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Working to advance and preserve the arts at the center of Vermont communities.
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Want more information about local and national election officials for 2008? Click below.
The Creative Industries report was done by Americans for the Arts. Creative Industries: Business & Employment in the Arts reports offer a new, research-based approach to understanding the scope and importance of the arts to the nation's economy. While most economic impact studies of the arts have focused on the nonprofit sector, Creative Industries is the first national study that encompasses both the nonprofit and for-profit arts industry.
Open the creative industries report for Vermont (pdf file).
 DO YOU WANT TO ADVOCATE FOR THE ARTS?
The Vermont Arts Council acts as the state's foremost arts advocate, and we need your help! If you're willing to send emails or make phone calls when input from the arts community is most needed, click here to join our Core Arts Advocacy List.
By joining our Core Advocacy list, we can keep you informed via email of ongoing opportunities to advocate for the arts on the regional and national level.
Just click the link above, enter your email address, and select the Core Advocacy list checkbox to subscribe.
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We work throughout the year at the state and national levels to increase funding for the arts and promote public policy that recognizes and supports the vital contribution the arts make to our culture, our schools and our communities.
 Click the button at left to learn about national arts advocacy opportunities.
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The Vermont Arts Council is requesting a $103,000 appropriation to fund community participation in Art Fits Vermont. This appropriation will allow the Arts Council to create a grant program to support community organizations planning Art Fits Vermont events. Listed below are talking points you can use in speaking with your legislators about Art Fits Vermont funding for communities.
| • WHAT WILL THE APPROPRIATION BE USED FOR? |
- The Arts Council will use the entire appropriation to fund community participation in Art Fits Vermont through grants to participating organizations.
- State funding will leverage a similar amount of funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (state match required to receive NEA funds)
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| • WHY IS THE MONEY NEEDED? |
- Funding to participating Art Fits organizations will provide valuable seed money for community projects (can be used for promotion, exhibit expenses, supplies, etc.)
- Palettes of Vermont demonstrated that communities that had even limited resources were able to:
- Leverage additional funding making it possible for them to organize fundraising events and increase participation.
- Increase the visibility of their projects and therefore the draw visitors to their communities.
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| • BENEFITS: |
- Revenue generated in conjunction with the project will exceed $500,000 for local community projects/interests—a 5:1 return on the State’s investment.
- Partnership with VT Department of Tourism & Marketing will provide broad promotion of the project will attract thousands of visitors to the state and into participating towns.
- Visitors will stay longer and travel widely to attend puzzle-related events.
- A notable body of artwork will be displayed in communities across the state and at the Lake Champlain Quadricentennial celebration.
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| • WHERE THIS REQUEST STANDS: |
- The Governor’s recommendation was a $13,640 increase
- The House increased it to $23,640.
- We are asking the Senate to recommend the full $103,000
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| • FACTS AND FIGURES: |
- Palettes of Vermont Impact Study:
- 40,000 people from 247 Vermont towns took part.
- 145 schools and 180 cultural or community organizations participated.
- 280 palette-related community events were held from May-November 2006.
- 32% of palette event attendees traveled 50 miles or more; 26% attended 3-5 events, and 10% attended 6-10 events.
- Sale or auction of palettes generated more than $300,000 in revenue for community organizations—a 5:1 ‘return’ on the Council’s $60,000 investment.
- Art Fits Vermont: Anticipated Impact:
- stimulate economic and community development on the local level through the arts;
- provide a significant cultural component for the Lake Champlain Quadricentennial events in 2009;
- heighten awareness regionally, nationally and internationally of Vermont’s rich and diverse cultural heritage.
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The cultural organizations, community groups, schools and social service agencies that took part in Palettes of Vermont reaped numerous benefits. Most raised valuable funds for local projects through sales of the art and many towns saw a boost in local tourism. The legislative appropriation the Arts Council is requesting will support a grant program that will help participating organizations capitalize on the community and economic development opportunities Art Fits Vermont presents.
Contact your legislators today! Phone, write, e-mail or stop them in the grocery store or at the gas pump. Make your message personal. Tell them about your interest in having your community take part in Art Fits Vermont. Share an experience or tell a story demonstrating the benefit of the project to your community or even specific individuals. Be persuasive in explaining how this funding will make a difference. Ask your legislator to share your message with the appropriate committee.
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| • 1/18/2008 - ADVOCATE FOR ART FITS VERMONT |
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Make your message personal. Share an experience or tell a story demonstrating the benefit of the project to your community or even specific individuals. Be persuasive in explaining how increased funding will make a difference.
Ask your legislator to share your message with the appropriate committee. For Art Fits Vermont funding, the request will be considered by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. (Committee members listed below)
Ask your legislator if there are others that you should lobby. They might suggest you send a letter directly to members of a specific committee. Or they might ask you to gather letters of support from your partners or others that would benefit from a successful project. Click on the names below to send an email!
Senate Appropriations Committee 2007-2008
House Appropriates Committee 2007-2008
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| • 1/18/2008 - COMPETITIVE GRANTS PROGRAM FOR FARMERS' MARKETS |
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This is an important bill for arts advocates. Click on the following link to read this bill as introduced: House Bill H.185. |
| • 1/18/2008 - MUSEUM PROPERTY LEGISLATION |
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The following message is from Ann Lawless, Executive Director of the American Precision Museum, Windsor VT: 802-674-5781.
What is Museum Property Legislation?
Legislation creating a statute of limitations to clarify title to property that has been loaned to museums or is found undocumented in museum collections.
Why Is It Needed?
- To provide legal recourse to address any accumulation of unclaimed and undocumented property in a museum’s possession while also preserving the rights of lenders, donors and claimants to reclaim their property.
- To enable museums and historical organizations to be better stewards of the outstanding collections in their care.
- To help preserve scarce museum resources - money, staff, and space – while incurring no additional costs to taxpayers, and imposing no “unfunded mandates” from Montpelier.
Every museum, every collecting institution, large and small, regardless of discipline, struggles with the same problem: custody of objects lent decades ago for which it is now impossible to trace the lender, and forced custody of objects that were simply left on the doorstep. A museum cannot accession the item because it does not have title; it cannot dispose of the item because of potential liabilities to the lender. Instead, museums are providing care and storage space for things they don’t own.
The dubious nature of undocumented objects makes it difficult for a museum to determine whether legal ownership was ever transferred from the donor to the institution. Without legal title, removing an item from the museum is risky. As priorities for exhibits and programs evolve, and as storage costs rise, museums may increasingly wish to remove unwanted objects - by returning the object to the donor or lender, donating it to another non-profit collecting institution, giving it away or selling it, or, in cases where the object’s condition has deteriorated beyond usefulness, simply throwing it away.
Some objects lack a signed Deed of Gift conveying ownership to the museum. If the object was loaned to the museum, the loan agreement, if there was one, may be long out of date, and the lender or heirs cannot be located. There can be fiscal and legal ramifications if the object was never owned by the museum to begin with, and the rightful owner returns to claim an object that has been removed.
No Vermont Law: Although 34 states have museum-specific laws regarding undocumented objects and old loans, Vermont does not. Vermont’s abandoned property legislation deals with financial, not physical assets.
Current Efforts: The American Precision Museum (APM) is currently engaged in a collections management project thanks to a grant from Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). With help from our trustee Gilbert Whittemore, Esq., of Perkinsville, APM is taking up the VT legislation effort, with the help of Eileen Corcoran of VMGA and Raney Bench, formerly with Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury, now with the Abbe Museum, Bar Harbor, and an advisor on our IMLS project.
Working with Rep. Donna Sweaney, Windsor, and Rep. Don Bostic, St. Johnsbury, Senator Vince Illuzzi, Essex-Orleans District and Legislative Counsel (the lawyers who work for the Legislators), we developed draft legislation based on New Hampshire’s law, which is very short and simple and has the advantage of being from a neighboring state. It has been on the NH books for 20 years, with no appellate court cases, which means it has not raised any major legal issues. The NH museum community has not reported any difficulty using it.
Rep. Donna Sweaney, Windsor, and Rep. Don Bostic, St. Johnsbury, and others introduced the bill in the house. Senator Vince Illuzzi, Essex-Orleans District, Chair, Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs has introduced it in the Senate, and he and Rep. Warren Kitzmiller, Montpelier, Chair, House Commerce Committee, have agreed to take the draft through their committees. Legislative counsel completed both draft bills Dec. 6. Both bills are the same, but they have different numbers – H-0588 and S-0225. The title is “Property on Loan to Museums.”
How You Can Help: Stay tuned to keep abreast of the bills’ progress Contact your legislators and ask them to please support the bill. CC Ann, or send her an email or send me a copy of your correspondence (Others may be able to use your good ideas! Explain how this issue affects your organization and why a new law will benefit you.) Contact Ann at the information above if you have questions or would like more information.
Follow the links below to read this bill as introduced:
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| • 1/7/2008 (from AFTA) - LARGEST INCREASE FOR NEA BUDGET IN 30 YEARS |
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On December 26, 2007, President Bush signed the FY 2008 Omnibus appropriations bill allocating $144.7 million in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts—a $20.3 million increase over last year's funding. This 16 percent increase is the single largest increase for the agency in 30 years and reflects years of advocacy to restore the NEA to the funding levels it once had in the mid-90s. Read more about this increase. |
| • Jan. 2008 - CONVERSATIONS ON THE FUTURE OF VERMONT |
What will our children see as they survey the Vermont landscape fifty years from now? Windmills, suburban shopping, an abundant harvest of local food, a shortage of housing, regional collaboration, a population shift? These are some of the ideas presented to the Council on the Future of Vermont (CFV) on its second stop in a 14 county tour around the state to learn what Vermonters see as the challenges and opportunities ahead. Over the course of the next year, VCRD will meet with community members in large pubic forums and small stakeholder groups to learn more about the aspirations and concerns of Vermonters. On December 4th, VCRD traveled to the Rutland area and met with farmers, teens, college students and professors, members of the business and planning community and Vermont citizens in a series of forums that culminated in an evening gathering at the Paramount Theater. Following is a schedule of target dates for future community discussions:
- St. Albans: January 24
- Hyde Park: February 13
- North Hero: March 6
- Newport: March 27 I
- sland Pond/Brighton: April 17
- St. Johnsbury: May 8
- Middlebury: May 29
- Burlington: June 19
- Barre: July 10
- Hartford: July 31
- Brattleboro: August 21
To learn how to participate in this program, or for more information, contact Sarah Waring at 223-6098. |
| • Jan. 2008 - NEW IRS 990 FORM |
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(From Jane Culbert, Wolf Brown Associates) - Well, the IRS has listened to everyone (or so it claims) and has released the final version of a significantly redesigned Form 990. There is a schedule for implementation of this new form that varies depending on the budget size of the nonprofit organization, so that smaller groups have more time to prepare for these new requirements. One piece of good news for the smallest organizations (those with budgets of $50,000 or less) is that they will be able to file the new postcard form. If you want to learn more about the new financial reporting reality for nonprofits, follow this link.
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| • Dec. 2008 - ARTSVOTE 2008 |
Americans for the Arts Action Fund is working hard to put arts and arts education on the agenda for the 2008 presidential race. As part of the ArtsVote2008 initiative, every candidate received a 10-Point Arts Policy Brief. The brief provides candidates with information they need to make the arts a centerpiece of their platforms, including detailed background information on each recommendation, key policy initiatives, and talking points.
ArtsVote2008 also hosted an unprecedented forum on November 29, in Concord, NH. Officials from the campaigns of Governor Mike Huckabee, Governor Bill Richardson, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Senator Clinton, and Senator Obama took the opportunity to outline their candidate's support for the arts. With the election now less than a year away, the Arts Action Fund will continue to work hard to fuel a robust discussion about the arts throughout the 2008 election year.
Visit the ArtsVote Action Center today to read our 10-Point Arts Policy Brief,and send your message about the importance of the arts to presidential candidates today. |
| • Nov. 2007 - NEFA RELEASES NEW CREATIVE ECONOMY STUDY |
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New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) is pleased to announce the online publication of its latest creative economy study, The Creative Economy: A New Definition. The report provides a research framework for New England and beyond, and includes an economic analysis of New England's cultural industries and workforce, revealing that New England's cultural organizations employ 274,719 people -- nearly 4% of total employment in the region! |
| • ADVOCACY 101: WHAT ALL ADVOCATES SHOULD KNOW |
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Contact your legislator: The most effective ways to lobby your legislator is:
- First choice: In person. Invite them to attend an event as your guest or make an appointment to visit them at home or in the State House.
- By phone.
- Personal letter via e-mail or snail mail. Handwritten is even better.
- Last choice: Use a pre-written message from Cap-Wiz or another advocacy resource. If you choose to do this, be sure to personalize it in some way. NOTE: It is NOT effective to bombard legislators with hundreds of e-mails that say the exact same thing - they are not likely to respond or look favorably on the effort.
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| • ADVOCACY 102: 10 WAYS TO CONVERT LEGISLATORS INTO ARTS ADVOCATES |
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If you need a little bit more lobbying power, check out these tips for better communicating the arts to your legislators.
- Educate politicians before they take office.
- Get to know your legislators.
- Lead an orientation briefing for legislators and their staff about key arts issues in your area.
- Involve legislators in the arts.
- Provide art. Lend art to legislators for their offices.
- Arrange a meeting for legislators with arts leaders for your area, especially those who are active in politics and could potentially contribute to the candidate’s campaign.
- Invite a legislator to address a conference or write a section in your newsletter.
- Look for excuses to contact your legislator, even when you don’t need anything.
- Ask your politicians to be arts presenters. Offer to bring a program to the state capitol.
- Link public arts funding to other issues in education, social concerns, economic and corporate development. Give a larger dimension to your advocacy by broadening the discussion to embrace other issues.
CLICK HERE to link to the full PDF on the NASAA website. |
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