CLICK THIS LINK TO THE ARTS COUNCIL STATEMENT
(sorry about the Nintendo ad, we don't have funds for unsponsored hosting)
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The Arts Council I.R.S. statement available for public perusal
CLICK THIS LINK TO THE ARTS COUNCIL STATEMENT
(sorry about the Nintendo ad, we don't have funds for unsponsored hosting)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(Atom)
9 comments:
I was told Mindy Taylor Ross (who earns more than $70k per year) doesn't go to work full time anymore. She gets to stay home 2 days per week (almost half the time) to take care of her new baby. Meanwhile the taxpayers pay her the same.
I assume this woman works for the arts council, right?
Mindy Taylor Ross works for the arts council. She is the woman who, I believe, decided we all should pay for the Julian Opie art you see downtown.
I don't know about her kid or how many days she doesn't go to work.
Ok, time for a lesson.
1. The Arts Council of Indianapolis is a completely independent, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that is governed by a volunteer board of directors. The Arts Council is not part of city government.
2. The AC administers the $2.5MM in arts money from the city. They provide the infrastructure and management to properly administer these funds.
3. Every dollar of arts money from the city is passed directly to arts-related organizations and artists. For proof, just look at pp. 18-22 of the 2006 Form 990 which lists the grant recepients and the amount they received. The dollars coming in match the dollars going out. It's $2,480,650 for Arts Funding, $101,750 for Creative Renewal Fellowship, and $388,775 for Regional Arts Partner Grant Recipients. The $2.4MM and $101k are a direct pass-though of arts money from the city budget (looking at the 2006 budget, the amount was $1,543,500). The remaining $1MM came through the Capital Improvement Boards budget, which is separate from the city budget. BTW, the $388,775 is state money, not city money.
4. The cost of running the AC is mostly funded through private grants (I do believe they get a very small fee for administering the state funds). However, I suspect most of their administrative funding is through Lilly Endowment, but I can't confirm.
Bottom Line: AC is a good example of a private-public partnership. Tax money flows directly to arts orgs, not to admin costs (as the taxpayers want). In turn, the city's commentment to provide this funding leverages private funds to pay for admin costs. Not a bad deal considering the economic, educational, and cultural benefits the arts bring.
Probably one of the most shameful things about the arts administrator salaries on this statement is that they are PAID MORE taxpayer generated funds than the mayor and governor.
Yet do you think that that any of them work as hard for us as the Mayor or the Governor?
Thank you for the succinct clarification, blackrock.
The governor directs BILLIONS of dollars, is responsible to sign legislation into law, oversees disaster intervention for the entire state. Meanwhile the President of Indianapolis Arts Council manages a few mil and gets paid nearly 50% more. Something is very wrong with this picture.
Melyssa,
You seem to be unable to hear over the sound of your own voice, so let me repeat myself: The Arts Council salaries are NOT paid with tax dollars. They are paid by private funds. What the AC administrators earn is market-driven, and it is not shameful. You do like capitalism, don't you? Maybe they are overpaid for what they do, but since it's covered with private money, it's really none of our business! Unless you are on their Board of Directors or are writing $100,000 checks to them for operating support, your opinion on salaries doesn't really matter.
Second, it is ridiculous to compare salaries with the mayor and governor. These two positions are very, very underpaid for the amount of responsibility they have. Someone in the private sector with similiar responsibilities would be making a minimum of $500k/yr. But the low salary is part of deal when you choose to become a public servant.
Save us the crap. Taxpayers know the money comes from the CIB and we know the CIB is not privately funded entirely. It does cost $25,000 per to sit on the CIB board. Although sometimes if you are a token they really want, you can get on the CIB board for $5,000
Taxpayers, don't be fooled by this rhetoric. More will come if I know this blog.
Can you smell the fear on these government parasites making for more for doing far less than you do in private sector?
It is the same smell that was all over Peterson starting about this time last year.
Post a Comment