Arts groups in Virginia Beach will get a financial boost in the coming year, thanks to a new stream of city funding.
The city will earmark 20% of its ticket tax going forward for local arts and culture organizations. Councilman Michael Berlucchi said that amounts to about $1.6 million per year.
“We saw over and over and over again that arts organizations were really struggling and that the support that they relied upon from the community and from the city was having a smaller and smaller impact” due to inflation, Berlucchi said.
The earmark is part of the new Virginia Beach city budget, which was approved by City Council Tuesday night. Previously, the admissions taxes had been funneled into the Tourism Investment Program. Berlucchi said the tourism initiative has plenty of money in the bank, so shifting some of that money into the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs won’t cause issues.
The push for more arts funding came from concerned citizens who wanted to secure a future for the city’s arts organizations.
Nancy Creech, the former president of the Neptune Festival, is part of Citizens for Virginia Beach Arts, a collective of residents, artists and business folks who have come together in recent months to lobby for the new funding.
The finances of many arts groups have been stretched thin in recent years as they’ve weathered the coronavirus pandemic and inflation and many corporate contributors have cut back donations, Creech said.
“Virginia Beach had not, in the future, addressed the real need for funding for the cultural and arts component of our lifestyle here in Virginia Beach,” she said.
Creech said the arts provide a hefty economic return on their investment and are enjoyed by tourists, but the benefits are the greatest for local residents who crave that kind of entertainment.
“A community isn’t complete if it doesn't serve all its constituencies,” she said.
She acknowledges that the initial earmark is “not a whole lot of money” but thinks it's a good step and could help kickstart other investments.
“When we encourage the arts, then other people follow other sponsors then begin to see more and more the value. And if they see the municipality, considering it important, and trying to serve that constituency of the community, then they're more willing to step up and be a part of it. And I think that will grow,” Creech said.
She noted the citizens’ group will keep pushing for more funding in future years.
The $1.6 million from the ticket taxes will be banked until the Department of Cultural Affairs comes up with a plan for how to spend it.
That plan will have to be reviewed by City Council. Part of the council’s directive is to focus on local, emerging and non-traditional artists in addition to more established organizations, Berlucchi said.
“The arts are vital to a healthy community. They're vital to developing a workforce that we rely upon for enhanced economic prosperity. They're vital to helping connect communities, to understand our history, to contemplate our shared human experience,” he said.
“And so an investment in the arts and culture is an investment into our neighborhoods, into ourselves and into the social and economic and physical health of our community.”
