| Please sign on to the new statewide effort to dramatically increase public funding for the arts and culture in Wisconsin to $2 per Wisconsin resident, in the FY2027-2029 state budget. We need to show the broadest support possible from people, organizations, and communities in every corner of Wisconsin. |
| – If you are the director or chair of an arts or civic organization in Wisconsin, sign on to the proposal here. – If you are a board member, donor, local official, business leader, and/or civic leader who supports the arts and your organization, sign on to the proposal here. Information about the proposal is below. Once you sign on, we will keep you in the loop about next steps for advocating and achieving this needed funding as we head into budget season. Importantly, everything in this effort will comply with all IRS 501(c)3 regulations on nonprofit lobbying. We need your commitment as soon as possible. Support from the entire state is critical to the success of this campaign. Let’s make $2 per Wisconsin resident for arts and culture happen this year. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions. Together, we can do this. Thanks! Proposal to Increase Arts and Culture Funding in Wisconsin October 2026 Create Wisconsin, Imagine MKE, and our partners across the state call on our new Governor and state legislators to increase arts and culture funding to at least the national average of about $2 per Wisconsin resident in the 2027-2029 biennial state budget. Wisconsin Arts and Culture Organizations are Struggling to Survive Across Wisconsin, local arts and culture organizations bring residents of all backgrounds together, are sources of community pride, educate children and adults, contribute to economic development, support tourism, and create the quality of life that attracts residents, businesses, and visitors. Wisconsin has an astounding range of arts groups that present, perform, engage, and educate in every county. Yet as recent studies (1) and reports from organizations in every corner of the state demonstrate, many of these invaluable community assets are financially fragile and struggle to sustain their services, performances, and engagement. The State of Wisconsin Fails to Invest Adequately in Arts and CultureDespite the immense value of arts and culture organizations and the millions of residents who engage with them annually, the state of Wisconsin fails to invest in this essential quality of life infrastructure. Wisconsin ranks 48th among 50 states in spending on arts and culture, just 20 cents per resident per year, less than 1/9th of the national average (from 2024-2026 Wisconsin averaged $0.19, while the 3-year national average was $2.03). In 2026, the state appropriated just $1.18 million to arts and culture out of our $22.7 billion state general fund budget. Wisconsin used to fund at a much higher level, as much as $8.7 million when adjusted for inflation. Funding has been reduced in recent decades, especially after a 67% cut in 2011. This lack of funding for nonprofit arts and culture constrains our communities’ quality of life, economic opportunities, tourism, competitiveness, and sustainability. The Investment Wisconsin Residents and Communities Deserve and Need Wisconsin residents and the arts and culture organizations that serve them deserve a state arts board that is funded at or above the national average of approximately $2 per capita. The state appropriation to the Wisconsin Arts Board should therefore be immediately increased from $1.1 million to $12 million annually in the 2027-2029 biennial budget. We also want to work with legislators to ensure that this increased funding will be distributed in ways that reach every corner of the state and create greater impact, benefit, accessibility, and accountability. Nonprofit arts and culture organizations currently have an almost $1 billion economic impact on the state and support 16,000 jobs. The creative sector overall has a $12.4 billion impact and supports over 95,000 jobs. An increase in funding for our cultural assets will improve quality of life for residents and visitors, and have direct return on investment for our communities and the state overall. Key Facts about the nonprofit Wisconsin Arts and Culture Sector: There are 13.7 million audience members at nonprofit arts and culture performances and shows each year in our state (2); Nonprofit arts and culture organizations employ almost 9,000 people and support almost 7,000 other jobs (3); Nonprofit arts and culture organizations contribute $933 million to our local economies and generate almost $100 million in tax revenue (3); 1.6 million audience members came from out of state and contributed $203 million to our local economies when attending performances (3);Arts and culture organizations paid $14.5 million in state taxes and $9 million in local taxes, and their audiences paid an additional $26 million in state taxes and $20.7 million in local taxes (3); Wisconsin ranks 48th out of 50 states in spending per capita on arts and culture, just over $1.1 million or $0.20 per capita in 2026 (our 3-year average 2024-2026 is $0.19 cents compared to a $2.03 national average) (3); The average state spends more than 9 times what Wisconsin spends $1.88 per capita in 2026) and our neighbors in Minnesota spend 47 times what WI spends (9.38 per capita) (4); Arts and culture is only 0.005% of our $22.7 billion state general fund budget, about 1 penny per $2,000 spent; In 2011, the state cut annual funding of the WI Arts Board from $2.4 million (3.6 million in today’s dollars) to $800,000. In inflation adjusted dollars, Wisconsin previously spent as much as $8.7 million on arts funding through the Wisconsin Arts Board. The Wisconsin Policy Forum in a 2024 study reported: “This paucity of public funding compared to other states and cities has been a longstanding challenge for performing arts organizations in Milwaukee. Such support is used by organizations in other communities to fill gaps between the amounts they can reasonably earn from performances, education, and other programming and what they must spend to stay in business.” (4) This is true in other cities as well. A recent study of 10 cities’ arts sectors by SMU DataArts found that those cities with higher levels of public sector support for arts organizations had stronger financial performance and higher attendance outcomes, and that even modest public investment (5-10% of a group’s budget) can have out-sized impact on organizations’ success and sustainability. (5) |
| (1) Curtain Time: Assessing and Responding to Milwaukee’s Performing Arts Challenges by Rob Henken, Karen Herzog, and Elaine Schmidt, Wisconsin Policy Forum, 2024. (2) Arts and Economic Prosperity 6: The Economic and Social Impact Study of Nonprofit Arts and Culture Organizations and their Audiences in the State of Wisconsin, Americans for the Arts, 2023. (3) National Assembly of State Arts Agencies state arts agency research and funding. (4) Curtain Time: Assessing and Responding to Milwaukee’s Performing Arts Challenges by Rob Henken, Karen Herzog, and Elaine Schmidt, Wisconsin Policy Forum, 2024. (5) City Arts Sector Trends: Divergence and Resilience Across Ten U.S. Cities (2019-2024) by Anderson, Benoit-Bryan, DeWhatley, Fonner, and Ingersoll, SMU DataArts, 2026. |