Arts funding and the 2A tax

So we are consciously working to um add additional funding beyond the 2A tax in and beyond our percent funding.

1% of art public projects are not included in the 2A tax percent.

um give you the opportunity tonight um to make recommendation to city council on the 2027 arts budget.

the 2A discussions and you know, there it was talked about this is a measure that's going to

And then… I guess this is question 2A.

that's why we have a 2A in the first place

to try to have some external funding um that is not necessarily dependent upon uh tax

since 2A is tied to sales tax revenues, um and that money is a big driver of implementation

Our Phase 1 Discovery Report is honest about the trust gap around the 2A tax funds.

the money, you know, the 2A money, and making sure that goes into the cultural arts

as well as the voters passing 2A as kind of evidence of the integral

You know, we wrote this thing about 2A, how we voted.

arts and culture is the amount of money that we're spending on Aren't increasing, decreasing, or staying the same?

75% of voters approved 2A dollars with the understanding that those dollars are going to artists and arts nonprofits

arts funding in 2026, a year-over-year increase of 27% is proposed for cultural events, operating arts grants, public art installations

when 2A funding was passed and implemented, and the general fund that was there for arts and culture was cut

we will continue to advocate that City Council revisit the issue of paying administrative costs out of the general fund

There is over $2.4 $4 million in arts funding for cultural events, operating arts grants, public art installations

people want to see that 2A tax money go directly to the arts.

Create Boulder was the organization that spearheaded the passage and creation of Ballot Amendment 2A. which was passed, overwhelmingly by City of Boulder residents.

So there is that dedicated 2A fund, which is a big bulk of it, and really that's where the grants budget lives.

We also have allocations in the arts budget. So it's something to pay attention to the remit from the Arts Commission is somewhat different.

a lot of interest from the community about the direct relationship between 2 main money and the Arts Commission and Arts Budget

my biggest concern in terms of the evaluations of the grants was the open call on social media

And the second question, when I talked about the fund balance, was there a fund balance from the Arts budget from

what is arts funding? So this pie chart that you see here this is inclusive of every funding source for arts and culture programming

The intent of 2 A was to support these organizations, not to create an overhead fund for the city of Boulder, which can be used with the general fund.

to request arts funding from the boulder. General budget should additional funds become available.

The proposed city arts and culture budget that you approved would use about 25% of the 2 a dollars to backfill internal administrative functions

common themes were unhoused populations and encampments arts funding downtown Vitality

primarily driven by an 86% increase in arts funding with the recent passage of the Arts culture and Heritage

I'm here tonight to advocate for Arts funding particularly as it pertains to ballot measure 2A from the 2023 ballot

regarding the Arts budget I'll say um as we have in the past staff also believes in the vibrancy of the Arts

I'm here because I want to ask that you reconsider the diversion of 2A funds

don't cut the the city's artsline item 2A is meant to add to that number

considering only using two2 a dollar to fund the Arts this is an insult to the Arts organizations

I also am grateful to hear about the Arts um funding I had heard from several community members

which will certainly include the newly voted on 2A arts and culture tax and we have not in fact removed any current level of Arts funding

I was thrilled when the ballot measure 2A passed with an overwhelming 75% majority of Boulder voters supporting the Arts

I think of when folks were advocating on 2B or 2A and one of the pieces was around equity and bringing in more and different audiences

she had a great impact in um passing 2A that very important um help that we're going to give to the Arts Community for funding

you now deal with the true cost of 2A finally

a passage of the 2A tax that will take away $70 million from Essentials like police fire and Human Services

50% going to the general fund purposes and 50% going to support Arts culture and Heritage

We have some sponsorship funds, part of our budget for programs that specifically do not do well in the grant program

voting yes on 2A secures the ability of both city services and funding to strengthen the arts and culture ecosystem

the current extension provides no dedicated Arts funding zero it allocates 10% to all Community nonprofits 90% to the city

we've raised almost $330,000 mostly through the generous donations of Boulders Arts nonprofits

last year we we looked at um additional Arts funding uh during a a first adjustment in the new year

so that would mean 2A would not pass this November and then it would be allowed to expire at the end of 2024

we saw in our budget study session a couple weeks ago that if 2A passes

Arts organizations and Human Service organizations feel like they're pitted against each other to fight for funding

we have been increasing Arts funding uh we have not discussed not only the extent to which we've been increasing it

with our population and demand for the Arts funding can and should be supplemented by the municipal budget at a greater level

funding for the Arts in Boulder still lags behind Arts funding in comparable cities

if we quadruple the Arts funding from what it is now

Arts funding has gone up about 117 percent

clear that we were going to zero out the 1.8 because doubling the Arts budget now

I don't know much about the details of the Arts funding do you can anybody say why that is

what I'm wondering about with the the Arts funding um is whether HHS has what they need

I also want to acknowledge that Arts funding has increased over the past few years it's a great start

I'm here just asking that you strongly consider allocating remaining arpa funds especially for those Arts organizations that qualified for funding

i'd say that arts funding is always going to be something that we're going to continue to seek out

Arts funding additional Arts funding I heard some agreement on that

you know the arts funding the guaranteed income day care i really appreciate

with some of the arts funding things that have a built component to them

if there is a big increase in the arts budget i think that along with that there should be some measure of how it's going to be spent

a modest incremental investment now would have an outsized impact on the arts sector

thank you for restoring 157k to the cultural grants however the arts funding shows only eight percent growth from 2020 actuals

there certainly is some money in this budget for the arts

when we say Arts funding we usually think of things like paintings but really what we're talking about is people

thank you for restoring nearly all of the Arts funding in this year's City budget

we'd like to see a restoration of full funding for the arts budget

we were very delighted and grateful to receive a restoration of a hundred thousand dollars to the arts budget

I would like to sincerely thank the city council for restoring $100,000 to the Arts budget I have also been notified

which is proposing that Council increase funding for the art and culture grants if if Council will add 100,000

recommended cuts of 177% in our in our Arts budget will have devastating impacts on real people

we felt that it was fair to have the Arts budget cut that similar amount

increasing the arts budget just a little bit wherever we might be able to find some dollars

I wanted to speak in favor of two things the arts funding but also the Human Services funding

can we get a breakdown of the of how the 2017 arts budget