Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 14:07:15 -0400
From: Heather Johnson
Subject: response to Cathy Holt re: Arts funding in Chatham County
I can appreciate that there is frustration that the Arts Council is not government funded. It’s just that Bock Stewart Petty campaigned and have governed on three guiding priorities: Public Safety, Education and Public Health. The Commissioners chose to fund a new Women’s Shelter because our women and children in danger in Chatham County need a safe place to live when they are in crisis. We also needed to fund teachers in Chatham County. Did you know that Chatham County is the only county in the state to locally fund teachers due to shortfalls coming down from the state and federal government? If the commissioners didn’t have strict priorities we wouldn’t have this funding and our students would lose out. Education would suffer.
Do you know that when the Arts Council funding was addressed by our Chatham County Commissioners, Brian Bock was the first Commissioner to personally show his support for our local artists by committing to give a $200.00 from his own pocket to them? To which all other 4 commissioners followed suit. So to suggest that they don’t support Arts in Chatham just isn’t true.
The County Commissioners currently allocate $250,000 to the Chatham County Economic Development Corporation. It is a very diverse board and they have full discretion on the use of those funds. The Arts Council keeps making the case (and I agree with them!) that Arts are an economic driver for our county to include tourism and artists businesses alike. Then why aren’t they applying for funding through the EDC?
Why not? If they did, and if the board agreed that it would be a good use of ED funds, then some would be allocated. Instead the arts organizations ave focused on requesting money through the non-profit grant procedure.
The commissioners have struggled to meet the requests by non-profits who focus on education, housing, and feeding those most in need – this approach to governance is totally in line with their stated priorities. They have stated that they cannot justify taking money away from these other non-profits to give to the arts which by their admission is an economic development activity not a housing, hunger or education issue.
I hope this helps to clarify why keeping Bock Stewart and Petty for another four years is good for Chatham County.
Heather Johnson
919-444-1186