The Oklahoma Arts Council wants a little more state money next year for certain programs.
The arts council request for fiscal year 2018 asks for "targeted investments" — funding increases for grants to teacher professional development, community arts programs and an arts in the military program started last year.
Arts council Executive Director Amber Sharples said the military program helps veterans.
"The arts could be a very powerful tool in helping them with their rehabilitation ... and also helping them with PTSD and other challenges they're having to deal with," Sharples said.
Sharples asked lawmakers for an additional $173,000 for that program and noted the arts council has largely absorbed repeated cuts. State appropriations for the arts council have dropped by 43 percent since 2008.
That’s led to some drastic measures, such as cutting an arts in alternative education program by 50 percent to keep it from completely stopping.
"Teachers in these programs have been very vocal that arts in alternative education sites keeps students coming, which keeps their attendance high, has them graduate, many of them have a lot of interest in design and skill and move on in ... graphic design and other areas," Sharples said.
Sharples said overall, the arts are a good investment for the state.
"For every public dollar invested in the arts, we know that $8 comes back in local and state tax revenue, and for every public dollar invested in the arts, for every one of our grants, the average is $14 in revenue and private match that is then infused in those local economies to implement those programs," Sharples said.
The Oklahoma Arts Council state appropriation in fiscal year 2016 was $3.5 million. The arts council also received more than $700,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The arts council made $3 million in total grants to roughly 250 organizations throughout the state, with 40 percent of grants going to rural areas. The arts council received $4.4 million in grant requests.
