PREPARED STATEMENT OF MICHAEL L. LOMAX, DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS, CITY OF ATLANTA

Mr. CHAIRMAN. My name is Michael Lomax, director of the bureau of cultural affairs, City of Atlanta, and a member of the Georgia Council for the Arts.

I am certainly pleased to join this distinguished group of directors and chairmen of state arts councils to speak in behalf of the re-authorization of the national endowment for the arts. In doing so, I would like to focus upon the important role of the endowment over the last 10 years in stimulating additional sources of support for the arts on the community level, especially by local governments. Working closely with the endowment and with state arts agencies, local councils, commissions and municipal arts agencies are demonstrating the kind of coordinated effort which will insure not only efficient use of the limited public and private funds available but also will insure the dynamic creative environment we seek for the country as a whole.

If you will bear with me, I would like to draw upon the Atlanta experience as an illustration of what local governments can do and are doing to meet not only the clear public need but also the increasing public demand for a commitment of local public resources to the arts.

In the past, the city of Atlanta has been an adequate, if not a generous, supporter of the arts. Through service grants, it has annually made contributions to the operating budgets of our major cultural institutions-the symphony, art museum and a handful of other highly visible institutions. These contributions totaled in the range of $150,000 annually and, though deeply appreciated, represented the extent of city government's participation in and support of the arts. In 1974, with its first charter change in over 100 years, Atlanta reorganized its city government. One of the agencies created-created in response to clear public need and audible public demand-was a bureau of cultural affairs whose charge is broadly to: (1) work closely with and in behalf of our arts community, (2) to develop publicly sponsored cultural programs, (3) to administer service grants to cultural institutions, and (4) "to maintain liaison with the national endowment for the arts and other public and private funding sources to ensure that the city of Atlanta takes advantage of all arts related national and regional matching funds for which it is eligible." This quotation from our 1976 proposed bureau budget reflects the clear practical interest we have in a strong national endowment for the arts. It also suggests the central role of the endowment even on the local level.

The National Endowment has served as a stimulus for communities, municipalities and states to make concrete commitments to the cultural life of their areas. Since 1965 the number of community (though not necessarily governmental) arts agencies has more than tripled from 300 to well over 1,000. In 1966, 18 states had legislated arts councils. Today all fifty states have active agencies concerned with the promotion and nurturing of the arts. Local governments are now following the lead set by the states.

Atlanta is just one case in point, demonstrating this newly engendered sense of responsibility to provide our citizens with a vital cultural milieu. In the words of Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, the establishment of a bureau of cultural affairs has affirmed "city governments commitment to the arts as a priority item, a service which must be made accessible to all citizens." Mayor Jackson went on to say, "We have learned to view the arts not as a luxury for the few, but as basic a city service as police and fire protection.”

Atlanta's support for the arts has more than doubled in the past two years, and we expect a dramatic increase next year as we enter the bureau's first full year of operation. The bureau is a regular, functioning agency of city government. But our city, which serves as a cultural resource and center for an area far larger than our immediate tax base, does not have the wherewithal to go it alone. We have explored many areas of Federal assistance. We have gone to the CETA program for cultural positions filled by artists both in city government and in out-station cultural organizations. We are exploring HUD community development block grants to fund murals and scultpure in public parks. However, for our basic programming responsibilities, which have the two-pronged purposes of presenting free artistic events to our citizens as well as giving arts-related organizations a shot in the arm, we must turn to the national endowment for cooperation, coordination and support. In this regard, the endowment provides not only additional necessary financial support but also the expertise and guidance which insure a wise use of public funds. We hope that in the future, just

as the national endowment has used the State-Federal partnership program to stimulate State appropriations a similar program might be explored for large municipalities and urban centers which have a responsibility to act as cultural resources on a broader, regional basis.

In Atlanta, we have recognized that the arts are a resource which can stimulate the vitality and humaneness of our highly urbanized community. Our commitment to nurture and promote the arts is a commitment to retain the quality of our city and to bring different segments of our community together. So far, it is working, but we need Federal assistance. In a letter to this committee in support of Mr. Louis Harris' recommendations for a 3-year reauthorization for the national endowment, Mayor Jackson wrote, "just as the Congress has acted to support the continued health of those institutions providing basic public services, the Federal Government must provide adequate support to the National Endowment for the Arts in its effort to ensure the vitality and accessibility of the arts in America."

During the past fiscal year, the national endowment appropriation for the arts averaged 30 cents per capita. If we compare these appropriations to $2.42 per capita for West Germany; $2.00 for Austria and Sweden; $1.40 for Canada; $1.23 for Great Britain and (under our 1976 budget) the $1.00 for Atlanta we cannot help but conclude that we can and should be doing better as a nation.

Federal support of the arts is not a handout. Artists in this country have talent and skill which provide vital public services. When we fund cultural efforts, we are simply enabling artists to make their unique contributions to our society. And these contributions are crucial to the kind of America we all want to build. Thank you.

STATEMENT OF LOUISE TESTER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ARIZONA COMMISSION ON THE ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES

Mr. BACKAS. Mrs. Tester.

Mrs. TESTER. Mr. Chairman, my name is Louise Tester. I am executive director of the Arizona Commission on the Arts and Humanities. I am also chairman of the Western States Arts Foundation, and, until last month, acting president of the Western Association of Art Museums.

Today I am going to share with you some of my observations about the arts in the Western United States and how the National Endowment for the Arts relates to what we do out there.

The 10 States of the Western States Arts Foundation encompass a vast region with sparse populations and widely dispersed urban centers-traditionally the focal point for the arts. Through funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and other sources, Western States Arts Foundation works to provide access to the arts in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

The Western Association of Art Museums is another private, nonprofit organization which provides a special service to institutions in the West. Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Western Association of Art Museums provides circulating exhibitions, a fine arts insurance service and workshops and seminars to over 200 member institutions.

Parallel to the similarities, there are significant differences within the western region, so I do not presume to speak for every Western State this afternoon.

I do want to tell you some of the things that have evolved in Arizona as a result of participation by the National Endowment for the Arts. Quite literally, National Endowment for the Arts support has been essential for the very survival of much of the arts activity in Arizona.

With three-fourths of the State's land government-owned, there is a low tax base and to date no support for arts programs on the State government level. So, with support from the Arts Endowment since 1966, the Arizona Commission on the Arts and Humanities has produced and assisted a broad and substantial body of programs.

These are some of the things that have happened in recent years: The Phoenix Symphony has had two consecutive sold-out seasons. The Arizona Civic Theatre-a young company based in Tucsonhas become a fully professional theater. Eight years ago, the Commission granted $3,000 of the block grant to the Arizona Civic Theatre to hire a professional director for three productions. Today, the budget of the Arizona Civic Theatre is in excess of $300,000 for a full season of productions-through the assistance of the State arts commission and the arts endowment.

Gammage Auditorium has the respect of being one of the most important performing arts halls in the western region and brings to the State major dance companies, touring orchestras and theaters.

The Scottsdale Theatre for Children was named "the best children's theater groups in the Nation" by the Children's Theatre Association last year.

The State's arts festivals involve thousands of people in the arts and they are all over the State-Yuma, Tucson, Scottsdale, and the regionally important Flagstaff Summer Festival.

A few weeks ago, the Scottsdale Center for the Arts opened its doors as a center for the visual and performing arts and film.

The Navajo Outdoor Theatre and the Black Theatre Troupe are emerging from their formative stages into full-fledged performing groups. The touring programs of the Arizona Commission carry performances and exhibitions into communities all over the State and reach a huge portion of the State's population.

I cite these cases as very real examples of what has occurred as a direct result of National Endowment funds. It is a fact that most of these programs and organizations would not exist today without the Federal assistance provided through the Arts Endowment.

I want to use my hometown of Yuma, Ariz. to illustrate very specifically what has happened through infusion of Federal arts money into a rural community.

Yuma is a small city in the southwest corner of Arizona, on the Mexican and California borders, often described as 200 miles from nowhere. There has always been interest in the arts there. In 1950, a small group of painters and other people got together, borrowed a building, and opened the Yuma Art Center as a place to hold classes and to exhibit the work of local artists. In the early 1960's, the organization obtained a permanent home, expanded its program to include performing arts activities and the annual Father Graces Celebration of the Arts.

Meanwhile, the Southern Depot, local landmark near the Yuma crossing of the Colorado River into California, had run its course as the center of Southern Pacific's activity.

In the late 1960's, the 1920 structure was scheduled for demolition, to make room for a modern office building and parking lot for the railroad.

There were several of us, though, who saw that building as a specious and elegant architectural structure with enormous potential as a home for the arts.

In 1968, a land trade was effected through the participation of local business people and several old Yuma families, so that the Southern Pacific got the land it needed for its new building and the Yuma Fine Arts Association got the depot.

F. C. Braden, long-time Yuma resident and businessman, headed the fund-raising campaign which inspired $100,000 in contributions from the Yuma community. With Braden's fiscal leadership and broad community support, the depot renovation proceeded and this past October 11, 1975, the doors of the new Yuma Art Center opened.

This is a facility which can house the most exciting visual and performing arts programs in the Southwest. The depot can be a center for the arts and for the people who want to participate in them and experience them.

I tell you about this because most people like the arts and most people like trains, so here we have the best of both worlds.

I also want to tell you what the participation of the National Endowment for the Arts meant to the success of the depot and to its ongoing programs.

For a number of years, the State arts commission in Arizona helped with performances and exhibitions in Yuma, with our Federal program funds. This created the audience for the arts which in turn demanded professional leadership, so we tried a pilot project of salary assistance so the art center could hire a full-time professional director.

Now the facility is open, and, with only a small grant from the museums program of the Endowment, there is a certain note of prestige, of professional pride, in having the participation of the National Endowment for the Arts, and of being the only depot art center funded by that program. The Arts Endowment is an important participant-in terms of money and in terms of professional recogni

tion.

The depot project was successful only because there was community support for the activities that it will house. And many of those activities, and the public's demand for them, were stimulated by assistance from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Federal-State partnership concept is very real in Arizona, and in the West. The arts are thriving in the western region, and the continued support of the National Endowment for the Arts is essential if we are to succeed in making the arts available to all people who desire them.

[Prepared statement of Louise C. Tester follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF LOUISE C. TESTER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE ARIZONA COMMISSION ON THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES

Mr. Chairman, my name is Louise Tester. I am executive director of the Arizona Commission on the Arts and Humanities. I am also chairman of the Western States Arts Foundation and, until last month, acting president of the Western Association of Art Museums.

Today I am going to share with you some of my observations about the arts in the western United States and how the National Endowment for the Arts relates to what we do out there.

The 10 states of the Western States Arts Foundation encompass a vast region with sparse populations and widely dispersed urban centers-traditionally the focal point for the arts. Through funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and other sources, Western States Arts Foundation works to provide access to the arts in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

The Western Association of Art Museums is another private, non-profit organization which provides a special service to institutions in the west. Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, Western Association of Art Museums provides circulating exhibitions, a fine arts insurance service and workshops and seminars to over 200 member institutions.

Parallel to the similarities, there are significant differences within the western region, so I do not presume to speak for every western state this morning. I do want to tell you some of the things that have evolved in Arizona as a result of participation by the National Endowment for the Arts. Quite literally, National Endowment for the Arts support has been essential for the very survival of much of the arts activity in Arizona. With three-fourths of the state's land government owned, there is a low tax base and to date no support for arts programs on state government level. So-with support from the arts endowment since 1966, the Arizona Commission on the Arts and Humanities has produced and assisted a broad and substantial body of programs.

These are some of the things that have happened in recent years: The Phoenix Symphony has had two consecutive sold-out seasons. The Arizona Civic Theatre— a young company based in Tucson—has become a fully professional theater. Eight years ago the Commission granted $3,000 of the block grant to ACT to hire a professional director for three productions. Today the budget of ACT is in excess of $300,000 for a full season of productions-through the assistance of the state arts commission and the arts endowment.

Gammage Auditorium has the respect of being one of the most important performing arts halls in the western region and brings to the state major dance companies, touring orchestras and theaters. The Scottsdale Theatre for Children was named "the best children's theater groups in the nation" by the Children's Theatre Association last year. The state's arts festivals involve thousands of people in the arts and they are all over the state-Yuma, Tucson, Scottsdale, and the regionally important Flagstaff Summer Festival.

A few weeks ago the Scottsdale Center for the Arts opened its doors as a center for the visual and performing arts and film.

The Navajo Outdoor Theatre and the Black Theatre Troupe are emerging from their formative stages into full-fledged performing groups. The touring programs of the Arizona Commission carry performances and exhibitions into communities all over the state and reach a huge portion of the state's population.

I cite these cases as very real examples of what has occurred as a direct result of National Endowment funds. It is a fact that most of these programs and organizations would not exist today without the federal assistance through the Arts Endowment.

I want to use my hometown of Yuma, Arizona, to illustrate very specifically what has happened through infusion of federal arts money into a rural community. Yuma is a small city in the southwest corner of Arizona, on the Mexican and California borders, often described as 200 miles from nowhere. There has always been interest in the arts there. In 1975, a small group of painters and other people got together, borrowed a building and opened the YUMA ART CENTER as a place to hold classes and to exhibit the work of local artists. In the early 1960's, the organization obtained a permanent home, expanded its program to include performing arts activities and the annual Father Garces Celebration of the Arts.

Meanwhile, the Southern Pacific Depot, a local landmark near the Yuma crossing of the Colorado River into California, had run its course as the center of Southern Pacific's activity.

In the late 1960's, the 1920's structure was scheduled for demolition, to make room for a modern office building and parking lot for the Railroad.

There were several of us, though, who saw that building as a spacious and elegant architectural structure with enormous potential as a home for the arts.

In 1968, a land trade was effected through the participation of local business people and several old Yuma families, so that the Southern Pacific got the land it needed for its new building and the Yuma Fine Arts Association got the Depot.

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