Ms. Ann S. Graham

NOW Can I Tell? Nope! Now? Nope! Well, When?? Advocacy - Learning When to Whisper and When to Sing Out Loud!

Posted by Ms. Ann S. Graham, Apr 12, 2016 3 comments


Ms. Ann S. Graham

$5 million dollars is a notable rate of return on one’s investment for a $100,000 a year organization! That’s what Texans for the Arts secured for Texas’ state arts agency—the Texas Commission on the Arts (TCA) Cultural & Fine Arts District program—through a well-executed legislative strategy in the 84th Texas Legislative Session!  Who-what-how did we garner one of the largest state arts appropriations in the U.S. in 2015?

2013-2014 were years of transition for Texans for the Arts–we had a new executive director, hired a new legislative analyst (aka lobbyist), Lawrence Collins, and had a strong and smart board of directors. Advocacy in the past had been to protect what we had–still a vital role for our organization to play–but we wanted to undertake a more aggressive and more ambitious effort. With support from our partner organization, the Texas Cultural Trust, we sent our new lobbyist to scope out the field and come back with low hanging fruit – something that we could go after for a big win. 

Collins focused on the state arts agency, the TCA’s Cultural & Fine Arts District Program. Why?

  • Cultural and Fine Arts Districts were not new in Texas. 
  • Local jurisdictions and the TCA had been refining their goals for this program for a decade.
  • In 2005, two legislators still serving in the Texas Legislature—Representative Larry Phillips, R-Sherman and Senator Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo had passed the legislation that created program, though it had never been funded.
  • In 2013, after Sunset Review, the Legislature reauthorized the Texas Commission on the Arts for another 12 years. 
  • Today there are 26 Cultural Districts across the state, and astutely, we saw that nearly every member of the anticipated 2015 Conference Committee had a Cultural District in their legislative district!
  • Cultural Districts are touted for their economic development, cultural tourism, downtown redevelopment, strengthening of community arts assets and much more!

Next, we knew we needed to ask for a bold level of funding that would make an impact. We went for $30M, which was a significant ask given that the TCA’s base budget was $6.6M. While funding the arts is a nonpartisan issue, there is still much ground to gain to unify leaders across-the-aisle to recognize the value of public investment in the arts. And, we knew that “Letter A for art is in Article 1 and the VERY first item in our Texas state budget. Everyone is wide-awake!” So, do we get legislators to argue vocally from the floor at the start of the session, or do we propose a quiet effort that strategically identifies a plan for success without drawing undue attention to our issues? For this cause, the answer was the latter.

We identified each of the key leaders on the Senate Finance Committee and the House Appropriations and the Conference Committee and we identified our members and our board of directors who served in those respective legislators’ districts. We even brought on new board members who were aligned with the key legislators we knew we would need to work with. We followed the hearing processes for all of the Committees, attended and testified at hearings, provided back up materials, scheduled meetings with key legislators, provided packets of letters of support, and more.

Then…we waited!

 This was not the loud and exertive advocacy I had expected in my new job–no rallying the citizenry on the steps of the capitol with pro-arts banners, chanting, music making, speaking up - raising the roof for ambitious new arts funding and pro-arts policy. Instead, this was to be a quiet, surgically strategic campaign!

The Texas Legislative session is 140 days long. Over those 140 days, we kept tabs on the session, met with key legislators, attended and spoke at relevant hearings, listened, provided information upon request…but laid low for the larger legislature while targeting our key leaders.

It was tenterhooks until the end of the session. It could have gone either way—there are NO guarantees in this work! We waited for the final budget votes–there was our request at $10M in print! Senate budget “yes”. House budget “yes”. Conference Committee budget “yes”! YEE HAW! NOW can we sing out loud! 

Nope! Now we have to wait 20 days to see what vetoes the governor issues. The governor has 20 days after the session to veto or sign bills!

On the 19th day, the Governor got out his pen and vetoed ½ of our appropriation–down to $5M. Take it!

Okay…NOW can we sing it out loud? Nope—the Comptroller has to “certify the funds”. What? Because of a unique funding mechanism proposed for the appropriation, the Comptroller had to certify the funds.

 July, August, September, October...not until, November 5, 2015, did the Comptroller certify the $5M and TCA was able to move forward with completing its exciting new grant funding. NOW we can sing out loud!

The first round of grants has now been funded and the deadline for the second will be in June. Projects are happening, and $5 MILLION of new funds are being invested in the arts across Texas because of this effort.

Final note–how can I overlook this! Remember to celebrate your successes! THANK everyone on the team who helped make your organization’s success a reality! No one does this work alone and the stronger the team and grassroots base you build, the more you’ll have continued success moving forward!

With that, I would like to acknowledge the two key legislators who really led our effort: Representative Sylvester Turner (D-Houston), first elected to the Texas House in 1988 and elected Mayor of Houston in December 2015, and Representative Susan King (R-Abilene), a long time, proactive arts supporter who worked tirelessly to support our efforts. Both remain stalwart supporters of the arts and understand the value they bring to our communities! In addition, our bold and strategic pathway was charted by our legislative analyst, Lawrence Collins, whose untiring and focused efforts were the real foundation for our success!

Ann is a member of Americans for the Arts. Learn more about membership.

3 responses for NOW Can I Tell? Nope! Now? Nope! Well, When?? Advocacy - Learning When to Whisper and When to Sing Out Loud!

Comments

April 12, 2016 at 12:33 pm

Incredible achievement. Kudos to you for your bold leadership and coalition building. 
Thanks for giving us insight into the process. 

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Ms. Sheila M. Smith says
April 12, 2016 at 3:03 pm

Great story Ann! Congratulations on your success. And keeping it quiet. :)

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Matt Wilson says
April 12, 2016 at 8:31 pm

Great story of being smart and strategic.  Huge victory.

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