Iowa Arts Council’s funds helping others at expense of Iowans

By Matt Sissel

The mission of the state government's Iowa Arts Council is “to enrich the quality of life for Iowans through support of the arts.” A cursory look at Iowans' art choices demonstrates fulfillment without the aid of the Arts Council. Iowans are watching films at theaters and by renting, purchasing and downloading movies. Music is thriving through radio, concerts, music sales and downloading.

Literature abounds through bookstores, the Internet and libraries. Painting and sculpture flourish in galleries throughout the state. Iowa City even received a UNESCO designation as a City of Literature.

This does not sound like a culturally impoverished state to me.

Much of what the Arts Council funds is not relevant to its mission, nor does it enrich the average Iowan. Examples of current grants include: a woman funded to build clay totems in New York; high schoolers funded to play music in Japan; money given to a randomly selected woman to write about her life experiences; a man given tax dollars to create a series of steel objects expressing “the difference between a wound and an incision is not the tool but the intent.” This should be an enriching year for Iowans!

The Iowa Arts Council receives more than

$2 million a year in taxpayer money to fulfill its mission, based on budget documents given to me by Mary Sundet Jones, Arts Council administrator. According to Charity Navigator's Web site, which rates charities, nine out of every 10 charities keep their operating costs below 35 percent. The Iowa Arts Council has no assets to maintain nor does it fund raise, activities that increase operating costs for charities; 40 percent of its budget is spent on operating costs alone. That puts it in the bottom 10 percent of similar organizations nationwide.

As an artist, I recognize it as my job to provide a product or service that will be deemed valuable by the market in order to be successful; this is capitalism. If Iowans don't find the services and products of my profession valuable, they should not be forced to pay for them.

Art is not a “right” to be created at the expense of others. My competitors should not be funded at my expense.

The state of Iowa has no business in the arts. Iowans are fully capable of choosing for themselves the art they want in their lives. Let us keep our hard-earned money – disband the Iowa Arts Council.

Matt Sissel of Swisher is realist artist and part-time drawing/painting teacher who was trained at the Academy of Realist Art in Toronto, Canada. He served as a combat medic with the Iowa National Guard, including two years in Iraq.