When government officials start cutting budgets, the arts often are considered a luxury, easily expendable to free up dollars for more “essential” sectors.

But members of the Kansas Arts Commission say that hasn’t been the case during the current state budget crisis.

“I think we’ve been treated fairly,” said Dave Wilson, executive director of the commission, which met Wednesday at the Lawrence Arts Center. “But I think the climate is lousy enough that everyone is talking about cuts.”

Commissioners spent the morning discussing the state’s budget situation. By lunch, they had established a contingency plan for scaling back spending.

As it stands, the state’s 2003 budget slices 2 percent from the commission’s $1.6 million allocation. Next week, Gov. Bill Graves is expected to announce more cuts. It’s likely the commission, like other state-funded bodies, won’t know the final total until well into the next legislative session.

Ripples already have spread into Lawrence and other communities statewide. Anticipating cuts, the commission this year held back 15 percent of its grant funding.

For the Lawrence Community Theatre, that meant its program grant dropped from $8,575 to about $7,300. The theater made minor adjustments to pick up the slack, said development director Jill Giele. Single-ticket prices increased by 50 cents, and season passes went up by $5.

“The picture is increasingly bleak in Topeka,” she said. “I guess we all are just sort of tightening our belts.”

Kansas Arts commission Members tour the new Lawrence Arts Center, 940 N.H., guided by the center's director, Ann Evans, at right, who explains the process involved in making these ceramics. The group met Wednesday to discuss budget issues and circulate ideas regarding the future of the arts in Kansas.

If the Legislature take a bigger chunk out of the commission’s budget this year, the strategy commissioners put in place Wednesday would go into effect. It calls for a 10 percent, across-the-board cut to all programs and then, if necessary, targeted cuts in funding for technical assistance and project support. Technical assistance grants are awarded for one-time projects, such as developing a Web site or sending representatives to a conference. Project-support grants go to nonarts organizations to help develop and present art projects.

The commission also is considering getting away from printing and mailing grant application guidelines. The move would save about $10,000 a year.

A bill has been introduced to develop a new revenue stream for the commission from lottery income. Wilson said a bill was also in the works that would propose an excise tax on video and DVD rentals.

“It will be a few extra pennies more for a video or DVD,” he said. “A couple (percentage) points would generate $1.2 million for the arts.”

It would be a good investment, commissioners argued, not just from an aesthetic standpoint but also from a financial one. A 2002 study by Americans for the Arts showed that in Lawrence ” the only Kansas city that participated in the study ” the arts generate nearly $33.5 million a year, attracting audiences, spurring business development, supporting jobs and generating government revenue.

“We do have an impact on the economy in our community,” said commissioner Ann Evans, also the director of the Lawrence Arts Center. “It’s nice to have the statistical data to back that up.”

Members of the Mid-America Arts Alliance are in Lawrence for a series of meetings and events. Members of the group and their spouses, including, from left, Alice Ann Johnston of Lawrence, Art and Carol Thompson of Lincoln, Neb., Donald Johnston of Lawrence and Frances Shackelford of Mont Rose, Ark., gathered for a dinner Wednesday at the Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art at Kansas University.

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