Mourning the Illinois Arts Council

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Mourning the Illinois Arts Council

I’ve put that logo on more concert programs over the last eleven years than I can possibly remember. Thanks to funding from the Illinois Arts Council I and several other musicians from ACM have traveled to Mexico and to Paris to perform concerts of music by Chicago composers.

Thanks to funding from the IAC, we have commissioned composers around the world, flown them to Chicago to hear their music performed, we have brought contemporary classical music to venues throughout the city and we have opened music schools in three different neighborhoods.

They’re not our only sponsor and the money they give us is a very small part of our overall budget but nonetheless, they’ve been hugely helpful to us and to so many other arts organizations in the state and, considering what a small part of the state’s budget they receive, I would say that the return on investment has been extremely high.

How terribly sad then to see our new governor Bruce Rauner, who spent $64 million, $27 million of his own money, to get elected, decide that he can somehow balance our budget through cuts alone without even trying to find new revenue sources. How sad to watch him cut the IAC to the bone while giving raises to his staff, insisting that all Illinoisans must feel the pain while making it clear that this excludes those close to him.

No, the only ones to feel the pain will be the downtrodden, poor, mentally ill, those who wish to use roads or public transportation to get around, and the artistically inclined. Why do we artists have to defend art’s place in society? Nearly all of the renowned societies throughout human history were renowned because of their arts, the only possible exception being the Romans who were renowned for orgies, aqueducts and aquiline noses.

It’s a sad but true fact that Illinois artists, and artists throughout the country, have to find ways to make art on their own. We cannot expect help from our city, our state or our federal government. We have to create earned revenue to support ourselves and create the art that we want and we have to become a force to be reckoned with. The mere fact that creating art is universally considered part and parcel of what it means to be human is not enough to have the government which we support allocate a miniscule portion of its budget to in turn support our work.

Farewell Illinois Arts Council. It was a good ride but we’re on our own now.

Written by: Seth Boustead
On: February 21, 2015

6 responses to “Mourning the Illinois Arts Council”

Janice Misurell-Mitchell says:

February 28, 2015 at 10:43 pm

If artists are making valuable contributions to our society, and the creation of these artworks needs to be supported, it is the role of society to find ways to include support for artists. This is a primary value that our society shares, and we should not give in to the smallmindedness of politicians like Rauner and others. The private sector doesn’t necessarily guarantee fairness to artists, since it supports what it wants. We need government support and we shouldn’t give in to these negative policies.

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Dan McDaniel says:

March 15, 2015 at 1:05 am

Thank you for a well stated review of the circumstances.

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Carolyn Paulin says:

March 15, 2015 at 9:30 pm

So ridiculously sad.

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Roseanna says:

June 23, 2015 at 12:29 pm

I use shared Mourning the Illinois Arts Council – Seth Boustead on all my social
media profiles. Awesome publishing.

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WC Turck says:

August 12, 2017 at 3:55 pm

As the host of a new arts oriented program starting September 3rd at 1pm on WCGO, would love to get you on as we champion the arts in Illinois and beyond

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Katy V says:

April 15, 2018 at 3:03 pm

This is sad. Artists should be given enough support because they also contribute something big to the community.

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