Milwaukee Arts Board, Transform Thyself

So, Jonathan West--a.k.a. Artsy Schmartsy--has been conducting and hosting an extremely animated discussion over at his blog about the recently proposed budget cut to the Milwaukee Arts Board (MAB). Thoughtful peeps--and in that description I include that scalawag Mike Brenner, gods save us!--have been chiming in with comments on his three posts to date and via the dreaded Book o' Face, and his idea to crap can the whole thing and walk away appears to be winning the most votes. Très intéressant, non? Oui.

For those who need a bit more intel on the situation, Mayor Tom Barrett's proposed 2010 budget calls for cutting $110,000 from MAB, leaving it with a budgetary level synonymous with that of a lower middle-class individual or a barely-scraping-by one income family household in Miltown--$50,000. But it would also mean that MAB's eligibility for a $25,000 matching grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board and its ability to leverage other grants would be lost. It's pretty much what brainy economists call The Domino Effect!

West's initial post on the subject was feisty and frustrated. Without pointing to any specific person or entity, he noted the number of communiqués he received on this issue from the arts community yelping, "The Sky Is Falling!" His response? And I quote, "Slug me in the gut for what I'm about to say if you're so inclined, but here goes: WHO CARES!" Well, that's quite a dare, sir, and I do hope no one actually took you up on the tummy bashing offer.

I, too, received countless emails with the same urgent tone but chose to ignore them. My reasons for doing so were not because I don't care--plenty of artsy folks and programs have been helped by the dough granted to them by the MAB and that makes me giddy--but rather because they fall along the same lines as West's, and those are:

1) The MAB's current allocated budget of $160,000 is, to put it generously, akin to slapping us on the back, shaking our hand vigorously and handing us a cookie in congratulations at an art opening but declining to actually buy any of our work while greenbacks are visibly crammed into their pockets.

2) The amount of energy that would be expended trying to save such a paltry sum far exceeds its worth.

3) With basic city services facing even larger cuts at this horrid economic moment in history--cuts that put public education, health and safety at greater risk--we may be better off taking one for the whole team rather than pushing for our own "special" team.

Now, there is an argument to be made that the MAB plays a significant role in the cultural health of this city, translating into a higher quality of life and helping to grow hearts and minds, and its admittedly small monetary grants have enabled projects and programs to be developed, presented and maintained. However, perhaps it's time to rethink the purpose of the MAB and its role both within the arts community and the community at large. Times they are and have been indeed changin', kids, and we need to get with it!

West is calling for a dismantling of the MAB. I disagree. I believe that the MAB should accept the $50,000 and run. Run, little rabbit, run! And where shall it run to upon its tiny yet powerful legs? To Metamorphosis Land, of course, where it will transform itself from a grant making organization into a funding facilitator.

To be precise, the MAB should become a literal matchmaker, working to facilitate relationships between artists and projects that need money and the people, institutions, businesses, and foundations that have money. In this new model, no money would be funneled directly through the MAB, meaning it would no longer be forced to beg the city for more funds on a nearly constant basis--Oh noos! All the Chicken Littles will go mute!--and only administrative and operating costs would need to be covered.

To further enhance its flexibility, efficiency and capabilities, the MAB could reconfigure its partnership with Milwaukee Artists Resource Network (MARN) by arranging to commission its ever-growing online database of artists and arts orgs--that way MARN wouldn't lose all the MAB backing it now receives--which can then be used to match artists and projects with donors.

If the board works its budget close and tight, ignoring the temptations of the candy isle, $50,000 should be just about enough.

I realize that my suggested plan of transformation for the MAB is most likely a painful one to many, but it is not a plan to simply save a sinking ship. It is a plan that will bring necessary change to an organization that, for the most part, is unsustainable and will better secure the future of the arts in Milwaukee by creating stronger relationships across the community spectrum.

Questions, comments, jokes, asides? Have at it!

Comments

[mike brenner]

in all seriousness, the $150,000 pittance that the arts board got in the city budget before was a disgrace, BUT it helped a LOT of organizations. i know MARN wouldn't have been able to start the mentoring program without the money they got. if I remember correctly, MARN also worked with MVAR to create the city's only complete gallery guide (in print and online) with MAB money several years ago too.

in their defense, in 2004, the milwaukee arts board spent two days coming up with new goals and a new plan of action to help local artists and organizations, but were told they shouldn't do any of it because a new organization (the cultural alliance) was being formed (in secret) and would be doing all the things the arts board wanted to do. the cultural alliance raised something like $246,000 in a couple months from private foundations. the arts board, in my opinion, has been in a holding pattern ever since.

although it would be nice to have milwaukee loose all it's funding so i had more things to bitch about, too many people are being served by that cash. in reality, most of it goes to fund programs for underprivileged kids that art orgs are doing to supplement what MPS isn't doing.

[stella cretek]

Why beat a dead horse, a horse that's been dead for years, probably from apathy and burn-out...

[Ben Turk]

Wouldn't turning MAB into matchmaker sort of make it redundant? Does MARN not promote, advocate and increase awareness of the arts enough that anyone genuinely interested in funding should have NO problem finding worthy recipients?

And don't CA and UPAF already funnel any moneys from the people who aren't genuinely interested in supporting the arts (those who want nothing but the reputation of being supportive)? Seems like Milwaukee's got plenty of match-makers, just a shortage of funders, and an art community that somehow remains dependent upon such funding inspite of not having it for years.