Expanding Access to the Arts for All Fiscal year 2019 was a year of several nonprogrammatic successes for our agency. In addition to the work our programs do, we were able to complete a much-anticipated overhaul of our state agency website. The program took almost a year to complete, and was finished at the end of the fiscal year. Our new site is fresh, well-organized, mobile-friendly, and more accessible than the previous version. We were able to seamlessly integrate the Washington State Art Collection’s My Public Art Portal with our primary agency website. Previously, the two sites were separate. Visitors to our site can now learn more about our agency and browse the public art collection during the same session on the same site. Additionally, ArtsWA received its largest increase in arts funding from the legislature in several years during the 2019 Legislative session. The final Operating Budget for the 2019-21 biennium included a little over $1.26 million in increased funding for ArtsWA. Senator Lisa Wellman (an ArtsWA board member) introduced and helped secure $496,000 in the operating budget to fund a new early learning arts integration program designed to help reduce the opportunity gap for our youngest learners as they approach kindergarten.. We received support from Representative Zack Hudgins who helped secure $200,000 in maintenance funding for My Public Art Portal. He was also instrumental in support of the Folk & Traditional Arts job stimulation program. Full-funding of $350,000 for the program was included in the final operating budget. Additionally, Representative Steve Tharinger and Senator Lisa Wellman introduced companion bills HB 1318 and SB 5375. These bills called for allowing up to 10-percent of public arts funding
to be allocated in the design phase of a capital project. HB 1318 passed with little opposition. The investment in these programs will allow us to expand our reach to more Washingtonians that ever before. Other legislative champions included Senate Floor Leader Marko Liias, a big supporter of the arts in general and a passionate proponent of taking care of the state’s arts collection. Thanks also to Senators Sam Hunt, Kevin Van de Wege, Patty Kuderer, Brad Hawkins, Sharon Brown, and Hans Zeiger, and Representatives Carolyn Eslick, Sharon Wylie, and Luanne Van Werven for their support of ArtsWA.
Visitors to the Washington State Capitol rotunda enjoy a performance by the Urvasi Dancers at Arts and Heritage Day on February 8, 2019. Photo by ArtsWA.
For more information please visit arts.wa.gov | Page 21
