COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) -
As its name suggests, there's something different about Alternacirque -- a modern take on the circus that's hard to describe.
"It started taking off and I didn't know quite what to do with it," said founder Natalie Brown. Luckily the Arts Commission swooped in with a lot of advice and mentoring and a small grant that's made a world of difference to my company."
"A lot of time with arts training, you're taught how to be a good artist with good technique, but you're not taught how to balance your books or how to market and that's a big hole in arts education."
It's a hole, that today, is unfilled after Gov. Nikki Haley vetoed funds to the state's Arts Commission. Executive Director Ken May says he and his staff spent the day barred from their own offices making calls on their personal phones to drum up enough votes to override the veto.
"The real impact is that we're just not doing our work on behalf of the arts in South Carolina," May said.
Haley said last week the Commission budgets too much for employee salaries and operating expenses saying, "We would be better off returning these funds to the public, to let them decide for themselves what artistic endeavors deserve financial support."
"How do those people -- the private funding -- know we exist or how do they find us? How would I as an untrained artist in the business sense, be able to find that funding without mentoring?" Brown said.
On Monday, House and Senate Democrats pledged to overturn the veto.
"When you see a thriving community, with jobs and economic opportunity, you see a thriving arts community as well because they go hand in hand," Rep. James Smith said.
Meanwhile, Brown plans to demonstrate next Monday by inviting artists to join her in simply making art on the State House grounds. She hopes to get the attention of state legislators.
"I think a lot of people think their tax dollars are going toward paying artists to finger paint all day and that's not true," Brown said. "The SCAC with their outreach into rural areas, education programs, and mentoring, funding programs are really just essential to keeping our arts economy going."
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