Will PA Be the Last to Go or Many More to Come?

I live in Canada and Canada closely follows what politically happens in the United States, then our politicians sheepishly follow along, usually taking the credit for whatever has been done, unless of course it's bad news.

Actually if you want a snap shot of Canadian politics and how most of Ontario is run politically all you need to do is take a look at California. It will give you a good idea of the political environment I live in.

In Ontario, Toronto being Canada's financial capital didn't follow the financial taillights of the American economy. Neither did most of the rest of Canada otherwise all of North America would be in one heck of a financial mess.

I feel a deep sorrow for what is happening south of me. There's little I can do about it except try and strengthen our own economy, in my own small ways, and hopefully there will be a trickle down effect to assist my Southern neighbour.

However sometimes what comes out of the United States, whether it is from California, where we duplicated their no smoking laws, or some other state, scares the bejesus out of me.

Ontario is not only the financial capital of Canada it is also the Arts capital of Canada. In this province you will find the Toronto Indie Film Festival, the Toronto Walk of Fame, the Canadian Spelling Bee Contest (which links up with its American counterpart for final championships,) some of the largest publishing houses are in Toronto, and … the Toronto Arts Council (TAC) is here.

TAC helps fund thousands of artistic projects, whether that be writing, painting, movie making, sculpturing, your name it, they help fund it.

Well the other day, from the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, came, paraphrased for this article, the following:

—

The Pennsylvania Senate passed its version of the FY 2010 state budget (SB 850) with a 30-20 vote.

The bill eliminates all state grants for arts and culture through the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) and the Pennsylvania Historical and the Museum Commission (PHMC).

But wait! The announcement is far from finished and while this may cause some problems it is nothing compared to what happens when you combine this budget vote with Bill 1416 below.

Dwight Evans, who is the Appropriations Chair presented to the House his budget bill (HB 1416) which includes both PCA and PHMC funding recommendations.

In May the House will make decisions on the proposed legislation and the two bills combined will then make their way into the General Assembly. Why is it, during tough economic times, whether it be in schools or in the country, arts and culture budgets are the first to get slashed? Why not slash high paid salaries of Senators who sleep their way through meetings?

Canada has the same "nodding off", yet no one on either side of the border seems to care. We'll complain, sometimes, but mostly the media takes a picture or films the Senator and David Letterman, Jay Leno or Conan O'Brien would make us all laugh about it. I find nothing funny about the loss of funding to the arts.

If your representative in Pennsylvania was one of the pro arts voters, you should take the time to let them know that you appreciate their foresight.

During tough times it is music, paintings, art in general that give us feelings of joy and happiness and a moment away from these torturous financial times.

There's a web site where you can go to thank your representative who voted favourably for these important issues. You can also use the site to let them know when they are voting contrary to what you believe in. It's the Pennsylvania State Senate Site. While you're there see how your State Senator voted on SB 850.

If you want to make contact with Americans for the Arts, find your state and discover what's happening with your arts and culture funding, locate your Senator, and more you can do so by visiting www.artsusa.org.

If you live in Pennsylvania pressure your representatives to support arts and culture funding, not lower or removes the required budgets when it's most needed.

—

Now you're probably wondering why a Canadian freelance writer is spending time writing about funding in the United States.

Well, as I mentioned above our politicians duplicate many of the political decisions made in the United States and pass them off here in Canada. You could say that I'm trying to nip this in the bud and at the same time bring to America's attention the facts that your funding of arts and culture are being dismantled as you read this.

Hasn't the United States been decimated enough in the past few years? How much more does it take to before people stay up and fight for what taxes paid for in the first place?