Georgia Council for the Arts is still alive

Georgia’s lawmakers got further acquainted this week with a part of their constituency that maybe they hadn’t thought about too much before: the artists.  Specifically, the pissed off, fiscally dismissed artists.

When arts organizations and supporters first learned last week that the Georgia House of Representative’s proposed state budget for 2011 included the elimination of funds for the Georgia Council for the Arts, the response was immediate and impassioned.  The past week has seen a rapid-fire series of oppositional movements, including a march of several hundred protesters to the Capitol on Monday – complete with pithy signs, dancing, music, singing, speaking and generally colorful commotion-causing.

Tuesday morning, the Senate Appropriations Committee convened at the Capitol to further pore over the budget for the 2011 fiscal year. Having been subject to a hammering of phone calls, the takeover of their front stoop for an afternoon, and a petition of over 2,000 signatures, Senate budget leader Sen. Jack Hill (R-Reidsville) clearly took the public response seriously.