Posted on: Wednesday, July 7, 2004

EDITORIAL
Arts groups deserve help but must do more

Gov. Linda Lingle is to be congratulated for taking what appears to be a serious and open-minded second look at her decision to restrict some $500,000 from $1.2 million in Culture and Arts grants approved by the Legislature.

That original decision, part of a larger budget-control strategy, generated outrage in the local arts community.

Lingle is in a difficult position. She simply cannot afford to say "yes" to every spending and grant request. On a day-to-day basis, she has no choice but to balance the budget.

Based on a conversation with some 20 folks representing various arts groups, Lingle said she will take a second look at the restrictions to see if there can be some flexibility.

Apparently, a persuasive argument was that many of the grants go to fund youth arts projects, which can be seen as an investment in prevention.

When kids are active in arts, they are not as likely to get into trouble elsewhere.

Ideally, Lingle will find a way to release some, if not all, of the restricted money.

But this incident should also serve as an early warning sign for the arts groups. The trend appears inevitable: Unless there is a massive turnaround in state finances, the arts will see a steady decline in support from tax dollars.

That means more vigorous and inventive ways to raise money privately, as well as more clever use of whatever state money is available to "leverage" greater contributions from the private sector.