A Story

The arts have been a hot topic of discussion lately, especially here in Kansas.  The elimination of funding for the Kansas Arts Commission has resulted in an additional loss of $1.2 million from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Mid-America Arts Alliance.  This loss of additional funding was not unexpected as both the NEA and the Mid-America Arts Alliance had made clear that the state of Kansas needed to meet certain requirements in order to continue receiving arts dollars.

My story, however, is not about the governor's veto of KAC funding, nor is it about the numerous benefits of arts support such as the impact on economic growth (as Orpheum Theatre president writes in her Wichita Eagle column here) or the positive effect on the intellectual development of children, nor is it about the significance of the arts in the strengthening of communities.  My story is simply about how valuable the arts (in this case, music) apparently are to children and parents.

Over ten years ago, a music day camp, Camp Allegro, was inaugurated by my good friend Helen Griffin.  Thanks to Catherine Consiglio, principal violist with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra and artistic director of Chamber Music at The Barn, Helen had the opportunity to provide youth with music instruction and performances during the summer.  Some children had already begun playing musical instruments; others first picked up an instrument at camp.  Eager to be a part of this endeavor, I began working with the camp in its second year and became the co-director.  Unfortunately, CMB was not immune to the downturn of the economy and the organization chose to downsize by reducing the number of its camps; Camp Allegro was discontinued and a new camp for strings only, now called Bows at the Barn, took its place (the camp will be in its fourth season this coming summer).  Although this was a sad turn of events, I was moving on to other things (especially a return to grad school) and was not terribly upset.

That, however, was not the reaction of many of the teachers, former campers and parents.  To be quite honest, I had not expected the uproar that the loss of camp had created.  In particular, my good friend Laura Black (also a WSO member), who had been invaluable in the formation of Camp Allegro, convinced me that we "just had to have Camp Allegro."  Laura immediately began to organize a summer ensemble workshop.  Emotion eclipsed reason, and I decided to begin a new nonprofit organization despite my suspicions that doing so would involve many long hours.  I had worked with nonprofits, taken courses in nonprofit management and  I had access to numerous resources in the community.  We began a new nonprofit with a lot of help from our friends, including teachers and parents; by April 2009, Camp Allegro Wichita was born.  To make a long story short, our very first summer was quite successful and we are approaching our fourth summer. 

The point of this story is not to promote myself or pat myself on the back; in fact, I am indebted to my friends Helen and Laura, as well as to the teachers who volunteered that first summer.  The point is that these children, parents and teachers did not see music as a frill, an "extra", something nice but not really necessary.  Camp Allegro Wichita came into being because they felt a great loss, that something significant would be missing in our community.

What does arts funding have to do with all of this?  Nonprofits become fiscally viable organizations by having realistic, sound budgets with a reliable source of income.  Some will come from the users themselves (here, tuition from the campers), some money is received from donations, and some funding will come from grants (this last source is not at all easy to get, but that is a story for another day).  It is absolutely vital to the directors of our camp that ALL youth can attend, regardless of their financial situation.  Keeping tuition reasonably low is a priority; however, the availability of scholarships is crucial for those who can't afford the cost, hence the need for donations AND grants.

The moral of the story is that many people do consider arts a fundamental part of life.  The Kansas legislature voted on a budget that included funding for the arts because that is what voters wanted.  That decision, which reflected the will of the constituents, should have been respected.