By sarah stortz
The Iowa Senate allowed a $118 million budget cut on the state’s cultural trust fund in late January. Following the decision, a group of protesters rallied in front of the State Capitol.
UI International Writing Program Director Christopher Merrill said the cut could cause problems for art programs all around the state. Merrill, who has published many books of poetry and nonfiction, earned the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets for Watch Fire.
“It’s going to make it much harder for arts institutions, particularly in rural parts of the state, due to jobs,” Merrill said. “After all, many of these grants are used to leverage other kinds of funding opportunities, which is how the arts economy operates. For a small investment, this fund makes a lot of interesting and creative ideas possible. Anything that diminishes that concedes to the larger creative economy.”
Despite these factors, Merrill said, he doesn’t hold much concern for the local arts community.
“We do have a really long and vibrant tradition of creativity in this university,” he said. “People are always going to complain that we don’t get enough money, but we have really talented artists in town and a part of what makes living in Iowa City so interesting.”
UI junior Annalise Castro, the marketing director for the Fine Arts Council, said she could see the difficulty for students in creative fields to find work under these conditions, but she also acknowledges its prosperity.
“Some directions may be more ‘secure’ than others. For example, a graphic designer working for a large company versus a professional artist living off of the work,” she said. “But I’m majoring in studio art and psychology with minors in human relations and social work. I plan to attend a graduate program in mental-health counseling with a focus on art therapy. Creative and expressive therapies are a growing field that has a lot of potential in private practice and hospital settings.”
Castro said art budgets tend to be the first cut because many don’t take them seriously.
“I think fellow college students may believe that an art degree is ‘easier’ than other majors,” she said. “But in my opinion, no major is easier than another. Every area of study is challenging in its own way. I’d say because artistic programs historically are not the highest grossing departments in a university is the reason they might be the most affected during budget cuts.”
UI senior and theater major Skyler Matthias said it’s more difficult to find jobs in his field compared with other majors.
“It’s difficult to see job security, and I think we have some concerns about it,” he said.
Similar to Castro, Matthias said he believes many people don’t see the importance of art in society.
“We don’t see a value in it,” he said. “We’re able to test math,business, to show in graphs. In art, it’s different. In the midst of it all, we’re learning a form of self-expression.That’s harder to quantify and put into numbers.”
Merrill sympathized with art students and encouraged them to continue using their talents while facing these issues.
“It’s always difficult for artists and writers to make a living, that’s just the nature of the piece,” he said. “I like to think that studying an art form in your undergraduate time is in of itself useful for whatever career you end up having. Artists need to act creatively by writing letters to the editor, writing op-eds, and articulating profound arguments on why these funds should be preserved.”
