ABOUT NH CITIZENS FOR THE ARTS
2012 Board of Directors:
Connie Rosemont, President, Concord, connie.rosemont@gmail.org; Nicki Clarke,Vice President, Amherst, nclarke@ccanh.com; Marilyn Hoffman, Past President, Londonderry, hoffmanmar@museum-search.com; Audrey Sylvester, Secretary, Bradford, asylvester@tds.net; Sara Germain, Treasurer, Dublin, swgermain@earthlink.net; Jaimie Saucier, Manchester, jaimie.saucier@unh.edu; Jeanine Tousignant, Manchester, jeanine@mcmusicshool.org; Eric Valliere, Nashua, eric@nashuasymphony.org; David White, Hopkinton, drwprimemover@yahoo.com; Joanne Wise, Grantham, jwise1143@comcast.net.
Mission: NHCFA is an all-volunteer, membership-supported, nonpartisan organization that advocates for enlightened public policy and public funding in support of the arts, at the municipal, state and federal levels.
Vision: Believing that the arts are important for the education of our children, the vitality of our towns and cities, the health of our economy, and the inspiration and enjoyment of our citizens, New Hampshire Citizens for the Arts advocates for appropriate legislative and financial investment in the arts in order to create an atmosphere where the arts can flourish, and to strengthen opportunities for participation in the arts for all citizens.
Goals:
Sustain and increase public funding for New Hampshire’s artists, arts organizations, cultural facilities, arts-in-education and arts-in-health care programs, through the State’s legislative appropriation for the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, and through local government initiatives.
Sustain and increase federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, whose programs directly benefit the arts in New Hampshire and across the nation.
Inform our members and other citizens about arts advocacy issues and opportunities, and encourage their participation in grassroots action.
Promote legislation that improves conditions for the arts and artists, and discourage legislation that adversely affects the arts.
Advance tax policies favorable to artists and arts organizations.
Provide opportunities for members of the New Hampshire arts community to share information and network.
Elicit arts policies and positions from State and Federal candidates and campaigns and communicate this information to the public.
Strategies:
Conduct direct advocacy using the NHCFA board and membership.
Retain a paid lobbyist at the State level to inform us of opportunities for influence.
Use the Americans for the Art federal lobbyist to inform us of opportunities for influence at the federal level.
Mobilize support for legislation favorable to the arts, and opposition for legislation unfavorable to the arts.
Inform and educate members and the public about opportunities for advocacy through Arts Advocacy Alerts and Updates, our web site, and public workshops and forums.
Disseminate information about arts policy to interested citizens across the state.
Collaborate and partner with other advocacy groups and related organizations.
History:
NH Citizens for the Arts is not a new initiative. In the late 1970s, people representing arts organizations, artists, arts educators, and citizens from all walks of life, came together to support the budget of the State Arts Council and its initiatives. One of these was “Percent for Art,” which passed the legislature in 1979, a program adding ½ of one percent to the cost of most new construction and significant renovations funded through the state capital budget for public art work.
Formalized as ARTS 1000: NH Citizens for the Arts in 1984, with a part-time director who was a registered State House lobbyist, the organization was actively involved during the 1985 legislative session in the largest percentage increase in the State Arts Council’s budget to date, a 150% increase from 13 cents per citizen to 33 cents per citizen. In 1986-87, ARTS 1000 helped introduce legislation known as the Cultural Facilities Bill, establishing an Arts Council program to support the building needs of cultural organizations. ARTS 1000 incorporated as a NH non-profit in March 1987. It maintained an active role during the following few years, and the budget for the Arts Council increased to nearly 50 cents per citizen.
Due to funding fluctuations and economic uncertainties in the 1990s, the organization found it difficult to retain its membership base and was relatively inactive. In October 1997, partially in response to threats to the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities, ARTS 1000 was reconstituted as the New Hampshire Campaign for the Arts and Humanities, an all-volunteer organization, and took an outspoken role in the presidential primary and campaign of 1997-98.
In 2002-03, the organization resumed doing business as New Hampshire Citizens for the Arts (NHCFA). With support from the national arts-service organization, Americans for the Arts, NHCFA was actively involved in the presidential primary and campaign of 2007-08, in an initiative called ArtsVoteNH. It was reincorporated and granted IRS status as a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization in 2008. NH Citizens for the Arts currently operates with a budget of around $8000 a year. Our largest expense is for a part-time lobbyist who represents the interests of the arts community with the State Legislature in Concord.
The economic downturn of the last few years has severely impacted the Arts Council budget, as well as support for the arts across the state. Although the Arts Council’s staff was cut in half in its FY2010 budget, NHCFA helped prevent an equivalent loss in its state appropriated grants funds. In this fiscal year, FY2011, the state appropriation for the Arts Council allows them to spend $462,065 (35 cents per citizen, based on the current NH population of about 1.3 million).
Spring 2011: In the current debate in the NH House on the biennial budget for Fiscal Years 2012 and 2013, a motion has been introduced reducing the Arts Council’s state funded grants to $1 and removing all state-funded positions, effectively eliminating the agency. This is the most serious threat to the Council since it was founded in 1965. Restoring these funds is the urgent immediate priority of NH Citizens for the Arts, as discussed elsewhere in this web site.
