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With program growing by the millions, King County Council plans 4Culture ‘accountability measures’

You’ll find 4Culture at the core of many arts events and activities that CHS has covered over the years. It usually goes something like this, somewhere near the end of the story: “Funding for the event comes from King County’s 4Culture…” — sometimes the sentence continues with other funding sources. Often, it does not. Now, a public cry for help from a group of arts and 4Culture advocates has raised concerns about the future of King County’s “cultural funding agency.” Officials say the concern about a newly proposed ordinance is overblown.

Here’s the gist from the advocate site, advocate4culture.org:

The proposed ordinance allows council members
  • To veto the 4Culture budget, which determines funding for arts, heritage, preservation, and public arts
  • To hire and fire the 4Culture Executive Director
  • To nominate and directly appoint the majority of 4Culture board members without consultation
4Culture strives to distribute funds in the most strategic, meritorious, and equitable way possible, while acknowledging that improvements can always be made. The dismantling of 4Culture is not the best path toward progress, nor is it in the best interest of King County’s cultural and artistic health. We understand that 4Culture has always welcomed the chance to work with the King County Council to address its concerns. But this work must be undertaken with a shared understanding and appreciation of the effectiveness and efficiency that has defined 4Culture’s legacy over the past 15 years.

You can read the proposed ordinance here.

King County Council member Dave Upthegrove, one of six on the council listed as sponsors of the legislation, tried to address the concerns in a social media post:

4Culture was created by the King County Council and is funded entirely (100%) with public dollars administered by King County. Soon, the amount of public funds the agency will received is slated to increase by more than $13 million per year. These changes will provide a very modest amount of public oversight over these public funds. The 4Culture Board will still develop and approve the annual budget, and manage all of the grant programs, etc. Nothing at all will change for anyone receiving funds from 4Culture. But, before the county transfers millions of dollars of public funds each year, the elected officials (accountable to the voters) will have the ability to approve or reject the budget. The county council members will NOT be able to amend the budget. This means councilmembers can’t put “pork” in the budget. But it will mean that elected officials accountable to voters will review and authorize the use of these public funds.

4Culture receives its funding from the county’s lodging tax and “1% for art” program. More money is coming. Beginning in 2021, 37.5% of lodging taxes will be dedicated for arts and culture funding. Meanwhile, the construction boom has also boosted the county’s “1%” — “These funds are generated by construction projects done by county government, which are required to direct 1% of eligible parts of the budget towards public art portions of the project.” You can learn more about how to apply for 4Culture funding in this handy community post.

4Culture financials from its 2016 annual report (PDF)

In an update posted Friday morning, Upthegrove called the advocate post “ridiculous, untruthful, and counterproductive.”  “These are modest accountability measures,” he writes. “None of the changes in this proposal will disrupt or alter the good work of 4Culture—and won’t even be felt or seen by the many great organizations that receive funding and support. But what these changes will do is simply provide appropriate accountability and oversight for this county-created authority which will soon be spending tens of millions of tax dollars every year.”

We have reached out to 4Culture staffer Heather Dwyer, the contact listed for the advocate4culture.org website, to find out more about the situation.

 

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Andy Jensen
6 years ago

At the Feb 21 Committee of the Whole meeting, 40 speakers were opposed, 1 ranting man was for Ordinance 0086.

According to the Ordinance, “modest oversight” equals “Council chooses the board, and approves the budget.”

The Ordinance was developed by only the 6 sponsors with no input from the other 3 or anyone from 4Culture.

Please keep reporting on this story.