased vehicles, and staff reduction through attrition. They’re also going to suspend the Verner Awards for this year - one of my recommendations. More about that later.

I don’t like making comments on third party info - although I appreciate the heads up. I like to comment on public record - directly offered or in newspaper reports. So I had to wait to see if this info would become public - which isn’t always the case when it comes to the SC Arts Commission. Finally the information about the cuts was posted on the Arts Commission’s website. You can read the full details here (http://www.southcarolinaarts.com/about/fy09budgetcuts.shtml).

So let’s take a look at the cuts the Commission is making to itself.

Do you feel their pain? Four days off work without pay, but you still have your job and all the benefits that come with it. Let’s see that’s less than one week out of 52. That’s a 2% cut in salary - what a sacrifice. The length of the furloughs is not mentioned in the Arts Commission’s press release - probably for the calculation I just made, but I’ll go with my source on this one.

The Commission will reduce its leased vehicles from three to one. This means the staff will be sitting in Columbia most of the time - a plus for Columbia’s art community - not so good for the rest of the art community in SC. Of course they could drive their own cars to meet with people in the hinterlands, but we’ll see about that one. They say they are reducing most travel plans and will hold all commission meetings in Columbia. Oh no - no Commission board meeting in Charleston during the Spoleto Festival. Now there’s some real pain. So, the results here are further costs for others who have to deal with the Commission by traveling to Columbia.

They will outright cancel planned publications, other printing and mailings - meaning even less communications with the art community and public. This has to be seen as a benefit of the call for budget cuts by the Arts Commission, but didn’t their leader just win a national award from her peers for her communicating skills? Timing is everything.

And, if someone leaves their job - they won’t rehire to fill the position, but if no one leaves, they don’t do anything. Some temporary staff positions will be reduced. Who knows who they are - most people don’t know who all works for the Arts Commission to begin with. What do they all do? Remember, SC has one of the largest arts agency staffs in the region and nation.

The Commission will suspend State Art Collection purchases. That’s a big cut - I haven’t heard of any additions to the collection in years. And no Verner Awards this year! Another big sacrifice for the Commission board members.

Wait a minute - isn’t the funding for the Art Collection and the Verner Awards functions of the SC Arts Foundation - a totally separate group from the Arts Commission? What would cuts to the State agency have to do with those programs? Or are they really one in the same? What gives here? Did they fall for my little trap - trying to make people mad at me for recommending this cut, and by making it so - expose that there is no difference between the two. Why would they have to make this cut? Is the cost of the award statues and a press release posted on their website that much? Or is this a way to make the artists feel the Arts Commission’s pain. Announce the awards and give them the statue - without your party. Is the award just a product of the party?

In other words - the Arts Commission won’t be making much of a sacrifice itself, while all the people they serve will take a 25% cut - 14.2 right away and more to come if needed. I’m betting it will be needed to protect the Arts Commission from further sacrifices.

What they are doing is settling into their offices in Columbia and waiting for retirement - services be dammed.

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The State of South Carolina is in financial trouble due to a reduction in projected revenue. Who isn’t? The Governor of SC is calling for the heads of State agencies to come up with ideas to reduce their budgets by 10 percent - before the State Legislature has to do it. I’m wondering what Suzette Surkamer, Executive Director of the South Carolina Arts Commission will do.

Will Surkamer cut 10 percent of programs and services or 10 percent of administration overhead - like staff? My guess is cuts will be in programing, grants and services. But she will feel really bad about it.

I have a few suggestions. First Surkamer could retire. She’s been working for the Arts Commission for over 30 years. She could move on and others could move up the ladder and leave a vacancy at the bottom of the chain. Surkamer has been at the top long enough and that would put a big dent in that 10 percent figure.

Surkamer could cut the position of Visual Arts Coordinator. We’re not getting much out of that person anyway. I’m not sure too many would even notice the difference. A very few would, but not many.

Surkamer could cut the Arts Commission’s Regional Media Arts Center. The Center provides resource and network information for film/video exhibitions in ten southeastern states. Let a richer state handle this service. Our state has a separate film office anyway. She might argue that the center brings in revenue from those other states, but we are picking up the overhead.

Surkamer could also tell the SC Arts Foundation that they would have to get their own office, phone number and staff. But that wouldn’t really save much, since both organizations are one in the same. The Foundation is just a shadow organization which acts as a slush fund for the Arts Commission. If the Foundation is real - what a good time for them to get to work and bring in some money to make up for the loss of that 10 percent. The Foundation could cut the party surrounding the Verner Awards, but then without the party - why give awards?

Well it’s going to be a hard job. But she’ll probably just tell everyone to take a 10 percent cut across the board - as if that’s the fair thing to do - even though it’s not - staff salaries and benefits are probably protected by contracts, but programs, grants and services are not.

We’ll soon see what happens.

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During one of the early mornings on my last delivery run of the paper it came to 5am and I tuned into the local public radio station in South Carolina. I was listening to National Public Radio’s (NPR) Morning Edition and during one of the local station breaks the SC Arts Commission’s Arts Daily came on promoting some event to take place in August. This was July 2 and they were promoting an event that wouldn’t take place until the next month. It seems like I had been hearing a lot of those announcements from Arts Daily lately - as if nothing was going on - this day, or within a few days - worth promoting. I knew there were lots of visual art events taking place right now, but they were not being promoted.

It also seems that the promotion of some events go on for at least a week if not longer. And, I also remember hearing Arts Daily promotions of events taking place in July and August during the Spoleto and Piccolo Spoleto Festivals (May 23 - June 9). The Festivals get a lot of promotion from the local public radio station but a lot of events taking place got little mention - if any. So why was Arts Daily promoting events taking place months away?

Now this is the vocal part of Arts Daily - which is also a website that anyone can go to and see what’s going on in South Carolina that day or in the future (up to a certain point in time). So only a few selected items from off the website are mentioned on the radio spots which air several times daily on SCETV - South Carolina’s Education Television and Radio Network. I don’t know why it’s not called SCETVR?

The way Arts Daily works - the people presenting these art events can go on the SC Arts Commission’s website and add an event. The presenters do the work for the Arts Commission by adding these event listings. The Arts Commission is just hosting the site. This was a point I had to explain to several of the Arts Commission staff members at a meeting once. They didn’t know much about how it worked.

Another beef I have as a SC taxpayer is that they promote a lot of events taking place in North Carolina - mostly Charlotte. Don’t get me wrong - I have nothing against North Carolina’s art community - we do a fair amount of promoting the visual arts there ourselves, but no SC taxpayer is assisting us in doing so. We’re a private business.

It would be one thing if while I’m driving around NC listening to their public radio stations I heard a few promotions for SC arts, but I don’t. There seems to be no reciprocity on NC’s part.

Also because Arts Daily is self-serve and un-monitored - artists from all over the county and elsewhere have been linking themselves to the web links page. It didn’t take long to find out that artists with names like Alexander Sadoyan, Grant Avakyan, and Lia Chehelashvili - were not local SC artists.

Taxpayers are paying for the promotion of SC’s artists - I think the site and it’s promotion should be just for SC artists. And, if you call something a “Daily” it shouldn’t be about things taking place a month or two away. Lots of art events are going on in SC on a daily basis.

But, then again - they would say - Tom, you’re always so negative. Can’t you celebrate our efforts to promote the arts? Can’t we all just get along?

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