Opportunity (noun) - 1. A favorable juncture of circumstances. 2. A good chance for advancement or progress. (Merriam - Webster)

As the Arizona arts community wraps up what may be its worst and most difficult financial year ever, we should take pride in our resiliency. Most of us have survived, though sadly some long-standing institutions have not. All of us have retrenched - severely --while hoping the flickering signs of economic recovery grow stronger over the next year.

Few of us would think of this being a natural occasion of "opportunity." Yet, that is exactly what this issue of our newsletter is about.

This year, together with our arts organization members and thousands of arts advocate statewide, we made progress. We got the state arts agency was renewed for the full 10 years allowed under law. We stopped the sweeps to the Arizona Arts Trust Fund, and we scored a win for the literary arts by getting the Legislature to create an Arizona Poet Laureate.  We learned that we have arts supporters in the Arizona Legislature and we have stronger relationships with them now.

Arts advocates also were elected as mayors in cities all over Arizona, and arts friendly candidates were elected to city councils too.

With several "wins" under our belts, we're at a favorable juncture of circumstances with a good chance for advancement and progress.

This newsletter explains what we're going to do about it.Legislative redistricting offers the opportunity to elect more arts friendly candidates to the Arizona Legislature this Fall, and there are open seats in our Congressional and U. S. Senate races too.

So we're launching Vote smART 2012 to help you and your friends and arts supporters be better-informed about arts issues and where candidates stand on those issues. We're also giving you tools to register your friends and arts supporters to vote. So please, read about it, and become our partner in Vote smART 2012 so we can build on success next year.

"Arts and Prosperity IV", from American for the Arts, is a powerful and new tool with fresh and extensive data about the economic impact of arts on our national and local economies. Over the next year, we'll be using this data to recruit more business and community support for the arts in Arizona.

And finally, yes, we're still raising money too. Our ability to be effective is a combination of your vocal advocacy and your financial support. Our "Hit A for the Arts" campaign has raised about half the money we need to close the gap caused by the dues fall off from our financially-strapped organization members. It's not too late. Click here, and you can help us finish off this year's campaign and prepare for the future. For those of you who've already made the extra effort - thank you. Now let's move forward!

If you don't vote, your voice isn't heard.  If you're not registered to vote, you have no voice at all.

And if you don't know how candidates feel about the issues you care about - your vote could be wasted.

That's why every arts and cultural organization in Arizona needs to engage and participate in Vote smART 2012, an Arizona Citizens/Action for the Arts statewide voter registration and education campaign launching in July.

The process is simple. If you represent an arts organization, you can sign onto the campaign today, and we will provide:

• Voter-registration tools through our website and for mobile apps
• Training in basic voter registration outreach methods and tools, and
• Timely updates about candidates and their positions on issues impacting public funding  the arts and culture through regular email communications and the Vote smART Arizona website.

In return, we are asking your organization to:

• Feature the Vote smART 2012 logo and live link on you website and in at least one newsletter, if you publish one
• Engage volunteers to staff voter outreach tables at organization events, shows and public exhibition spaces
• Use Vote smART 2012 materials and tools at your events and in your communications
• Provide us with a 300dpi jpeg version of your logo and contact information for your Vote smART 2012 point person.

For more information, contact Michael Soto at michaelscsoto@azcitizensforthearts.org or call (602) 253-6535.

On June 28th, the U.S. House of Representatives' Interior Committee approved the Appropriations Interior Subcommittee recommendation for a $14 million cut to the National Endowment for the Arts for Fiscal Year 2013.

Previously, President Obama had proposed an $8 million NEA budget increase to $154.3 million from its current level of $146.3 million.  The House Subcommittee proposal drops the budget to $132 million.

Though just the first step in the budgeting process, now is the time to let your representatives know your concerns before the House Appropriations Committee and then the full house consider the proposal. Click here to read more.

NEA funding has been slashed by more than $20 million the past two years, which flies in the face of the recently released Arts and Economic Prosperity IV economic impact report which shows the arts industry generates $135.2 billion in annual economic activity and supports more than 4 million full-time jobs.

Not that it comes as a great surprise, at least to us, but the recently released Arts and Economic Prosperity IV showed that the arts and cultural industry generates $135.2 billion of economic activity annually nationwide. 

Based on figures from 2010, the nation's nonprofit arts and culture organizations produce $61.1 billion in direct activity with an additional $74.1 billion in event-related expenditures by their audiences.  These dollars support 4.12 million full-time jobs. 

Local, state and federal governments receive $22.3 billion in annual revenue which is far beyond the $4 billion allocated to the arts - nearly a 5 to 1 return on investment?

The data was collected from 182 participating regions, including 139 individual cities.

Arizona cities represented in the study accounted for more than $500 million in economic activity, broken down as follows: City of Phoenix ($300,617,328 in total spending; 9,623 full-time jobs), City of Mesa ($25,173,280; 850 jobs), City of Flagstaff ($72938,282; 2,497 jobs), Pima County ($87,715,892; 2,602 jobs) and West Valley Region of Maricopa County ($14,712,480; 539 jobs).

For the full report, click here.

Joel Hiller, Executive Director of the Yavapai Indian Cultural Center and former Prescott College President, has been elected President of Arizona Citizens for the Arts (AzCA) and Julie Richard, CEO of the West Valley Arts Council, will serve as President of Arizona Action for the Arts for Fiscal Year 2012-13.

Joining Hiller on the AzCA executive committee are Brenda Bernardi, School of Ballet Arizona, vice president; Tom Chapman, community volunteer, secretary; Karen Falkenstrom, Okaido Sonora of Tucson, secretary; Dawn Brown, Az Business Consulting, treasurer; Jeffrey Rich, Rich&Gillis Law Group, member at-large; Jeff Williamson, Arizona Zoological Society, member-at-large; Steve Martin, Childsplay, immediate past president; and Barbara DuVal Fenster, Free Arts for Abused Children of Arizona, membership committee chair.  Richard also is a member of the executive committee.

Three new members were elected to the Arizona Citizens for the Arts/Arizona Action for the Arts board of directors: Rick Pfannensteil, Pfocus LLC; Rep. Kate Brophy McGee, Arizona House of Representatives; and Robert Knight, Tucson Museum of Art.

Five board members were reelected for a second three-year term including Dawn Brown; Jeff Rich; Mary Dryden, Tucson Symphony Orchestra League; Phil Jones, retired, Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture; and Lynn Tuttle, Arizona Department of Education.

Another year, another dose of recognition for the Governor's Arts Awards which was named Best Event at the Arizona Capitol Times' annual Best of the Capitol Awards celebration.

Since 1981, every Arizona governor has been involved in the event that regularly draws between 400 and 600 supporters to recognize the importance of arts and culture in communities across Arizona.

The Governor's Arts Awards won the title in 2010 and 2011, too.

For the full list of Best of the Capitol winners, visit this site. 

OFFICERS

Steve Martin,  

President, Arizona Citizens 

Brenda Bernardi,  

Vice President, Arizona Citizens 

Joel Hiller,  

President, Arizona Action

Julie Richard,  

Tom Chapman,  

Secretary

Dawn Brown,  

Treasurer

Jeff Rich,  

Member-At-Large

Jessica L. Andrews,  

Past President, Arizona Citizens 

MEMBERS  

Allan Affeldt,  

Winslow Arts Trust

Robert Benson,  

Peoria Unified School District

Jennifer Burns,

Consulting & Policy Development 

Sam Campana,  

Audobon Arizona

Bill DeWalt,

Musical Instrument Museum

Mary Dryden,  

Tucson Symphony Orchestra League  

Karen Falkenstrom

Odaiko Sonora 

Representative Steve Farley 

Arizona House of Representatives

Mark Feldman,

Miller-Russell & Associates

Barbara Fenster,

Free Arts of Arizona

Wes Gullett,  

First Strategic

Phillip C. Jones,

Community Volunteer 

Cathy Knapp,  

Frazer Ryan Goldberg & Arnold LLP 

Kate Marquez,  

Southern Arizona Arts & Culture Alliance

Senator Michele Reagan,  

Arizona State Senate 

John Tannous,  

Flagstaff Cultural Partners

Jackie Thrasher,

Retired Arts Educator

Lynn Tuttle,  

Arizona Department of Education

Cathy Weiss,  

Del E. Webb Center for the Performing Arts

Jeff Williamson,

Arizona Zoological Society