Dear Friends and Colleagues:
Mayor Ed Murray delivered his 2017 Proposed Budget to the City Council yesterday, and I am pleased to inform you that he has proposed increased investments in arts and culture.
The Office’s programing is made possible through the 1% for Art ordinance for public art, and Admissions Tax allocation. With his proposed 2017-2018 Budget, Mayor Murray has increased the share of dedicated Admissions Tax from 80% to 100%. Admissions Tax funds all grant, arts education, and cultural space projects and programs, as well as administration for the Office.
This increase in Admissions Tax will fund several initiatives:
- The new King Street Station cultural space, creating a new cultural hub bridging the Pioneer Square and Chinatown International District neighborhoods
- A new $1M capital funding program starting in 2018, that will better respond to the capital campaigns of our cultural organizations
- Increased investment in our Equity work, funding both new programming and staff capacity that will address historic and current inequitable access to arts resources.
- We’ll also expand our partnership with Seattle Schools on The Creative Advantage, an initiative to put arts back into every classroom. This investment will develop a media arts skills center, which will expand access to creative careers for Seattle’s high school students.
With this proposed budget, Mayor Murray has outlined increasing investment in youth, arts and cultural organizations and in cultural facilities.
You may respond to these budget proposals by emailing Council members using the Council website linked below or attending one of the two Council budget hearings scheduled for the following dates:
- October 5, 2016, 5:30 p.m., Seattle City Hall in Council Chambers; and
- October 25, 2016, 5:30 p.m., Seattle City Hall in Council Chambers.
http://www.seattle.gov/council/
Many thanks to you for your continued support of our city’s arts and cultural landscape, and to Mayor Murray for including these proposals as part of his 2017-18 Proposed Budget.
Thank you,
Randy Engstrom
Director, Office of Arts & Culture
