Save Public Funding for the Arts

YES. Please keep (increase!!) arts funding.

PLEASE keep city arts funding!

A vibrant community requires residents and interactions; social behaviors, norms and shared learnings result from those interactions.
Public Arts are a vehicle for positive interactions, and allow residents to express themselves in a safe, peaceful and constructive way.
Any city or culture that thrives uses the arts not only for tourism, but for creating an atmosphere in which residents can grow and mature.

To eliminate funding for public arts is shortsighted.
Do not reduce Indianapolis into a working destination – else we will find other places to visit, florish, and enjoy.

The “arts” enrich us all. Keep and increae the funding of the arts in all of Indiana.

If you look at the wonderful recent developments in Broadripple, Mass Ave., Fountain Square among others and wonder how they happened — it is because the city has invested in its arts and culture!
Quality of life is one of the largest indicators of a healthy and vibrant community, and one of the measurements used is access to the arts. To say Indianapolis provides no support for its arts will create a huge detriment to businesses who want to invest here, much less developers who want to build here.
If you cannot base your decision on why arts are important to individuals, please at least consider why arts are important for economic development reasons.
Time and time again city surveys have proven the arts are a stronger economic driver than sports here. The data tells it all!

Funding for the Arts is smart business for any community. It is inde4ed shortsighted for Indianapolis to consider eliminating this support; it would be a decision that IU Kelley School of Business students would study – “…how not to entice business to a community.”

Please INCREASE arts funding!

Please find a more creative way to cut the budget than eliminating the City’s participation in the Arts, which are vital to any thriving, healthy community.

As someone who lives in the Old Northside and works downtown, I strongly believe that funding for the arts is critical to the continued growth and success of Indianapolis. Please do not stop that important funding.

The arts are as vital as any public service from health care to transportation. They not only make Indianapolis a more enriching place to live but ensure creative thoughts and tolerance of all new and different ideas. It is during these trying economic times that we must turn to our artists for inventive and hopeful dreams. You can not put a price on that.

The arts support and benefit: education, crime reduction, at-risk youth, economic development, social cohesion, cultural preservation. Government in turn, needs to support such a big part of our success as a city!

A vibrant city needs arts funding!

Funding the arts in our community makes it an interesting and exciting place to live while giving the citizens a reason to remain here. The arts involve all ages and all income levels, building friendships and understanding as we share our delight in watching or participating or learning.

Please consider increasing the budget (not eliminating it) for our local arts! Indianapolis has worked so hard over the past several years to revitalize the city and make it a contender for international events and conferences. That status is contingent on continued support of the arts. It is not just a mere aesthetic, it is educational and a vital part of the community. Find another way to cut/balance the budget. Indianapolis needs local arts funding if it is going to continue growing into a ‘world-class’ city.

Please add my signature to support continued funding for the arts in our great city, made great because of the arts.

Please keep funding Indy Arts!

The city’s funding for the arts should be moving in a positive direction, not a negative one. The mayor and city-county council should be figuring out how to increase funding for the arts in an era of belt tightening when it’s been proven by the Arts Council of Indianapolis that $1.5 million in appropriations to the arts on an annual basis actually generate a net economic impact to the city of more than $50 million. Where is the sense in cutting arts funding when it positively impacts the city to such a degree?

Creative, stimulated minds are necessary to keep the world in which we live vibrant and vital. The arts give us each the opportunity to share common physical and emotional experiences without judgement. We must support the arts within our community if we hope to stay relevant in a diverse, evolving world. Look around the world outside of the United States. Education is incomplete without a connection to the arts, of which we can all contribute and be a part.

The arts are vital to a growing and thriving city. The impact of cutting the arts funding to $0 over the course of the next three years will devastate this city. If anything, there should be MORE funding for the arts. If we use the economic impact study as a guide, we know that most businesses would be thrilled with an investment of $1.5 million generating $50 million! And 15,000+ jobs are generated through arts and cultural institutions.

I support the arts in Indianapolis!!!!

Please save funding for Indy arts. It is important, not only for our city now, but for its future generation. Look at the multitude of research that correlates involvement in the arts with higher academic achievement and lower involvement with drugs, alcohol and crime.

Our city needs the arts and what it does for the kids in Indy

Please keep funding the arts! It is so important to the culture of our city!

I strongly support the arts!
I feel it is as necessary as math or science.

YES continue public support for the arts in Indianapolis.

Yes. Please continue our arts funding to support our city’s vitality and to ensure that our future generations will thrive as a result of their exposure to the arts.

The arts have made Indianapolis an amazingly vibrant and sophisticated city. We must continue to support the people, venues and organizations that are putting Indianapolis front and center on an international stage.

The arts in this city bring so many people together, and inspire good things among us. How we can dare take that away?!?! Please keep funding for the arts!!!

Do you think Indy would be “building a world class city, one neighborhood at a time” by eliminating arts funding? Indy should be gaining more culture, not causing it to diminish.

The arts are so important to continue the progress this city has made. Arts make our city mor attractive to corporattions, convention visitors, college students, tourists, etc. We want to be a world class city and that requires a vibrant, active, well funded arts community. It is imperative that the city continue to support the Arts!

As a member of the recent Indianapolis crime prevention task force, I know that positive activities, including arts and parks, are effective crime-prevention tools. As a long-time economic development marketer, I also know that quality of life factors–including arts, culture and green space–help attract jobs and the taxpaying citizens who fill them. In short, arts equal crime prevention and economic development. The city funding is a tiny fraction of a much bigger budget. The ROI is significant. Retain the arts funding, please.

Support for the Arts is not a choice, is our responsibility. History is told through the Arts of the people that create and support them. Please continue funding the Arts.

The arts attract engaged, thoughtful, caring people who want to see this city continue to succeed and grow. Eliminate the arts, and this city’s soul will wither and die. PLEASE keep funding the arts.

Where lives your treasures, so lives your heart, your value. In a civilized society, our culture is reflected in the areas of our support and focus.

We elect to be measured by our compassion for our arts. Spend more of our taxes on the arts – retain what little funding we have committed, and increase its percentage to improve our city.

Enhancing our culture, refining our infrastructure, beautifying our surrounding, all are steps towards attracting positive attention, lessening negative activity, drawing business opportunities, and the general betterment of our society.

The arts provide places where people can live in community with one another and enjoy life to it’s fullest. Mass. Ave is a wonderful example of how the arts can bring the city together, and over the last several years, the spread throughout the city has been huge. White River Park and the Canal have been wonderful additions, and the arts there have really created a wonderful place for the citizens and youth of our city. Please keep the funding, and let our city grow.

Please keep the arts funding in Indy–it’s vital for a vibrant city.

YES, please keep the arts funding in Indy!

Please keep arts funding for Indy!

Keep arts funding – it helps quality of life which atracts new businesses to our city.

The integrity of the Council is important to its constituency. Are the arts used to promote Indianapolis as an outstanding place to visit, hold conferences, and start or relocate businesses? I thought so.

Please keep funding for public art

Please keep arts funding – its essential to a dynamic and vibrant city

Art is life, support art and support life.

The arts are critical to attracting educated and talented people to Indy. The arts help our children expand their minds and use their creativity and imaginations. Public funding of the arts should be increased not cut.

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance”…..Aristotle The Arts is definitely significant to the city of Indianapolis! If anything, we should INCREASE the funding – not cut it!

Without the arts, Indianapolis becomes just another hub of industry. What appeals to families and visitors is the arts of Indy!

One reason I live downtown is to be able to walk to dinner, the theater, and other smoke-free environments. The arts are not only essential to our emotional well being, they BRING money into the city as well.

Please continue this small portion of City funding that makes a powerful statement to the entire community.

The Arts are just as important to a city as sports. If the city spent just 1 percent of the Lucas Oil Stadium budget on the arts, it would be $7 million.

Can’t imagine this city not continuing the long tradition of supporting the arts. Why would anyone think Indy Hoosiers would be happy about cutbacks in the support of arts?

Awareness of the community through art is an immeasurable gift to its residents. Thank you for your careful consideration of the current and future needs of Indianapolis.

The life transforming power of the arts needs our continued support from public and private funding. Please keep arts funding.

If given the opportunity, I would cast my vote for a tax increase to support the arts, rather than a “public” sports stadium. The arts should be considered a vital part of a community’s infrastructure, as it attracts/retains creative individuals, the young at heart, and progressives.

Arts rule! The best way to attract young, energetic talent to a community is a vibrant arts scene. When you cut the arts, you cut growth.

Vibrant cities are rich with arts opportunities and choices. Although all of us as individuals should do our part to support the arts, it is imperative that the city take an active role in the funding as well. Working together we build a strong community that will attract and retain corporations and individuals who choose to come to and live in Indianapolis. Public funding is crucial. You lets the arts down–you let the city down.

Do not cut the budget. The Arts are part of the solution, not the problem. At what point in human history is life without arts remembered or celebrated? Please keep supporting the arts in Indianapolis. Don’t let this moment – our history disappear forever.

It is the arts that provoke and delight our imaginations, thus opening us to new possibilities for our lives in community with each other

Please continue to fund the arts in Indianapolis. You can look no further than to Richard Florida’s ‘The Rise of the Creative Class’ for sound reasons why supporting the arts is critical to a modern, vibrant and dynamic city.

Indianapolis is like a polished gem, and the arts in our community have played a huge roll over the years. Please help keep Indianapolis shining brightly on the world stage — continue to support the arts.

Please keep arts funding.

Please continue to fund public arts!

Please allocate even more to public arts funding!

Please keep public funding for the arts in Indianapolis!

Please keep arts funding

It is important that the city continue to fund the arts. They reflect the heart and soul of our community and add to the quality of life. They add to the economic growth of our city. That 1% is not much; but, it generates greater support from corporations, foundations, individuals and other sources.

The arts provide educators with a valuable teaching method that encourages creativity, team work, and critical thinking skills…qualities valued by perspective employers.

I would like to see the same level of support in the community for the arts as their is for the sports.

Please keep arts funding as a part of the city budget. It seems a little amount goes a long way, I think you could find that thousands of people are influenced by the arts everyday in the city.

Dear Mayor Ballard, Please preserve the City’s funding and support for the Arts. The Arts are a critical element of a world-class city that makes Indianapolis attractive to its present and potential future residents that do have a choice of where to live. Thank you.

We cannot continue to call ourselves a world class city while simultaneously cutting Arts funding. Please keep funding for the arts going! And find ways to increase that funding.

Not only should the city continue its funding for the arts, it needs to be INCREASED! We are already pitifully low on the totem pole for per capita arts funding. The 11th largest city in the US should be doing far better.
City Council, heed this advice: those of you who vote against arts funding will be remembered and voted out of office!

It is rediculous that we are even talking about this. If the arts received the same level of support that sports does, then Indianapolis might be a world class city insteady of a monstrosity football arena with some hotels around it.

At the store we need to buy bread to nourish our bodies and a flower to nourish our souls. We can’t do without food, but we can’t do without beauty either. Don’t cut funding for the arts!

Add my signature for support of continued funding for the arts for Indianapolis and its community, which is a great city because of the arts!

I fully support continued funding for the arts in this great city of Indianapolis.

I firmly support public funding of the arts as I find it disheartening and unfortunate that Indianapolis government would even consider cutting any funding.

Please keep Indy’s public arts funding!

YES!!!! We must have the arts. VOTE YES

+ The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place; from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.
::: Pablo Picasso :::

We need every scrap of art we can get around here. Otherwise, there’s no inspiration for creative living.

Indianapolis is becoming known as an interesting, beautiful, hospitable convention city, in large part due to the arts so readily available to the conventioneers. The arts in this city increase its revenue – cutting them out would be like shooting ourselves in the foot. Please maintain public funding of the arts.

We at OnTheCusp.org support the arts. Please do not cut the arts budget. Invest in our future. Increase arts funding.

Arts are an important part of any city trying to compete for tourism, business and as a potential living destination. Please fund the arts.

Cutting spending for the arts is certainly not part of the vision that I heard our Mayor discussing during the election… Certainly, the citizens of this great city deserve better. And we are demanding better. To the mayor, the council, etc: get creative. Don’t cut arts spending.

I am an arts lover and arts supporter. My house is STUFFED with 20 years worth of local art purchases. I know many local artists and help them whenever I can. With few exceptions, these artists do just fine without handouts from the city.

However, I think public arts funding has to go. This is why. Taxpayers’ banks are breaking under the strain of gas prices, property taxes, COIT increases, and the sales tax increase. My taxes have increased about $400 per month since last summer due to these taxes. Currently there is little to any accountability in most areas of government. I know, I’m the gal that led last years’ city council rallies…including the one that taxpayers were locked out of the CCC city budget presentation.

There is more I know first hand about our government and accountability.

Once upon a time I spent 55 hours writing a grant proposal to the arts council…only to be completely ignored until I left numerous calls and messages for Jenny Guimont who was in charge of sending an answer to those that submitted a proposal. Weeks past deadline for answer, and after many messages, I finally received a letter succinctly stating that my project did not fit criteria without further explanation.

I went on to produce an art event attended by about 1000 guests who came from as far as NYC and Seattle. The press was there and it even received international attention. The event was produced without a penny from the city.

It got done because I worked literally day and night to make it happen and cover my expenses. And quite frankly, in retrospect, I can honestly say I worked much harder for the project to succeed because I didn’t get the grant.

The arts will do just fine without forcing the taxpayers to fund it.

City councilor, Christine Scales, discovered that the arts fuding from the city is often going to big organizations that are FLUSH with funds in the bank. Why should this happen when taxpayers who are forced to foot the bill can’t make ends meet?

So far, I’ve not seen any specifics that convince me that these programs should remain….and I am an arts patron with many friends in the arts community who do fine without handouts.

Please keep the funding for the arts! – Derek Powell, Stutz Artist

Please do not cut funding for the arts. There are decades worth of research supporting the fact that all lives are enriched by the arts–particularly school children of all ages. Employment feeds our bodies; the arts feeds our souls.

The arts inspire creativity and the ability to think outside the box. It is important for schools to keep funding the art programs.

Cutting public funding for the arts would be like loosing your soul before you die. Such waste. Such a shame. Cutting public funding for the arts would be stepping over dollars to pick up dimes. I must ask: Do you, as a council person, devalue the beauty, life spirit,enjoyment and community pride that arts brings to us? If so, then, frankly, you are in the wrong business. I am your constituent. I want my tax dollars to be directed to the aesthetic as well. It makes my life better. It makes living in Indinapolis better.

Please do not cut funding for the arts! The arts are what make each city unique. It is the last bastion of local identity!

No arts, no culture, no cool city.

Save the arts!

e

Do you agree that the city should maintain arts funding at its current level as a demonstration to corporate and other civic leaders that the arts are not only an important part of Indianapolis’ public personality but also contribute to educating and enriching the lives of our citizens, even the most vunerable ones?
YES. A wholehearted YES to continue funding the arts in Indianapolis!

Please continue funding the arts in Indianapolis. Every single citizen’s quality of life would be adversely affected without public support of the arts.

Please INCREASE (or at least keep steady) the city’s funding for the arts — it is important to our city on so many different levels.

Please keep arts funding! Maybe if we didn’t spend so much on sports funding we could keep things that actually make this city interesting!

In order for Indianapolis to to be first class city this funding is critical.

Absolutely keep funding the Arts!!

The arts are part of our quality of life. Please fund the arts!

Art is a priority in first-class city. Please maintain and increase funding for the arts in our city.

Please funds the arts for kids’ sake! I am a teacher in an urban K-8 school that attended the publicly/privately funded Hoosier Storytelling Festival last fall. The kids loved it, readers and non-readers alike! The storytellers’ performance so clearly painted the literary elements on our students’ imaginations that they were inspired to write, tell, and critique their own stories. Not only are these skills required to meet state academic standards, they are important skills successful adults use on the job and in their personal relationships as well. What are we saying to kids about language, music, art, and theater if we eliminate arts funding? For a mere $3.50 per student, my kids got excited about developing their academic skills to make their own “works of art.” That alone was worth a hundred times the price of admission. Increase funding for the arts in Indy! The ROI (return on investment) is incredible!

When we spend a dollar on art we get a return on our investment that is not necessarily monetary. And that’s why it’s so important. It keeps us engaged with what really matters.

Public Arts funding in Indianapolis is already low by many standards. It is vital to this city and it’s residents that public arts funding be maintained. Quality of life and attracting new employers and residents is impacted by a vibrant arts community and a thriving public arts program.

Please keep the funding for the public arts!

Thank you

What Mayor Ballard does not realize is the cultural and quality of life gains we have made in this city over the past decade could easily be reversed. His planned cuts will send a clear message that his administration is willing to walk away from all the partners and goodwill previous adminstrations fostered. This really speaks to a lack of leadership on a very important issue.

Public funding of the arts is always important, but even more important to Indianapolis. Arts and Culture funding is vital to Indianapolis to balance out the disproportional public funding to sports. All things in excess are bad, especially excessive public funding for sports at the risk and expense of other vital and important interests. Lastly, as a father of two, my experience is that artists make better role models than athletes.

Support for the arts adds a critical component towards the quality of life for this city. Let’s be proud in our commitment to the arts.

please do not cut the arts funding in Indianapolis! The arts add dimension and interest to our city for visitors as well as residents!

Money talks. Read the statistics about the dollars in the Arts on the pdf document below. Cut and paste the link below.
http://www.artscouncilofindianapolis.org/component/option,com_docman/Itemid,0/task,doc_download/gid,24/

In order to attract and retain our intellectual capital, young professionals and keep Indy attractive for new corporations, it is imperative that we keep our arts budget alive and healthly!

I was very disappointed to see that Mayor Ballard and the city council are planning to cut funding to the arts community. This will be extremely detrimental to our city. First, new businesses will not want to locate in a city that doesn’t support the Arts. Second, it is critical to keep the Arts accessible to all of our citizens. Without funding, we can not provide art education for our schools. I think we should consolidate the township offices and use the money we save by being efficient to fund the arts.

PLEASE–PLEASE continue to fund the arts. We all benefit! The arts have a positive effect on the cultural environment of our city. Let’s not move backward!

Arts funding in Indy is so important. Personally for me, the arts changed my life and I know that this is the same for so many other. The arts in Indianapolis is an important part of our community and it brings people together. Please do not stop funding for this.

Indianapolis cannot afford to lose arts funding. We are ALL affected by the loss of the arts, by the loss of universal communication through all music, through theater, through fine arts, etc. Please vote to keep our arts alive and thriving!

Yes – keep funding for the arts in the budget. The arts are the creative force that allows us to express ourselves and express our uniqueness.

Indianapolis is known for sports, but for nothing else. Not every visitor to the city is interested in the NCAA. Indianapolis has a great start on being an arts attraction for its own citizens and for its visitors. The Museum of Art, the Eiteljorg, the State Museum, the Symphony, the Art Center, the Opera,Dance Kaleidoscope, as well as many other arts groups attract visitors and improve our city. Don’t let everything go the way of the Ballet.

I knew this would happen… BRING BACK BART and keep the funding! What will Indy be the “destination” for now?

If the City of Indianapolis can subsidize the amount of sports that it does, it can also subsidize the arts. The arts improve the quality of life in a community in many, many ways.

How about a 0.5% food and beverage tax for the arts? We have one for the Hoosier Dome’s roof’s bond that is still not paid off. And it is getting ready to get torn up into little pieces.

Please keep the funding.

The arts are important to a well-rounded, cosmopolitan city. The arts nourish the soul and celebrate life and creativity, and Indianapolis deserves nourishment. Keep feeding the arts so that they can feed us.
Thanks.

To qualify as a first class city, there must be educational, artistic support, cultural, religious, business and recreational support. Some of these will require more financial support than others. The ARTS must be financed by a first class city. Step up to the call, now. NO CUTS.

I believe the city of Indianapolis will greatly benefit from public funding of the arts. We are becoming a great city, of which I am very proud, and the arts are a part of that wonderful picture.
Jan West

According to our previous mayor, arts in Indianapolis contributes a quarter of a billion dollars in revenue. The 1.5 million that has been made available in the past years is serious seed money for many artists and their organizations, needed funds to help pay for things that make Indianapolis better. Art brings smiles, please don’t cut the smiles.

Economic studies have shown that municipal support of the arts produces economic benefits that far exceed the amount invested. Further, every truly great city has great arts. Charlotte, NC. which is smaller than Indianapolis invests 8 times as much in its arts organizations than Indianapolis. Would you rather relocate or live in a city that is artistically vibrant or one that views culture as expendable?

Peter Alexander, August 6, 2008

The arts bring more money to our city than sports!
Don’t sell us short!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep arts funding and increase it!

The arts are not expendable. Please do not cut funding!

Mayor Ballard, please keep the arts funding in place.

Keep funding the Fine Arts.

As a young proffesional in Indy, if we lose the arts whats left as a reason to stay? Don’t cut funding, make it a priority.

Indianapolis cannot be considered an attractive city to anyone without a thriving arts community. Please do not cut the funding for the arts unless you wish to cut the city’s necessary energy and growth. Support the arts in Indianapolis.

Please do not eliminate the financial support for the arts in Indianapolis. A city without the arts is a city without a soul.

We should be doing the exact opposite of cutting funding, we should be increasing it. The amount of money going to the arts now is already pitifully small, why would we cut it entirely? Indiana needs to rethink its priorities.

As a small business owner who provides goods and
services to those involved arts, I fear what the
impact of elimination of funding for the arts
will have on the costume shop I own, as well as
other local small businesses in Indianapolis.
So Please consider the effect it will have on
the income the city gets from us, when you talk
of this unecessary cut in funding for the arts. We need the support of our government
to be successful business owners!
I am strongly against cutting the funding for the arts!!!

SAVE THE ARTS!!! CUTTING THE BUDGET IS NOT THE ANSWER TO SAVING MONEY. IF MITCH DANIELS AND HIS ADMINISTRATION IS ALL ABOUT MAKING INDIANAPOLIS A WORLD CLASS CITY AND INDIANA A WORLD CLASS STATE, THEY SURE ARE GOING ABOUT IT THE WRONG WAY!

The arts give our city a soul. The arts make people want to be here. Cutting funding for the arts is an extremely backward idea for a forward-thinking city.

Art is a language that speaks volumes. Please do not strip Indianapolis of that voice. We need to increase funding for the arts, not cut it.

Please do not cut the city’s art funding. I know difficult choices must be made in difficult times, but this one will have terribly negative repercussions for Indianapolis youth & adults.

keep the funding and add to it!!

Phasing out Arts funding will only lead to the exodus of brilliant minds and take away thousands of direct and indirect jobs in the arts. PLEASE KEEP THE FUNDING so that Indianapolis remains a place to visit and live.

The arts are a reflection of our communities and should not be under valued. Please, please consider supporting the Art in Indianapolis. It’s made a tremendous difference in our community to this point.

Indianapolis has come so far in terms of arts and culture, it would be a shame to back off now. This is a long-term quality-of-life issue, and it would be irresponsible not to continue investing this tiny portion of the city budget.

The answer to so many of our city’s problems – and the cause of NONE. Public art creates community.

Please continue to fund public art in Indianapolis.

Please continue to fund the arts in Indianapolis.

States have been taking away art programs within K12 schools for years – if you want a well-rounded child you need to open their minds and let them imagine, create, and dream. Do you really want children without dreams? Do not cut artist funding in Indiana and i would suggest upping the amount throughout the state to give us more artists – they are the people who keep interest, ingenuity, and the mindful actually thinking and dreaming.

I cannot imagine (nor do I want to) a city or world where the arts are discarded and summarily abandoned.

Besides the fact that I’m studying art history to obtain my 2nd baccalaureate, I can truly say that art–in its many different forms–affects me in a positive way; it gives me hope, fuels my creativity in countless ways, and I think that children need to have as many options to explore and develop; getting inspiration from art or creating it are superb ways to teach and enhance the educational lives of children, and adults.

To maintain interest in the city by potential visitors, investors, and businesses, arts funding is crucial. If there is so little interest by our governing body in the city’s culture, it is a sad day and sends a bleak message to a potential influx of talent. Please maintain funding at its current level at the very least.

Arts funding = vibrant city. Arts funds should not be used to fix potholes.

You ask us to “save the arts”. I rather think that it is the arts that save us. The plan to drop city arts funding to zero dollars in three years seems very unwise. I’ve “had enough” of such uncreative thinking and would vote to keep arts funding—and even to increase it.

Can you think of a great city that ISN’T known for its art community? I can’t. Support the arts!

The arts are not optional for a city with the aspirations of Indianapolis. Keep the funding.

Remember downtown Indianapolis pre-1995? The city has made such wonderful progress in so many ways over the past 15 years; public art programs have been such a great enhancement to the growth and development Indianapolis is experiencing. It would be a shame to see funding eliminated for something so worthwhile. Please maintain the public arts funding.

Please continue public arts funding!

Arts funding in Indianapolis is vital for a healthy community. Art inspires the soul! Support the arts!

Let’s not lose the positive momentum that has been created in the city’s arts community. Please keep arts funding in the budget.

Yes, please keep arts funding in the budget.

I can’t believe cutting all funding is even being considered! Why are they building the cultural trail, then cutting all funding for the culture? Please continue supporting public art.

Please don’t cut funding support for the arts!

Fix the budget issues, then we can talk about cuts. Mismanagement and misappropriation must be fixed first. This is just a band-aid on a bigger issue. Do not cut the arts funding!!

The arts are vital to this city if it EVER wants to get past its reputation in other parts of the country and become the best little city the Midwest has seen to date. You want young people to stay here instead of flocking to other cities to start “living?”… You’d better keep the arts strong and a central part of this cities culture. Keep funding strong!!!!!!

To provide funding for the arts is an intelligent, thoughtful and brave decision. While the immediate benefits may appear to be a luxury for a few, the long-term effects are essential for the well-being of the entire community. The positive impact cannot be underestimated.

Please continue funding the arts in Indianapolis. The arts are an intergral part of why we’re a world-class city.

Nora

Whoops,

Nora Leona Spitznogle

A civilization is remembered by its art. How can Indianapolis be a world class city WITHOUT art for the public? Keep the arts in Indianapolis funded. We need artists to develop and be nurtured in Indianapolis. Increase the funding, don’t decrease it.

Arts are vital to our community. Arts are proven to help draw tourism, high-level employees and high-paying jobs. We need arts to balance the wonderful sports and outdoor recreation opportunities in Indy. We can’t just be about sports!

The Council’s endorsement of public art distinguishes us as a world-class city. Visitors are attracted to us because of it. Residents are proud of it. Keep the funding for the arts. Increase it if possible, but please, please DON’T CUT IT.

I am an IPS elementary music teacher. Do I teach music with the intention that every child will grow up to be a professional musician? Of course not (though I certainly want to inspire and develop the skills of those that aspire to do so). But I do teach with the intention that every child will grow up appreciating music, and will understand music as one of many ways to express creativity and communicate that which language, math, science, etc. cannot express. How can we teach children to think if we do not give them every tool and opportunity available to create or be inspired by others’ creativity? These children will choose many varying careers. Is that all that we want to prepare them for? And don’t we need children who know how to “think” to truly prepare them for the many life choices that they will encounter, career or otherwise? What will they do with their “leisure” time? Why not give them something that inspires them? Why not offer them a community that encourages creativity? Why not offer them a community that encourages them to think?

PLEASE CONTINUE TO FUND THE ARTS!

I vote in every election, even primaries, and I will not vote for anyone who opposes arts funding. Voting against arts funding is a pandering, mindless, knee-jerk thing to do. Not only is it the wrong action, but it reveals the ignorance of any politician who does it.

Keep Indianapolis vital. Keep arts funding!

Keep funding the arts for a vibrant Indianapolis.

We have taken major steps forward in recent years concerning Public Art Programs that we are all so proud of. Taking that funding away from the citizens that play by the rules and giving in to criminals is criminal and thats how it will be seen by many.

I think we absolutely need to keep funding for public art in Indianapolis. It is an instant message to visitors that Indy is an excellent place to visit and live. This becomes even more important as Indy does host and will be hosting many events that put our city in the NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT (e.g. Monday Night Football, Superbowl, NCAA events, Indy 500, Brickyard 400, MotoGP, US Nationals, and most importantly the conventions we currently have and are sure to get from the convention center expansion). Additionally, public art enhances the overall ambiance of the city that large corporations (e.g. bio-tech-JOBS) consider when choosing a location for expansion or relocation. I think public art helps our great city stand out on the competitive world stage.

Please don’t cut public art funding and make Indy just another Midwest city. Keep our city great!

Keep arts funding in the city budget.

If we can afford to build a $700M stadium for the benefit of sporting events, we certainly can provide funding for the arts!

Arts attract higer educated, professional people moving to town, ultimately fuels economy and increases attractiveness to the public, turists and businesses. It is narrow minded not to understand an investement value of the arts.

ARE YOU CRAZY THERE!!?? IS SO LITTLE FUNDING FOR THE ARTS HERE IT’S ACTUALLY DEVASTATING AND DRIVING ARTISTS OUT OF YOUR CITY. TO CUT ALL FUNDING WOULD LEAVE YOU COMPLETELY STAGNANT. I AM FROM THE EAST COAST WHERE WE ARE SO LUCKY TO HAVE A PLETHORA OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR ARTISTIC EXPRESSION FUNDED BY A VERY SUPPORTIVE GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNITY…YOU WOULD BE DESTROYING YOUR COMMUNITY BY TAKING AWAY SOMETHING THAT HELPS ENRICH AND INSPIRE THE LIVES OF ALL YOUR CITIZENS. THE NEXT GENERATION ESPECIALLY NEEDS THE ARTS IN THERE LIVES AS A WAY OF EXPLORING THE WORLD BEYOND INDY’S LIMITS. IF THIS IS TRUE I FEEL REALLY TERRIBLE THAT THE PEOPLE OF INDIANA HAVE SUCH AND IGNORANT CITY OFFICIAL …NOW I’LL REALLY BE RUNNING BACK EAST …YOU “UP AND COMING CITY” WILL BE A SHELTERED, WANNA-BE METROPOLIS AND FRANKLY, A JOKE!

Arts funding is crucial to the education and culture of our city! Please keep!!!

Is it that arts flourish when everything in a society is going smoothly and folks have time and money to spend on the arts? Or, is it that a well nourished arts community fosters a society in which people care and thrive? I vote the latter!

Keep public arts funding!

The art and culture of this city keep things interesting and give us fun stuff to do in the evenings and on the weekends! Let’s not reawaken our “Naptown” reputation by cutting funding for something so dynamic. Let’s keep Indy arts funded!!

Please continue to fund the Arts in Indianapolis! The Arts (all types) are not only enjoyed by thousands of Indianapolis residents every day but are a most critical and important part of making Indianapolis a “great” place to live and work.

In order to be taken seriously as a city on the rise, Indianapolis MUST have a thriving arts community.
Keep funding the arts!

How embarrassing this would be for our city. Please fund the arts!!!!

Please don’t reduce funding for the Arts in Indianapolis! The Arts are an important part of of making a city a fun and engaging place to live. Reducing funding would be a big mistake and a detriment to Indianapolis residents’ quality of life.

Please keep Arts funding in our city budget. The arts foster a spirit of community and hope in difficult times. Withholding funds for this essential element of the human spirit hurts the poorest and most disadvantaged among us.

Absolutely essential!

The same Six Sigma black-belted MBA mentality that leads to these line item initiatives should be applied to the multiple existing studies that show in spreadsheeted black and white the positive revenue impact that the Arts have on a community and its draw for major corporate investments in larger cities.

keep public funding for the arts, ya hear!!

Part of what makes Indianapolis a great place to live is the rich arts & culture opportunities available to anyone on a daily basis. The fact that our local government supports that shows that our city values those organizations’ efforts. Cut the funding and those of us that work in the arts will be led to believe that our work means zero – the same figure as their dollar support – to our city leaders. That financial support doesn’t just go to what some consider the elite; it supports education as well as crime prevention. I thought those were two things that local government promised to improve upon.

Keep the Arts, or zombies will eat your face and snakes will multiply within your heart. Keep the Arts funding, too.

Yes, if you want our city to continue to grow as a source of culture and growth to bring further events like Superbowls and jobs, we must keep the Arts!!

Please keep funding the Arts in Indy! Funding the arts and culture of Indianapolis will continue to help the city grow. Indy’s arts and culture have not only helped it become a toursit destination, but a place of education as well.

Please continue to fund the arts and culture of INDY!!!!!

Please KEEP arts funding in place!

YES – Public arts funding is VITAL to our city! INCREASE funding for arts.

KEEP THE ARTS!

We live in a city that has made every effort to become a resource for athletic and convention events. Our Governors and Mayors have worked to attract corporations and manufacturers to our state. We are struggling to retain our [college] scholars that leave Indiana at an alarming rate. We attempt to enrich the daily lives of children in public schools, whose academic scores are showing of signs rising… and we take a twenty year step backward and try to choke the very things that are making us a better city. Without visual, musical, theatrical, literary, [etc.]venues in Indianapolis we will make a slow painful slide back into that city between Chicago and Cincinnati that you pass through to get to Illinois and Ohio.

I do not know about you, but if Indiana stops funding to the Arts, you can count me out – I am moving. I have waited years for our capitol city to ‘grow up’ and embrace the talented and expressive people here in Indiana. We have garnered as much recognition in the last six to eight years nationally for the Arts here as we have received from any other venture. I think our new Mayor should take a business in the arts course and rethink his decision.

Please keep the arts funding in place.

Please keep funding for the arts in the budget.

Have not studies been long done to prove increased revenues let alone quality of life issues result from a supported arts community? How are we to be a world class city with no public arts programs. Seems antiquated and out of touch for the year 2008. This is embarrassing on the heals of failed proposed legislation regarding banning the nude human figure appearing in legitimate art publications, etc. No wonder Indiana has a brain drain and creative drain problem…

The Arts in Indy needs our support. We should allocate funding to this area to enrich the citizens who may not be sports fans!

Yes, please keep arts funding in place for Indianapolis! Cutting this funding would be a huge step backward in our efforts to become a world-class city.

Who would want to live in a community that does not support the Arts?????????????????????

Please keep the City-County arts funding in Indianapolis.

The arts in Indianapolis are the main reason we visit the city and spend money not only at those organizations but also at area restaurants and hotels. Without them we would go to St. Louis, Chicago, Louisville, Columbus (Ohio) – Not only away from the city but out of the state!

The arts increase a city’s quality of life and are one of the influences that attract not only corporations but also employees to move to the city–and to stay once they are there.

Those who know the value of the arts know how the arts can change the world–and that’s not a lofty statement. I just spent an intense three days in workshops with Augusto Boal. His theatre throughout the world is literally changing it for the better in people’s awareness, thoughts and actions in communities from India to France to South America to those here in the United States. This is only through one type of theatre – add in the rest and all of the other arts and imagine the effect.

Or…Imagine for a moment the world without any of the arts – no music, no museums, no dance, no theatre, no literature, no TV, no movies, no video games, no comic books, etc. etc. etc. What do you see?

The arts are what make us human! It is through the arts that creativity and creative thought arises. They make us imagine a world of possibility and that doesn’t affect the humanities alone but science, technology, engineering and math as well.

Please please please don’t destroy what you have spent so many years cultivating!

Funding for the arts must not be cut in Indianapolis. We must recognize that a thriving arts identity is one of the hallmarks of all great and important cities.

To truly be a world class city worthy of the SuperBowl, our Arts funding cannot be the first major line item on the chopping block.

FUND THE ARTS

Funding for the arts is absolutely vital for Indianapolis. Not only do the arts promote economical development and tourism, they make Indianapolis a more enjoyable place to live. From a personal standpoint, not only would I most likely be out of a job but I would have no desire to remain in Indianapolis.

As an artist and arts supporter, I am proud every time I hear about a new or existing art event taking place in our city. Indianapolis has made great strides in bringing downtown back to life, and it’s good to know that the arts are receiving emphasis along with that placed on sports and events at the convention center. Public funding is a vital part of this commitment, and should be continued.

The arts programs are one of the strongest enticements for living and visiting Indianapolis. Please maintain (or even increase) public support for the arts.

Although the arts do not generate as much revenue for our city as the Colts and umpteen conventions do, they are no less essential. As a life-long resident, I chose to stay rather than be part of the youth “brain drain” after graduation, and part of my rationale was because of *all* that Indy offered, including an ever-growing arts scene. Our city must provide a robust and diverse offering of arts, sports, entertainment, and culture to attract and retain citizens of all kinds. I simply cannot agree that cutting the arts budget to $0, and saving just one percent of the city’s overall budget, is worth the much larger price of doing so.

keep the funding for Indy City Arts- it is definitley needed for our city.

Indianapolis has a rich variety of artists with unique ideas and perspectives and we need funding and support for this to grow and continue to enrich Indianapolis culture.

Also, the arts are vitally important to the development of youth. Involvement and exposure to the arts helps with cognitive abilities, mental and physical well-being, discipline, and can allow healthy self-expression and self-esteem.

Keep the art funding. I like seeing sculptures up and art in window spaces.

Please keep the arts funding — the arts are languages that all people speak that cut across racial, cultural, social, educational, and economic barriers and enhance cultural appreciation and awareness. Indianapolis needs the arts to achieve world class city status.

A city breathes, dances, sings, writes, sculpts, paints, acts, speaks, grows through the arts. Nurture cultural aspirations, community spirit soars. “Yes” vote here.

The idea of cutting funding in the arts is infurating. If we are not showing and teaching our community to think and act with curiosity, invention and imagination – we will not solve any of the problems we face.

Protect the arts! Arts funding is such a tiny fraction of the city budget already. Surely there are other ways to balance the budget than to eliminate arts funding.

Studies have shown that funding for the arts returns over 6 times that funding in tax revenues. Any business person would tell you that this is an excellent investment.

Arts are the soul of a community. With citizens looking closer to home during an economic downturn, it is more important than ever to sustain this community. Professional sports are increasingly reserved for those with higher incomes, and no Colts outcome has ever touched many of us like a vibrant arts community might.

Please keep public funding for the arts!

Please keep public funding for the arts so the city can continue its diverse vitality.

Keep the arts funding!

Please do not cut funding for the arts. Arts are a vital component to the quality of life in a City (and surrounding areas), and it’s a well known link that quailty of life issues are important for economic development and attracting good jobs.

Arts programs in our community can inspire and open doors for many individuals who would not ordinarily have these opportunities. It is imperative that both public and private funding –especially at grass roots levels –be sustained.

A city without public funding for the arts is NOT a world class city! We MUST support the arts to enrich the lives of our citizens.

Yes, please keep art programs in the city budget.

Yes, please continue to support the arts in Indianapolis.

The city government’s progressive attitude towards the arts (up until now) is one of the main reasons I chose to stay after graduating from Butler, rather than contributing to the ongoing brain-drain. I would hate to see Indianapolis turn its back on something that makes the city so vibrant and attractive, and I shudder to think at how our local economy wil be affected if we lose arts patrons to other cities. Please keep the arts funding- and consider increasing it!

Indy has come a long way. Now is not the time to retreat bck to bing a 2nd class city. Please keep the funding for the arts in Indianapolis!!

Please retain funding for the arts!

The greatest cities throughout civilization have all supported the arts, artists, and art education. Imagine your favorite public art anywhere – disappeared. Art touches everyone’s lives and improves it by allowing us to walk in beauty – or controversy. Keep that spark alive, keep the conversations going, keep this community walking towards greatness by, at a minimum, funding the programs already in place.

Nancy Lee Digman

The arts are essential to the vitality of a truly “world class” city. The arts are underfunded the way it is…especially public art. Keep Indianapolis vital by maintaining/increasing funding.

Jay Young

Art is an expression of our culture! Don’t we want to leave something behind other than places we’ve bombed?

Yes, I vote to keep & in fact increase public funding for the arts in Indianapolis.

So many have said it so well already. We must not cut the financial support of the arts from our city’s budget.

Please keep funding for the Arts in Indy!

Continue funds for the arts! I grew up in Indy, and because of the many opportunities I had throughout school and in the community I became a music teacher. Art is LIFE! Don’t cut funds!!

Keep Indianapolis a booming cultural city by supporting ARTS.

Please continue to support the arts!!

I grew up in the far east side of Marion county, and it wasn’t until I went to high school closer to Indianapolis that I got a very good look at the city. When you drive through downtown, you notice a of very cool, unique, alive places, but also a lot of run down, under appreciated areas.

This year, I will be a freshmen in college. Not only do I support this because my intended major is fine art, but because I want to see more of the more of the hip, Indy culture come back to Indianapolis. The first step to convincing businesses to invest in Indianapolis is by showing the teams, hotels, stores, clubs, that it is a good place to be, and showing our pride in our city is a good way to invest our culture. The loss of the public arts funding would be a terrible step backward.

We new the new administration had this potential.
They certianly do not recognize the total value of public arts funding and the impact it has on the continued forward development of the region. For Indianapolis/Marion County to cut tax supported public arts funding shows that they have no concern for how much benefit the arts bring to Indianapolis/MC and the surrounding counties…Hendricks County, where I live. How can our capital city, the city representing all of Indiana, show this lack of support for such influential aspect of our economic and social forward development.

By eliminating public funding for the arts we would be making a very bold pronouncement – that the arts (read: our culture-what makes us human) are only for an elite group (read: those who can afford it). Those of us posting on this blog know that is not and should not be the case.

“I do not want art for a few any more than education for a few or freedom for a few.” William Morris, 1834-1896

I strongly support the funding for the arts. Growing up in the culture of fine arts, I know that it is a vital part of any metropolitan city… if Indianapolis wants to stay competitive and grow it must keep up with the public funding for the arts!

In a world where the lowest expectations are the best we can hope , there is always the arts to remind us that as humans we can achieve so much and enjoy all that is our humanity. We must push what is hopeful and pure and direct away from sameness and waste.
To cut funding to the arts is to preach darkness and despair to our children. All that is good in society comes from within. Only the broadcast of these feeling and emotions will correct the valueless void that is a part of all ours souls.
It is by far the most noble of deeds. It is as essential as clean air and water.
Michael Stricklin – Human

I support continued funding for the arts!

Please keep funding for the Arts in Indy!

Keep funding the Arts in Indy!

Yes, we must continue to fund the arts. The arts in all forms are a vital and fundamental part of every community. If Indianapolis plan on being and staying a global city, we better find a way to continue to fund the arts. Leadership starts at that top.

Keep and INCREASE arts funding! The arts are vital to a vibrant and healthy community and the education of our youth.

Public funding for the arts goes farther towards making Indy a world-class city than any professional sports team ever will.

I strongly support continued funding for the arts in Indianapolis.

Hey Mayor Ballard and city county counselors! DO NOT cut funding for the arts!!!! Please! Read David Hoppe’s column in 8-6-08 NUVO. Cut funding for all sports, cut subsudees to companies coming into our city, cut funding to Jimmy Irsay, cut the police budget. But don’t cut the arts. Indianapolis wants to be world class…we need more and more and more funding for the arts!!!
Tim Harmon
627-0498

Keep the arts funding! Arts organizations can’t survive without support from our government and without those organizations many after school programs, summer camps and outreach programs with be eliminated. How will we inspire creativity and independent thinking from our youth? How will we provide alternative programs to keep kids of the streets? Save Indianapolis, Save the Arts!

Art is a part of our daily life. Art improves our lives. Indianapolis needs to continue funding.

This city would loose a lot of character if it lost any of its arts. The city should be looking at putting more into the arts not less.

Please keep Indianapolis culturally alive! Continue & increase arts funding.

Public funding for the arts is a sign of a vibrant, creative and growing city. Cutting such funding is short sighted and sends the message that the arts are no longer valued. What a shame if this plan succeeds!

Please keep Indianapolis arts funded!!!

Public funding for the arts not only gives artists the hope and encouragement to continue to communicate visually, but enhances the importance of thier job to keep the communities social conscience…how else can a community grow and grow stronger? The people that want to eliminate this funding…are the people afraid to look and above all see!

Twice I’ve received a Creative Renewal Fellowship from the Arts Council. Those fellowships were vital to my growth and development as an artist. Public and priviate funding supplied the money. In turn, I’ve become involved in the Indianapolis arts community in a way I hadn’t before!

Why would anyone want to cut arts funding from a public budget? It does not make good economic sense. We should be increasing funding!

If what we want is an exciting, vibrant community that will attract visitors and encourage positive development, we should INCREASE public funding for the arts!

Please: do not cut funding for public art!! Increase it!

Much of the revitalization of Mass Ave, and Broadripple is due to the growing arts community. Arts brings people, and people bring money to those areas that need it most. Please keep the arts funding!

Please keep funding the Arts in Indy!

By supporting the arts, Indy is supporting a well-rounded education for its children, tourism, and many positive things for the community. Please keep financially supporting Indy’s arts.

please support the arts.

Maintain funding for the arts!

The arts offered in Indianapolis is one of the main reasons I chose to attend school there! Don’t kill it!

Please don’t cut Arts funding. In fact, it needs to increased. Indianapolis already has a reputation for being culturally behind other cities in arts and education. Don’t make our city an object of ridicule throughout the country.

I am a student at Herron – Public art is very important to this city! Please continue supporting the arts!

keep funding the arts! The art culture here was just beginning to grow! we can’t let it stop!

A great city cannot exist without support of the arts. Leaving the humanizing role of the arts aside, in purely economic terms, a city with a vibrant arts community attracts educated productive people who will boost the city’s tax base. If you build it, they will come ……

Please keep Indy’s funding for the arts!

Yes, support arts funding–a city needs to be more than chain stores, stadiums, and highways!

The arts are vital to this city’s future.

As a city taxpayer, my wish is for the city to continue funding the arts at present, if not increased levels. The important symbolism of the city’s funding needs to continue.

The arts bring into this city several million dollars per year. In any business you have to spend money to make money. The city’s decision not to invest 1.5 million per year is one of the most blatantly stupid moves I have ever heard of. I vote to continue to financially support arts in Indy.

YES, the arts need to be funded. Arts not only make our city more appealing to visitors, but also help children learn in so many ways. If we cut arts funding, what message are we sending to the community? Yes, play sports and we’ll support it; decide to make something beautiful, sorry, it’s not important.

Beautiful art means beautiful city, enriched children and a stronger economy. Please keep the 1% for our art programs. It’s worth it!

The arts are an important part of the city’s culture! Don’t take that support away, have some pride in your city! Please keep funding the arts and make Indy a more beautiful and interesting place to live.

One of the major reasons I stayed in Indianapolis after graduation from college was the vibrant arts scene,everything to enjoy, but especially for all the possibilities for employment in not-for-profit arts organizations.
As the Outreach Manager for the Indianapolis Children’s Choir, I have seen up close what this money and funding support. Please do not cut funding for programs and people that really need it.
Continue to fund the arts in Indianapolis!

The arts are an integral part of the fabric of every community. Please continue to provide funding in support of the arts in Indy.

As a elementary education major, I vote to continue funding for the arts.

PLEASE continue to fund the arts!

Keeping funding the arts! Arts programs are the soul of the country….

What is a city without the art? Keep funding the arts!

I support the arts fully, It is the summit of creativity and a sanctuary for many, something many wish to keep!

Cutting funding to the arts and other programs which enrich public life is flawed in so many ways. It shifts away resources from the very thing that makes this city warmer in winters, and cooler in summers. We have benefitted greatly since the IMA opened it’s main galleries free of charge. As an artist I understand that art lives with or without funding. It is like a creek that when it swells in the spring overflows and changes the land around it. That is why I’m not afraid of these dams being put up around the arts. It is too strong, in the end, to be denied when the passion is great. And in a city with so many monuments and faceless high rises, it helps to see every once in a while a small art shop, a class of students in a museum, the murals that line parts of the city, both privately and publicly funded. And as far as what this city’s leaders choose to eliminate from our city, it’s a matter of seeing that if all we eventually have is a hammer, everything will look like a nail. And in the end we are all reduced by the lack of shared experience, the meditative experience which all true art inspires. When I think of a student in an impoverished school doodling in a book to dream away the time, it’s like the moment they wake up they’re pushed into third gear and it takes for ever to get up to speed. To put it in Indy terms, arts are the igniton that spark our engines.

The arts are essential for a thriving, creative, growing, compassionate community. The arts spur our imagination, and warm our hearts. They make us softer, and at the same time motivate us! Addtionally, the arts bring others to the city and keep them coming back. Who wants to visit a city with no public art? Think about it! Please don’t cut arts funding.

i concur with all of the previous statements!
keep the funding of indianapolis arts, PLEASE.
the arts community is one of the only things keeping indianapolis interesting and not completely dull, honestly.
there are SO MANY talented artists in this community … any city that TRULY has a culture has a thriving arts community!

Please keep arts funding intact. I would also vote for increasing arts funding.

I am an supporter of the arts, and beneficiary of the transformational effect it has on the urban youth in our city. In a city with one of the poorest urban school districts in the country, the arts provide a creative outlet for energy of the youth. I would be going to Law School from after graduating from a “drop-out factory” if it was not for the arts…

Hello. Living without arts is like living with imagination. Can you believe that? Please don’t cut the funding. It makes you think and feel outside ones’ self.
I also vote on more funding!!!!

Investing in the arts brings more money back into the city for every dollar invested than putting money in sports teams. Not only is it the right thing to do, it is the financially prudent thing to do.

The arts are an essential part of our city. Arts education makes for better students; having a cultural scene makes a city worth living in. We can’t afford to let our children down and we can’t afford to make Indy less attractive to visitors and prospective citizens. Please don’t cut funding to the arts.

Keep Indy Arts Funding! Sarah C.

Art is just as important as math, science, and history. Music, art, and physical education funding should never be cut!!!!!

I urge you to support city funding for the arts. I have lived in Indiana all my life and am dismayed that our capital city would not support the arts. As an educator I have seen first hand how the arts can enrich the lives of children. Research also shows that children’s involvement in the arts and music improves their scholastic achievements. When I visit Indianapolis it is usually for an arts related event. I can not imagine why anyone interested in economic development (as well as quality of life) would think to stop funding for the arts. Funding for the arts should be increased not decreased!

Keep the arts alive in Indianapolis! Art reminds us that there is much more going on in the world than just war and recession! We NEED the arts!

Seriously! I wish I could be polite about this but come on… all the crime, all the poverty, all the ugly things that are happening at an alarmingly higher rate lately and you want to take away the one thing promotes thought, intelligence and beauty in humanity. Bad move! Bad move! I think if we used the arts to enrapture our youth they would grow up to be less violent and more productive while understanding the importance of accountability, creative thought and self-reliance. Bad move Mayor Ballard.

Please continue to fund the arts

Arts funding is desperately needed—-it’s what spurs artists to innovate, improve themselves, the artistic scene, and entire community because they have the means and symbolic support to do so! Cutting this puts the evolution of a city at a standstill.

Please keep the arts funding!

To cancel funding for the Arts will only send Indianapolis back to IndiaNOpolis. This city is so much more than sports. If this city spent money to interest the youth to get involved in the arts, to express themselves in a positive environment, maybe we wouldn’t need so much money for crime prevention…Do not go backwards now-We’ve already come so far.

Public support for the arts indicate a vision for this city that supports beauty, creativity and hope. Without it what will counteract mean streets, and sense powerless and hopelessness that threaten to overtake this community? Don’t take a leap backward.