March 1995
On any given Friday or Saturday night, drive around the Civic Center area. Quick is not the word that comes to mind when circling this area. Instead a better word, like sluggish, would do.
If Newt Gingrich and his pals have their way, a terrific chunk of the traffic will disappear. But it will not be because of some pollution clampdown found in the Contract for America. Instead, gridlock will vanish because the funding for the National Endowment for the Arts will either be sliced drastically or silenced entirely.
If this happens, congestion will not be the only thing eliminated. Institutions like the San Francisco Opera, the symphony and the ballet will be severely choked for funds. In San Francisco and across America, the voice of the overly cliched "fat lady" is about to sing through the hot air exhaust of Newt Gingrich.
The horrendous traffic that tangles the Civic Center and other parts of town is a good thing. San Francisco is a tourist town. But the Wharf and Union Square are not the only sights people come to see. Besides Civic Center, the entire city is flooded with galleries, theaters and multi-cultural centers that all receive partial funding from the NEA. Most of the people circling like cows are looking for parking. And if those people are coming out to enjoy the arts, chances are they are also going out to dinner, staying in a hotel or heading off to a bar for a brandy after the performance.
The NEA and the National Endowment for the Humanities, both of which were started 30 years ago, issued grants totaling $345 million. San Francisco received more federal arts financing per capita than any other city in the United States. Last year, 168 artists and organizations in the city received $3.8 million from the NEA, according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle.
The San Francisco Opera receives the largest donation from the NEA. They were just granted $325,000.00 which is about 2 percent of their overall budget. It might seem like a small percentage, but if their grants were cut, it would strain other areas of their budget.
"It would be a loss in terms of other donations," says Jake Heggie, public relations associate for the Opera. "Getting money from the NEA is like a seal of approval. When other corporations see that the NEA has donated funds, it generates other grants and programs. The arts are expensive, they don't pay for themselves."
Most of the money donated from the NEA, the NEH and Corporation for Public Broadcasting, goes toward general operating costs. This seal of approval from the federal government is what gets other corporations and wealthy patrons to donate, such as the SF MOMA, KQED, Film Arts and Capp Street Project. Each dollar granted by the Endowment produces an average of $11 in matching private funds.
"Even if the grant is small, it's still a stamp of approval," says Lori Fogarty, associate director of development for the MOMA. "Every NEA grant has to be matched. Getting recognized from the NEA is a really important way the arts community stays in touch."
If the funding is removed, all the agencies-big and small-will have to make adjustments to cover the loss. This will affect not only the staff of the agencies, but art lovers and the community as well. And like the baseball strike, the cutting of funds for the arts will affect all businesses that rely on the draw of people that support the arts.
The ripple effect of revenue generated from people that frequent the arts in San Francisco is extremely high. The nonprofit arts produce an annual average of $37 million to local businesses, create 1.3 million jobs and provide $3.4 million in federal income taxes, according to another article in the San Francisco Chronicle. Many servers, parking attendants and hotel staff are thankful for the traffic that clogs Van Ness every weekend.
It costs each American only 64 cents per year to fund the $167 million budget of the NEA, and $1 per person each year to fund the CPB. Funding from these organizations spans all areas of the art community, including music, art and film. The money helps not only the top dogs, but the smaller pups as well. This funding cannot be cut.
Think of a day in San Francisco without the arts: Wake up in the morning with no National Public Radio, which includes great programs like Fresh Air, Talk of the Nation and Forum with Michael Krasny. Forget about your child turning on Sesame Street in the afternoon. Forget about seeing the theater, the opera and the ballet in the evening.
The NEA and the other agencies were created to bring art and culture to everyone in the nation. Are we supposed to get culture from Newt's National Empowerment Television? Sucking on a tail pipe would be better than watching that. He is shooting himself in the foot if he cuts funding for the arts.
The tourist traffic that tangles the commute through the city also drives the art community-without it, the richness of the art scene would be lost. If the fat lady does sing, San Francisco will be singing the blues.