OLYMPIA — Since the COVID-19 pandemic, community arts venues & cultural access programs have struggled to recover, threatening jobs, local economies, and the cultural identity of the state. Today, the Washington House of Representatives passed House Bill 1575, introduced by State Rep. Julia Reed (D-Seattle), to provide communities with the tools they need to keep these programs going.
“The arts, quite simply, saved my life,” said Reed. “As a young person of color growing up in a redlined neighborhood, I never saw people who looked like me, or came from my background, who could give me a sense of what my future could be. It was only through arts education at my school and subsidized community programs that I could finally start to imagine a life beyond the one I had. This bill will help do the same for thousands of other young people just like me.”
Cultural access venues & businesses were among the first to close when the pandemic hit and some of the last to reopen. Despite demonstrating remarkable flexibility, these venues are now fighting for their very survival. And history has shown that if they close, they don’t come back. HB 1575 would allow counties and cities the option of establishing a 0.1 percent cultural access program sales & use tax to keep those doors open.
“Just as a high school football player dreams of one day playing at Lumen Field, an art student, dancer or musician dreams of performing on a large stage, joining a choir, or leading a local festival,” said Reed. “Preserving access to these community venues will help keep those dreams alive.”
The bill passed the House on a vote of 51 to 47. It now moves to the Senate for further consideration.
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