JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – After the tree decorating ceremony Tuesday, the Missouri Citizens for the Arts dropped off 1,006 letters to Gov. Jay Nixon asking for budget consideration for the Missouri Arts Council.
Letter sheets were distributed across the state to arts organizations and filled out by supporters.
“The Missouri Arts Council is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year and the arts are just as viable and important to our communities as ever,” said Kyna Iman. “Our goal was to gather 500 letters from arts patrons across the state and we are currently over 1,000! We are advocating for the Governor to recommend full funding for the arts this year from the collection of the non-resident professional athlete and entertainers tax. Thanks to some post-season playoffs, collection of that tax is at an all-time high.”
MAC is a state agency and division of the Department of Economic Development which strives to increase participation in the arts, grow Missouri’s economy using the arts, and strengthen Missouri education through the arts.
Some letters:
Rachael Herndon was editor of The Missouri Times until 2019. She also produced This Week in Missouri Politics, published Missouri Times Magazine, and co-hosted the #MoLeg podcast. Herndon joined The Missouri Times in 2014, returning to political reporting after working as a campaign and legislative staffer. In 2019, she entered Missouri’s cannabis industry, co-founding Greenway Magazine.
