Southern Indiana Arts Programs to Get More Funding

Arts programs in Southern Indiana will receive more funding from the state. WFPL’s Elizabeth Kramer has more.The Indiana Arts Commission now distributes funding to regions based on the number of organizations there that have historically requested money. It plans to have a new formula, based primarily on regional population, fully in place by 2011.That change will mean a 20 percent increase in the average $60,000 that the Arts Council of Southern Indiana gets each year. Andrea Grossman, the council’s executive director, says the change was needed."We have more and more organizations applying to us, and we want that to happen," Grossman says. "But the pot has not grown substantially and the number of applicants has grown."The council funds arts programs managed by nonprofit organizations, schools and libraries in six counties in southern Indiana. Recipients have included Clarksville Little Theater, the Mary Anderson Center, and The Scott County Arts Council.Grossman says many people don’t understand that most arts funding for Southern Indiana comes from state government in Indianapolis."Despite the trend in regionalism, the river still divides the art funding situation," she says. "The Fund for the Arts primarily serves its member organizations."