Facebook Status – June 04, 2018 at 01:26PM

Wonderroot recently sent a list around of ways you can advocate for greater arts funding in the Atlanta area. If you support local arts this may be of interest:

Action Requested — Ask Atlanta City Council and Mayor Bottoms to increase arts funding in the FY19

City of Atlanta Budget!
Actions people can take:

1) Contact City Council
a. Contact City Council President, Felicia Moore (fmoore@atlantaga.gov; 404-330-6052)
b. Contact your City Council representative – info linked here
c. Contact all at-large City Council representatives – info linked here

2) Testify at the upcoming City Council Budget Hearing Meeting
a. Tuesday, June 5, 6:00pm at City Hall

3) Ask your board members and constituents to advocate for the arts to Mayor Bottoms and City Council per the opportunities above

4) Communicate with Atlanta City Council via social media
a. Twitter @atlcouncil, #atlbudget
b. Facebook @atlantacitycouncil

Talking points for both communications with Council members directly and at City Council budget
hearings might include:

• The City of Atlanta awarded $995,000 in grants to non-profit arts & culture organizations in
FY18. The City of Nashville awarded $2.4M and the Arts & Science Council of Charlotte awarded
$13.7M. Not only does Atlanta not compete nationally, Atlanta doesn’t compete in the Southeast
when it comes to public support for arts & culture.

• The arts, through organizations both large and small, are an economic driver, promote social
cohesion, and contribute to the cultural preservation of communities. Communities with anchor
arts organizations and community-based cultural facilities are less likely to experience
displacement in all its forms.

• According to a 2014 report by Americans for the Arts, students of low socioeconomic status and
low arts involvement are 22% more likely than their peers to drop out of school. However,
students of low socioeconomic status and high arts involvement are just 4% more likely to drop
out of school. That means students of low socioeconomic status that have high arts involvement
are 550% less likely to drop out of school than students of the same socioeconomic status!

• The Arts & Economic Prosperity Study III (2007) reported that total annual operating
expenditures for arts and culture nonprofits in the City of Atlanta was $107,692,359. A decade
later, the Arts & Economic Prosperity Study V (2017) showed that total annual expenditures for
these groups grew to $371,899,510, a 245% increase. However, there was just a $500,000
increase in grant awards over this period.

• Investments in small and medium sized organizations will create jobs almost immediately. The economic impact will be quick and create long-term economic growth.

Find more reports and data on the impact of the arts in the areas of education, community building,
healthcare, the economy, and beyond in Americans for the Arts Research Reports.