White Cross School

Earl Scruggs

Did you know that eleven musicians from western North Carolina have been awarded a National Heritage Fellowship—the country’s greatest honor in the traditional arts? Or that the banjo was introduced to western North Carolina by African slaves migrating west from the Piedmont to the South Carolina Low Country? Of course, North Carolina has since produced a number of historic banjo players, including Shelby’s Earl Scruggs, who arguably took the banjo mainstream with his three-finger pickin’ style and his Grammy-winning song, “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.”

All this and more can be found in a new guidebook from UNC Press: Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina: A Guide to Music Sites, Artists, and Traditions of the Mountains and Foothills.

“Not only is there more community-based performance of traditional music in North Carolina, it’s more accessible than anywhere I’ve been,” said author and folklorist Fred Fussell. “Anybody who’s interested can find it, fifty-two weeks a year.”

From April’s MerleFest in Wilkesboro to the Pop Ferguson Blues Festival in downtown Lenoir this summer, there are no shortage of ways to enjoy North Carolina’s good-time music throughout the year. Not only that, but traditional music has seen a revival of sorts among the younger generations, many of whom are picking up the banjo or the fiddle for the first time.

Jan Davidson, executive director of the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown and a traditional musician, has witnessed the same thing at his popular school, which emphasizes noncompetitive learning.

“We’ve always attracted a lot of retired folks, but in the last four or five years, young adults in their 20s and 30s want to both learn to play and to make traditional instruments,” said Davidson, who grew up in nearby Murphy. The school also hosts free weekly concerts, community dances, regional and national acts, and a fall festival featuring artisans, music and dance.

Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina is part of “North Carolina Arts Trails,” a program of the North Carolina Arts Council. This program also includes NCWN member Georgann Eubanks and her Literary Trails series. For more information, visit http://www.ncliterarytrails.org/.

Representative Tom Tillis (Rep, 98) is the Speaker of the NC House

In the proposed state budget released Monday, May 20, the North Carolina Arts Council saw their operating budget slashed by a disproportionate amount in relation to other programs in the NC Department of Cultural Resources. The state’s proposed budget doubled the cuts recommended by Governor Pat McCrory. Such a drastic reduction to the NCAC’s operating budget would have detrimental and in some cases fatal results for many arts organizations throughout our state.

We asked for your help, and your responded.

And it’s time again: time to pick up your phone, write another letter, and type another e-mail. The House General Government Committee, which recommends funding for the North Carolina Arts Council, began deliberating the budget on Tuesday. The House budget is expected within two weeks. Now is the time to prevent the debilitating cuts recommended by the Senate by contacting your House Representative.

Please contact your representative no later than Tuesday, June 3.

How? Call your legistlator at home this weekend. Call their office. Write a letter (postmarked by May 30!). Send an e-mail.

Not sure who your representative is? Click here. Not sure how to contact them? Click here.

What should you say?

Please sustain 2012-2013 grants and administrative funding to the North Carolina Arts Council of $7,413,423.  This amount represents a 27% reduction since 2008. If the Senate budget which calls for further reductions were accepted, the North Carolina Arts Council would sustain 37% cuts resulting in disproportionate and devastating impact on programs and services in all 100 counties of North Carolina.

See additional talking points here.

Click here for a sample letter. Click here for a sample e-mail.

ARTS North Carolina, the advocacy group for the arts in our state, released the following “things we have learned.” Let’s all keep this list in mind as we respond to this call to action.

1. Be careful of aggressive tone and tenure, particularly with phone calls. Stay on this side of passion and do not cross over into anger nor take out frustrations on Legislative Assistants.
2. We are hearing from several Legislators that the House budget is going to be more closely aligned with the Governor’s budget. The Governor’s budget recommended a 6% decrease in grant funds and no cuts in administration. The Senate more than doubled the total recommended cuts.
3. If a Legislator asks you “what can you live with?” say, “We are asking for 2012-2013 level funding as we have already been cut 27% since 2008. However, at the very least please take the Governor’s recommendation of no more than 6% cuts to grants programs.”
4. One Legislator suggested that advocates be very specific on the effect of further cuts on their community’s programs and services. One advocate said if Grassroots Arts funding were cut anymore, they would likely lose their Arts In the Schools programs.
5. One Legislator had the misconception that grants are given out to anyone who asks. The advocate had the opportunity to talk about the rigorous criteria of the North Carolina Arts Council’s grants process. In the same conversation with this conservative budget hawk, the advocate was able to connect with the concept of “public good”. The point is, you don’t know the Legislator’s issues until you talk to them.
6. You can emphasize that the North Carolina Arts Council is much more than a granting agency. The staff “drives big ideas” such as the Smart Initiative. Highlight Secretary of Commerce Sharon Decker’s position that tourism, arts, and culture are one of the five pillars of North Carolina’s economic development plan because she just presented her plan to Legislators this week. Connect the dots. The North Carolina Arts Council is the implementer of Commerce’s Plan.

Also, if you receive any communication other than an obvious “form” communication, please let Arts North Carolina know asap at advocacy@artsnc.org.

Thank you to the many Network members who responded to Monday’s Call to Action. We thought you would want to see the update below, especially the news that legislators took note of your many phone calls and e-mails. They have learned—in case they didn’t already know—that we’re paying attention.

Please note that this is just an update; we’re not asking you to take any action at this time. In order to be as effective as possible, our action needs to be coordinated and consistent. We’ll be sure to pass along the next Call to Action as soon as we receive it, and we’re pleased and proud to know how many Network writers will be sure to answer that call.

Sincerely,

Ed Southern
Executive Director
North Carolina Writers’ Network
ed@ncwriters.org

***

NC General Assembly

From our friends at ARTS North Carolina:

On late Sunday evening, the Senate released its Biennium budget for 2013-2015. The North Carolina Arts Council’s grants programs were significantly targeted for reductions along with cuts to the NC Museum of Art while other agencies within Cultural Resources were left unscathed. In the first year, North Carolina Arts Council grants would be reduced by $500,000R and Administration by $250,000R; in the second year the grants would be reduced by an additional $280,380R.

The Senate General Government Committee was scheduled to “hear” the budget at 4pm on Monday. Advocates with members on the committee and big budget chairs were responsive and dynamic in their phone calls to Legislative offices requesting an explanation in the committee meeting for the disproportionate and debilitating cuts, and we thank you for doing your job so well. Legislators commented about the many calls they received.

The budget was a “done deal” by the time it was released on Sunday night. Word was out that “no amendments will be taken.” The Senate General Government budget includes money to implement tax reform, and because tax reform is far from certain, General Government Chair Tommy Tucker indicated there would likely be “more money” later in the budget process. He also advised us to look to the House to restore the funding.

As of today’s update, there is no explanation or plausible reason for the intentional and targeted cuts. Senate leadership continues to blame “Medicaid surprises” for the cuts which would be reasonable except revenues are up and the bottom line of the budget grew by 2.3%. No explanation has been given for why the cuts to the department could not be fairly applied across the board or why the Secretary was not given “management flexibility” to determine where cuts would be made.

Consider this fact: The entire cut to the Department of Cultural Resources was $692,000 in the first year. The cuts to the North Carolina Arts Council were $750,000. How can this math be correct? Money is simply reallocated to other agencies within Cultural Resources, and the Secretary was not consulted on the allocations.

If the Senate cuts were allowed to stand, the North Carolina Arts Council will have sustained a 37% reduction in per capita allocation since 2008-2009. While other states began their battles with extreme bills or gubernatorial mandates that eliminated their arts councils, North Carolina is experiencing a slow and debilitating dismantling of public support for the arts across the state. Arts North Carolina will no longer take a complacent and understanding position about the state’s economic woes. We must bring the force of our reach and the passion and facts of our industry to restoring this funding.

You can be absolutely certain that Arts North Carolina will not quit to the day the Governor signs the budget. Please make advocacy a priority in the next six weeks and follow each and every Call to Action.

While our office is reluctant to send multiple “urgent” Call to Action alerts, you can expect that at least three more wholesale actions will be necessary in the budget process.

Please follow the timing and directions…if we ask you to phone, take that action.

If we ask you to write a hard copy letter, take that action.

One of our strategies will be to seek their attention from different directions and at strategic points in the budget process.

Stay tuned. The war is far from over. And please be reminded that we have changed the outcome before and we will again. One person at a time.

Senator Pete Brunstetter (Rep, 31)

From our friends at the North Carolina Arts Council:

Last night the Senate released its Biennium budget for 2013-2015. We are profoundly disappointed and concerned that Senate leadership has disproportionately targeted the North Carolina Arts Council for debilitating cuts of $1.78 million to the grants programs and administration.

This recommendation represents a 8% reduction in support of the North Carolina Arts Council for the Biennium budget and is significantly more than any other agency in the Cultural Resources budget recommendations. This reduction follows a pattern of dismantling the North Carolina Arts Council as the agency has experienced a 37% reduction in per capita funding over the past six years. We must speak up and voice our outrage at these recommendations.

It is evident that this action was intentional. The North Carolina Arts Council was the agency in Cultural Resources most affected by the Senate’s budget proposal. Some agencies received no reductions at all.

Today the Senate General Government will meet at 4pm. It is imperative that we ask the Senate budget leadership to go on record explaining this targeted and devastating cut to arts funding that reaches all 100 counties while some single institutions and other grant programs were left unscathed. Staff will be on hand to hear their responses and will report back to the field.

By 4pm today, Monday May 20, please call Senator Pete Brunstetter’s office at 919-733-7850 and leave this message:

We are very disappointed in the disproportionate cuts in the Senate budget to the North Carolina Arts Council which represents an 8% reduction in agency support over the two year budget. We respectfully request an explanation of this action.

It is unlikely that the Senate General Government Committee will meet again after today. The Senate budget is scheduled to pass without amendment this week and move to the House. Advocates should expect intensive Call to Action requests restore the funding in the House budget. Please TAKE ACTION NOW so that Senate leadership must go on record for their actions.

Ok loyal blog readers, go grab your telephone!

From the North Carolina Center for Non-Profits:

Last week, state Senate leaders said their tax reform plan would eliminate your non-profit’s sales tax refunds. Your non-profit also would have to pay sales tax on all services you buy, such as accounting services, legal counsel, and many other non-personnel expenses. This adds up to nearly $1 billion in new taxes on non-profits every year. Various tax reform proposals could also:

• Eliminate tax incentives for individuals and businesses to give to non-profits; and
• Force your non-profit to charge sales tax on the services you offer.

Please call your state Senator by this Thursday afternoon. Click for their contact information. If you can also call your state Representative, that would be great too.

Suggested messages:

I live in your district, and I’m calling with a very simple message: It is critically important that tax reform not harm non-profits. I’m particularly concerned about proposals that would:

1. Eliminate non-profit sales tax refunds;
2. Eliminate tax incentives for individuals and businesses to contribute to non-profits; and
3. Extend the sales tax to services offered by non-profits like child care, health care, admission to arts, and youth camps. (Feel free to use other examples of services your non-profit offers.)

•  My organization is proud to be part of our state’s non-profit sector. Without non-profits, the quality of life here would not be good enough to attract business and keep jobs here.
• Tax reform that harms non-profits would force us to reduce services, serve fewer people in the district, and eliminate jobs. This would hurt our economy and make it harder to recruit new jobs.
• I understand it’s important to update our tax code – but please do not do this on the backs of non-profits and all the citizens we serve.

Then, please let us know who you contacted and how they responded. You are helping your non-profit and the whole non-profit sector.

Thank you for the important work you do every day.

David Heinen
Director of Public Policy and Advocacy
N.C. Center for Nonprofits
dheinen@ncnonprofits.org 919-790-1555, ext. 111
www.ncnonprofits.org