Arts Alliance Illinois

The Illinois State budget passed by the General Assembly on May 31 essentially flat-funds the Illinois Arts Council in fiscal year 2012. It appropriates $9 million from the General Revenue Fund to the Council -- compared to the $9.5 million invested in fiscal year 2011.

The Illinois Arts Council is still more than $10 million away from its fiscal year 2007 funding level, when the state invested $19.8 million in the agency. Since then, Illinois has cut its investment in the Council by more than 50 percent.

Source: National Association of State Arts Agencies

In 2012, Illinois will invest 70 cents per person in the Illinois Arts Council. The state invested 74 cents per person in fiscal year 2011 and ranked 27th in the nation in per-capita spending on the arts. In 2012, Illinois slid to 28th in the nation.

• Illinois is currently $.30 below the national average in per capita spending of $1.00 and $1.30 below Arts Alliance Illinois' target of a $2 per person per year investment in the Illinois Arts Council

• Minnesota ranked first in the nation in per capita spending on the arts in 2012, while Texas ranked last among states that received a legislative appropriation for the arts

Source: National Association of State Arts Agencies

The fiscal year 2012 budget cut funding for the Arts and Foreign Language Education Grant Program by nearly 22 percent, reducing the program's budget from $1.28 million in fiscal year 2011 to $1 million in 2012. These grants assist Illinois public school districts, public university laboratory schools, charter schools, and area vocational schools with the development, maintenance, or enhancement of curricular programs in the arts or foreign languages.

Investment in the Illinois Arts Council is significantly less than .05 percent (or one-half of one-tenth of one percent) of the total state budget -- even with steep cuts in state spending overall.

Source: State of Illinois Budget for Fiscal Year 2012