By Meghan Joy “Mojo” O’Keefe

The California arts ecosystem is still reeling from a $5 million gut punch. At the beginning of fiscal year 2024, state budget deficits forced sweeping cuts to the California Arts Council, triggering a domino effect that threatens the survival of small (primarily rural) arts councils across the state—including ours here in Amador County.

The Lifeline You Never Knew You Had

Arts Councils are the unsung heroes of cultural infrastructure. We’re not fancy galleries or Broadway theaters – we’re the behind-the-scenes workers who ensure art happens in places where people have limited to no access to the arts. In rural counties like ours, Arts Councils are often the only organizations funding broad arts education, performances, artist resources, and creative opportunities for the general public.

In California, Arts Councils are required to:

• Maintain a public office with arts resources

• Employee one full-time staff

• Help artists and organizations

• Prioritize people based on the Healthy Places Index (https://www.healthyplacesindex.org/)

• Administer the county-wide Poetry Out Loud competition

• Host the California Arts Council (they have visited Amador County thrice since 2020)

• Collect data about the local arts ecosystem

The New Math of Survival at the Amador County Arts Council
The local numbers tell a sobering story:

• FY 2022-23: $350,000+ in programs and services thanks to five grants from the California Arts Council, which supported 12 employees

• FY 2025-26 projection: $140,000 – 39% of previous funding

To survive, we must trim our services to the essentials required by the state. This barebones operation depends entirely on the continued generosity of our local donors. The Amador County Arts Council is resoundingly grateful to local individuals and small businesses for contributing an average of $36,000 annually toward our mission. We also thank the small businesses for funding free Summer Concerts with $11,000 in sponsorships annually since 2019, when music production expenses began to skyrocket.

Without that lifeline? We’ll be forced to cut deeper.
This ain’t our first rodeo. From 2004 to 2010, the Amador County Arts Council operated without state funding because the California Arts Council budget had been cut from $18 million to $1 million. We survived by dissolving the Executive Director position and operating entirely by volunteers. While we are prepared to do this again if necessary, it is a double-edged sword because arts councils without full-time Executive Directors get less funding from the state.

Why This Matters to You
Even if you’ve never set foot in our office, you benefit from our work:

• 600+ hours of free live music in outdoor spaces since 1998

• 2100+ public school students annually and more than 20,000 youth students since 1982

• $200,000+ in outside-of-Amador grants secured for other local artists and organizations

• $50,000+ in grants awarded by the Amador County Arts Council to other local organizations, including longtime favorites like Motherlode Friends of Music, Amador County Artists Association, Parent-Teacher groups, the County Concert band, the high schools, and more

• 200+ hours of arts-focused radio air-time

• Dozens of print articles promoting the broad benefits of the arts

• 40,000+ pieces of original art created

• 2000+ artists, performers, musicians, and teachers hired to serve Amador

Every artist we advise grows their small business by leveraging our Business of Arts tools into actionable steps. These artists find a family in the Amador County Arts Council staff and volunteers. We have helped over four generations of young, rural artists secure places in arts schools, launch arts businesses, and earn top-notch jobs with renowned arts organizations. For established artists, we help them secure funds, find partners, and increase their reach.

Join us at the annual Arts Advocacy Day on April 23.
Next week, I’ll be in Sacramento with Arts Councils from all 58 counties in California for Arts Advocacy Day (https://www.caforthearts.org/advocacyday2025). Together, we will advocate for arts funding because these decisions aren’t just about budgets – they’re about whether rural communities get to participate in California’s cultural life. The brutal truth? Arts councils can disappear quietly, and most people won’t notice until the programs they support are gone. This is already happening quietly in places close to home, like El Dorado County, where their arts council funding has seen paralytic cuts due to the county deficit.

We are determined to do more with less. With your continued support, we’ll keep finding ways to serve Amador County because, after 43 years of weathering these storms, one thing remains true: where there’s a will to make art happen, the arts council will find a way.

Amador County Arts Council (501c3 EIN 94-2811333), established in 1982 as a designated Local Partner to the California Arts Council, advances access to the arts through concerts, poetry, technical assistance, and arts education. Learn more at amadorarts.org or call/text (209) 256-8166.

PUBLISHED IN LEDGER DISPATCH NEWSPAPER ON APRIL 18, 2025