The Nevada Sagebrush

Photo by Tara Verderosa.

With million-dollar budget cuts to statewide arts programs and more to come, many local arts organizations are fighting to keep their funding in tact and their art programs functioning in the community — a goal that is crucial to the survival of Reno’s economy, many community members said.

“I like to do an exercise where I ask people to close their eyes,” Susan Boskoff, director of the Nevada Arts Council, said. “I ask them to picture what the city would look like without 31 days of Artown, without the plazas and the skating rink. What would their children’s lives be like without art classes in school? How would our kids compete in a global economy if they didn’t have the arts to strengthen their learning capacity? What would Renown be like without arts healing programs? Can you imagine what that would be like? Why would people live here? What else would keep you here?”

If the legislature cuts the proposed money from various arts organizations this year, that imaginary world may become a reality for Reno. Many organizations are encouraging legislators to prioritize arts funding and protesting cuts in hopes of keeping the arts alive in Reno.

Boskoff said that the Nevada Arts Council’s budget was cut 43 percent last year, reducing the council’s grants by thousands of dollars. The arts council mainly gives grants to smaller local arts organizations and individual artists. In 2008, the arts council had a total of about $2.5 million to spend. The legislature-approved budget for 2010 is now only about $1.3 million, and more cuts are likely to come in the special session, which starts today.

In the last decade alone, various arts organizations and independent artists have been working with the City of Reno to inject more life into the city through projects such as public artworks in the downtown area, involvement with local youth and healing arts programs at local hospitals. For the fiscal year of 2002-03, the city allotted $60,000 for the production of public arts projects such as sculptures, murals, art benches and bike racks. In 2009, Reno added three sculptures, one mural and two other pieces of public art to its repertoire. However, these investments are simply the beginning of long-term projects that may be stopped if the arts budgets are cut.

“If you look at downtown, it’s a disaster,” Howard Rosenberg, art department chair at the University of Nevada, Reno, said. “Buildings are boarded up. It looks to the world as if Reno is dying. Any cuts will reverse progress for Reno and the state. The state will shrink drastically. People will leave and go somewhere else.”

Public artwork around Reno, including murals and artistic bike racks, are some of the programs that will be affected by budget cuts to the organizations that commission artists to create them. Photo by Brian Bolton/Nevada Sagebrush.

“One of our main focuses is to build cities and communities that artists want to live in,” Boskoff said. “We don’t want them to leave and go somewhere else they can get employment. San Francisco is only four hours away. Reno benefits from a very broad and deep arts community. It’s unbelievably rich for such a small town. The arts, besides being the voice of the human spirit, offer so many solutions to problems that everyone is facing: they employ people, they bring people downtown who go to dinner and pay the parking meters. There is a ripple effect. It’s reinventing what tourism means to Nevada.”

Holland Project president Jevan Burchfield sees the effect that arts programs have on the Reno community through his work of striving to get local teenagers involved in the arts. Burchfield said he feels that a strong arts community is one of the contributing factors for a business deciding to set itself up in an area.

“I think that a community is only as good as its arts community,” he said. “World-class communities always have world-class arts.”

Burchfield said that not only does the Holland Project’s work help young people in the moment, it also helps train well-rounded additions to Nevada’s workforce.

“Teenagers are the second largest demographic in Reno, and they’re often overlooked and underserved,” he said. “The arts provide an expressive outlet that keeps them off the street and involved in the community in a positive way. I choose to believe that if we don’t have a way for teens to express themselves, people will be seeing more of our kids in the prison system, especially in youth corrections. From an economic standpoint, reasons exist to create young talent and keep young talent here. By not having arts or not keeping talent here, businesses looking to come here will see a lack of that.”

Erik Holland, a local artist and activist who has worked with underprivileged youth in the area, said the arts and arts organizations are an aspect of Reno culture worth fighting for.

“Arts are part of the reason people visit the community,” he said. “Reno is on the verge of becoming a regional destination for the arts. Reno is a great center for the arts. If we weaken that part of our society, we lose one of the more vibrant sectors of the community.”

Holland has been involved in government-funded programs through his work with Sierra Arts teaching art in local schools.

“Had that program not been funded, I might still be driving a school bus,” he said. “I feel like I’m contributing more to the planet by teaching young people to draw.”

Nevada Museum of Arts, one of the region’s most popular arts destinations, is affected by budget cuts to statewide grants despite being a non-profit organization that is not a city or state-run entity.

“Everyone in the arts is affected by budget cuts,” Rachel Milon, director of marketing and communications at the museum, said. “We may see a drop in our funding if there are fewer chances for grants. We rely heavily on the community, to attract people and find funding. Each person who has a membership is helping. It’s what’s keeping us alive.”

Reno City Councilman Dave Aiazzi said that the city recognizes the importance of the arts to the community and intends to try to maintain funding to keep arts programs afloat during the impending budget cuts.

“We’re fighting hard to keep the arts funded,” he said. “We have a council that thinks it’s important to the community. The arts budget hasn’t been cut more than anywhere else. We try to make sure the arts are still funded. They’ll be cut but hopefully not as much. I try to remind everyone that we don’t give the arts much to begin with. Even if we cut it 100 percent, it wouldn’t be all that much, and a lot of people enjoy the arts.”

During the state’s budget crisis, Aiazzi encourages arts organizations to rely less upon government funding for their projects, citing the Nada Dada Motel — a collaborative art project run by local artists in response to the city’s Artown festival — as an example of a thriving arts group that receives no government funding, but has become a successful art event in Reno nonetheless.

“There are other groups who have done so much on their own,” he said. “Nada Dada doesn’t get any city funding. Everyone has their own idea of what art is, and it shouldn’t be dictated by the government. The arts are still really alive, and they still will be.”

Casey O’Lear can be reached at colear@nevadasagebrush.com.

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