The Art of the Matter
After sitting for an hour and listening to the arts community cry bloody murder about proposed cuts in funding, I decided to go check and see how much they actually get from the taxpayers. Back in May the City-County Council passed an ordinance giving the arts groups more than $1.5 million. Here’s a breakdown of what each organization received. The number in parenthesis is how much of the grant makes up their operating budget.
- American Pianist Association – $35,000 (2.27%)
- Art With a Heart – $10,000 (4.32%)
- Asante Children’s Theatre – $10,000 (4.32%)
- Big Car Media – $3,000 (4.99%)
- Children’s Museum of Indianapolis – $85,000 (1.04%)
- Claude McNeal Production – $3,000 (0.88%)
- Clowes Memorial Hall Butler University – $41,000 (1.28%)
- Dance Kaleioscope – $56,000 (4.77%)
- Eteljorg Museum of American Indian Western Art – $85,000 (2.22%)
- Encore Vocal Arts – $10,000 (11.34%)
- Festival Music Society – $7,000 (4.48%)
- Footlite Musicals – $5,000 (0.94%)
- Freetown Village – $40,500 (26.22%)
- Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre – $16,000 (4.48%)
- Harrison Center for the Arts – $12,000 (2.82%)
- Heartland Truly Moving Pictures – $20,000 (0.61%)
- Indiana Historical Society – $13,000 (0.13%)
- Indiana Repertory Theatre – $85,000 (1.93%)
- Indiana State Museum Foundation – $61,000 (0.55%)
- Indianapolis Art Center – $62,000 (3.04%)
- Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra – $44,000 (7.37%)
- Indianapolis Children’s Choir – $35,000 (2.75%)
- Indianapolis Civic Theatre – $49,000 (3.10%)
- Indianapolis Museum of Art – $85,000 (0.53%)
- Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art – $9,000 (2.02%)
- Indianapolis Opera – $71,000 (2.91%)
- Indianapolis Symphonic Band – $9,000 (19.21%)
- Indianapolis Symphonic Choir – $85,000 (0.86%)
- Indianapolis Symphonic Orchestra – $71,000 (2.91%)
- Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival – $10,000 (2.70%)
- IndyChoruses – $3,000 (3.16%)
- InterAction Theater – $8,000 (15.81%)
- International Violin Competition of Indianapolis – $40,000 (3.90%)
- Madame Walker Theatre Center – $15,500 (0.99%)
- Motus Dance Theatre – $5,000 (8.60%)
- Music for All – $27,5000 (0.50%)
- New World Youth Orchestras – $8,000 (4.09%)
- Philharmonic Orchestra of Indianapolis – $16,000 (6.36%)
- Phoenix Theatre – $40,000 (8.06%)
- Pike Performing Arts Center – $6,000 (1.72%)
- President Benjamin Harrison Foundation – $5,000 (0.85%)
- Primary Colours – $7,000 (10.50%)
- ShadowApe Theatre Company – $4,000 (7.02%)
- Storytelling arts of Indiana – $31,000 (11.71%)
- Summer Stock Stage – $3,000 (4.22%)
- VSA arts of Indiana – $52,000 (4.23%)
- Young Audiences of Indiana – $62,000 (3.55%)
As you can see, most of what these organizations get from the city makes up a small portion of their actual budgets. On average the city funds about 4.6% of the operating budgets of these organizations. If they are going to go out of business over what amounts to basically an average 1.5% budget cut then maybe they should spend a little less time on art and more on math.
