Perilous times for Virginia’s arts

It's jarring to think of Virginia as the worst place in the country for supporting the arts. But Alabama does better by its arts community. So do Oklahoma and West Virginia.

Now Virginia lawmakers have proposed an unparalleled move, even for these dreary times. Virginia, home to the only national park for the performing arts in the United States, is considering shuttering the state’s arts commission.

The state House is recommending cutting the budget of the Virginia Commission for the Arts in half starting in July. In 2011, the commission would be eliminated entirely, leaving Virginia the only state without one.

There’s no question the commonwealth’s budget crisis is dire, with urban schools and health care for poor children among the most defenseless targets of Gov. Bob McDonnell and House budget leaders.

But it’s also unthinkable to do away with the agency that lures talent, tourists and businesses to the commonwealth, that supports music and theater and the jobs they provide, encourages painters and poets and ensures that grants from the National Endowment for the Arts are sprinkled throughout Virginia.

This is, after all, the home of jazz great Ella Fitzgerald and country music legend Patsy Cline. It’s where  fiction writers Edgar  Allan Poe and William Styron grew up. It’s a state that long has recognized the importance of the arts to a vital economy. Museums, theaters, orchestras and dance troupes from the Eastern Shore to Appalachia have benefited from the commission’s nurturing.

In Hampton Roads, arts enthusiasts worry about the renowned Virginia Symphony, which has struggled to pay its bills in this economy. If it shuts down, we lose not only access to professional concerts but also the classical musicians who live here, who direct music programs in churches and schools, play at weddings and introduce youngsters to strings and brass and Beethoven.

Already, the Commission for the Arts has lost 30 percent of its funding since 2008. The Senate plan wisely would keep the commission’s budget at its current level, $4.4 million, but the House version would cut it in half.

The governor seems to recognize the value of arts and entertainment, because he has recommended spending more money in this lousy economy to lure the film industry here as a way to create jobs .

McDonnell’s own hometown shows how catering to the arts can reap benefits. A study by Americans for the Arts found that arts and cultural nonprofits last year generated $56.8 million in economic activity in Virginia Beach, brought $2.3 million in taxes to the city and $3.6 million to the state.

Creating jobs and growing the economy were signature campaign issues for nearly every state official elected last year. It makes no sense now to renege on those promises by butchering an industry that has done nothing but stimulate spending.