BOSTON — The picture being painted for state Sen. Daniel Wolf, D-Harwich, is not too pretty.
Since 2002, the Massachusetts Cultural Council's budget has fallen from $19.1 million to $6.1 million, a 68 percent decrease in funding. The House Ways and Means Committee's budget is set to cut an additional $1.6 million for fiscal 2012.
It will be up to Wolf, the new co-chairman of the cultural caucus with state Rep. William Pignatelli, D-Lenox, to lead a strong effort against budget cuts to programs that are competing for a dwindling amount of grant money to survive.
Wolf said the cultural caucus had not met yet this session other than to elect the co-chairmen, but there's plenty of work to do. "The next step is to pull a meeting together and talk about how we recognize, celebrate and promote the role of arts and culture in the commonwealth," he said.
The cultural caucus is designed to work closely with the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) in developing an agenda of arts and cultural initiatives. The MCC is a state agency focused on providing grants to nonprofit cultural programs. Its partnership with the cultural caucus is meant to enhance its influence.
The cultural caucus was created in January 2010 by the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development. Rep. Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, the committee's chairwoman, said the cultural caucus gives any concerned legislator an opportunity to work toward better funding and initiatives for the arts.
Peake, who nominated Wolf for the chairman post, said the cultural caucus has the potential to gather support for a measure very quickly — a necessity if arts programs are to survive.
"It has power in the sense that there's strength in numbers," she said. "I filed an amendment to increase the MCC's budget, but rather than go and figure out who the MCC's supporters are, I went to the list of who signed up for the caucus, and those were the first people I approached and asked, 'Will you co-sponsor my amendment?' Most of them did."
Peake's amendment would restore the MCC's funding to the $5.4 million recommended in the governor's budget.
The decreased funding to the MCC would affect the local cultural councils that receive state money through the state agency, Peake said. Many school-based programs such as the artists in the classroom program would also suffer or be eliminated.
Although grants are often available for educational programs, Wendy Northcross, one of Wolf's fellow board members on the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, said grant money does not always cover every cost.
"You can't always get grants for day-to-day programs, to keep the lights on, keep the staff hired," Northcross said.
Kevin Howard, executive director of the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, said investment in the arts brings a return to the state in the form of tax dollars. "Here on the Cape, we've got a tourism destination; it also should be an elite cultural destination. I think we've got so many subregions in the Cape that are so strong in the arts. There are lots of strong venues, galleries, theaters, music; we've got a very strong regional symphony," Howard said.
Wolf said he believes the future actions of the cultural caucus are crucial.
"I think it's going to play an important role not only for the region, but for the positioning of arts and culture in the commonwealth," he said.
