More fireworks
City continues to use funds set aside for artists on splashy events
As a part of the $335 million that the City of Pittsburgh received as a part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), $2 million were explicitly included to establish “a new fund to support local artists who experienced financial hardship during COVID and to bring music and art into public events and facilities across Pittsburgh.” But the City of Pittsburgh has ignored this mandate, choosing to spend most of the money allocated for local artists on event planning, staging and, yes, fireworks.
Documents obtained by the Post-Gazette Editorial Board show that the city has only spent about $48,000 to support artists, despite having already spent over $450,000 of the allocated funds. Further, more than 90% of that $48,000 has gone to musicians, and almost half to artists who do not live in Pittsburgh. Most local performers were paid less than a thousand dollars, which does little to alleviate the financial hardship brought on by COVID.
A fund for artists is not a fund for staging ($99,000) or for fireworks ($180,000). This is an insult to artists of all kinds in a city that has consistently failed to nurture artistic talent.
Pittsburgh is full of talent, but ,many if not most successful artists leave for cities and regions with better support for the arts. While Gainey administration officials may think their creative accounting is an artful solution to other budgetary issues, they’re alienating people who contribute to Pittsburgh’s cultural — and therefore economic — vibrancy.
In an email obtained by the Editorial Board, the city’s Chief Financial Officer, Patrick Cornell, wrote that there have “been a lot of different ideas, concepts, and even promises relating to the $2M ARPA allocation,” while blaming the inappropriate spending on Treasury guidelines. But “granting assistance to impacted industries” is a specifically approved use of ARPA funds, and using less than 1% of the city’s allocation for local artists is hardly extravagant.
And the truth is that there was one promise, made clear as day in the original allocation: “a fund to support local artists.” It hasn’t happened.
Further, figures in Mr. Cornell’s own email show no course change for 2024: Over $250,000 is included for the special events like the Fourth of July. At the bottom of the list is $785,000 set aside for “Artist Community Grants” at some point in the future — but the administration has had two and a half years to make such grants, and we have little confidence they’re about to start now. And even if they did, that would only about to $800,000 — or 40% — of the original promised $2 million.
Setting up a professional system for distributing grants to artists is not difficult. There’s no good reason it hasn’t happened yet.
When Pittsburgh’s successful visual, performing, musical and literary artists leave Western Pennsylvania, it won’t be hard to find where to place the blame. But hey, at least we got some fireworks.