NEA rejects Kansas bid for arts funding

The National Endowment for the Arts affirmed Tuesday that the governor's decision to defund the state's arts agency precludes the NEA from offering matching grants to Kansas.

Gov. Sam Brownback vetoed state aid to the Kansas Arts Commission, leaving a shell of an agency with no budget or staff. He proposed fundraising be handled exclusively by a new nongovernment foundation and asserted eligibility for NEA funding hadn’t been surrendered.

Victoria Hutter, spokeswoman for the NEA in Washington, D.C., said in an interview that Kansas' action to withdraw state aid to the commission prevented issuance of a partnership grant support in the fiscal year starting in October.

In the past, Kansas invested about $700,000 annually to secure $1.2 million in external grants from the NEA and the Mid-America Arts Alliance for programs in communities throughout the state. The alliance is likely to follow the NEA's lead on grant eligibility.

"NEA has determined that Kansas is ineligible for fiscal year 2011," Hutter said. "The NEA has encouraged Kansas to reapply for fiscal year 2012 consideration."

The future of state funding to the arts was a controversial topic in the past legislative session. Brownback issued an executive order withdrawing administrative and financial jurisdiction over the arts from the KAC. The Senate killed that order in a bipartisan vote.

The House and Senate agreed to continue state aid to the KAC for another year, but Brownback vetoed the entire appropriation for the fiscal year starting July 1. Action by the governor made Kansas the first state to eliminate state funding for the arts.

Both the commission and foundation exist, but lines of authority are unclear. Fundraising and operational questions among people appointed to the panels remain unanswered.

In a letter to Kansas officials from the NEA, the agency determined "the Kansas Arts Commission is deeply immersed in transitional activities and is not fully operational in ways that comply with NEA’s eligibility requirements."

Sarah Carkhuff Fizell, spokeswoman for the organization Kansas Citizens for the Arts, which sought continuation of state funding for the commission, said the governor should consider strategies to reauthorize state aid.

"Governor Brownback has repeatedly and misleadingly claimed that his veto of state funding for the arts would not endanger $1.2 million in federal matching funds," Fizell said. "With the state projecting a $180 million year-end surplus, we call upon the governor to listen to the Legislature and reinstate funding to the Kansas Arts Commission."

In a statement, the governor said he fully supported reforms being implemented for funding of arts in Kansas.

"The Kansas Arts Commission is doing an excellent job in a short period of time moving forward with a new vision for funding of the arts. I fully support their efforts and hope the NEA will as well," Brownback said.

Linda Browning Weis, who serves as chairwoman of both the foundation and the commission, said she welcomed the opportunity to work with the NEA to obtain matching funding in the future and create a program that respects the talent of Kansas artists.

"Much has been accomplished, and much more will be accomplished -- like any significant work of art, such development is deserving of time to do it right," she said.

Weis had sent a proposal to the NEA making the argument that lack of state investment in a designated arts agency shouldn’t disqualify Kansas from receiving the external grants.

Henry Schwaller, a former chairman of the KAC and one of the few board members not appointed by Brownback, had predicted the reformed structure would induce the NEA to withhold grants from Kansas.

"Our state has a history of making extreme decisions only to reverse itself in a few years," he said. "This will happen with arts funding, but we all must hold to our principles and our core beliefs that public funding for the arts is vital and may not be subverted."

In a letter sent Monday to Weis from Laura Scanlan, director of state and regional partnerships for the NEA, the reasoning for rejection of Kansas' application for grants was outlined.

The NEA determined the proposal from the Brownback administration to have state employees from other agencies provide part-time legal and accounting services to the arts commission was insufficient to demonstrate "availability of staff having relevant experience to carry out the programmatic responsibilities of the agency in service to the strategic plan."

In addition, the NEA questioned the state's proposal for the upstart Kansas Arts Foundation to hire a consultant to support the KAC. The letter says federal officials have "no basis for evaluating the Kansas Arts Foundation's legal status or its governance structure vis-a-vis the Kansas Arts Commission."

"NEA has no evidence that the foundation has authority or funds available to hire resources for the commission," the letter says.

Previously, Weis declined to reveal how much the foundation had raised and how much might be available to be allocated to the arts in this fiscal year. Brownback instructed $30,000 remaining in his inaugural celebration account be donated to the foundation.

The NEA letter says the KAC, which recently added members appointed by Brownback, hasn’t prepared a budget or "provided evidence of the availability of state appropriated, designated or controlled funds to match an NEA partnership agreement award."

The NEA said a draft version of a Kansas plan for the commission's future operation made reference to elimination of the state's poet laureate program, arts management training and public receptions. The document didn't, the NEA said, explain how core grant programs would "be administered or adjudicated for artistic excellence and merit.”

Tim Carpenter can be reached 

at (785) 295-1158

or tim.carpenter@cjonline.com.