Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Funding for the arts is both a local and state authority. Here in our state, the “Cultural Access Program” is one tool counties and cities have to support public access to arts, science, and heritage programs. They help our schools and students gain access to arts education, and they ensure we have a robust arts economy in our region. You play a big role too, since voter approval is required to set up these dedicated funding mechanisms.
This year, I was really proud to help champion efforts in the legislature to improve the way Cultural Access Programs address smaller communities and organizations, and better serve children of color.
When the state first authorized the creation of cultural access programs, many extra hurdles were placed on King County’s efforts to establish its own program that smaller counties did not face. These included complex requirements and restrictions prescribing how the money would be allocated to different programs and organizations. These restrictions would end up making it harder for smaller community based cultural and arts organizations to access the funds.
I thought this was really unfair for our county and the people who live here. I worked with Sen. Salomon and other state legislators from King County, with advocacy from constituents and King County leaders to pass SB 5792 to give our county more flexibility in distributing these precious arts funds to make equitable access to cultural opportunities possible. The changes will also make it easier to invite cultural programming into our schools, particularly for children who have historically not had the same access. Everyone deserves equitable access to cultural, science, arts, and heritage programming.
Thanks for taking the time to read this update,
