SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – Arts South Dakota is keeping a close eye on any federal funding cuts as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continues to reduce government spending. Part of the concern stems from the South Dakota Humanities Council finding out April 3 that 100% of its federal funding was cut.
Arts South Dakota’s executive director Jim Speirs says the federal budget for arts is already one of the smallest portions of the overall federal budget.
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“The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), annual budget is $207 million. That is 0.003 3/10,000 of a percentage of our national budget, of our federal budget. So we are talking a drop in the bucket. That would be like Arts South Dakota deciding not to buy paper clips next year,” Speirs said.
As DOGE cuts are already being felt in South Dakota, Speirs says any budget cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts would have a direct impact. Nearly half of the South Dakota Arts Council’s budget comes from the NEA.
“In some of the activities these grants, funded involved nearly 7,000 artists and almost 125,000 youth. So the impact is great. It really provides access to the arts for all South Dakota. And so it’s vital that, that these agencies survive,” Speirs said.
Speirs says more than 70% of the state art council’s total budget goes to local art organizations and artists.
One of those artists who received a grant from the SDAC is Mecca Rutherford, who is a Sioux Falls oil painter. She says her current gallery “Dazzling Dakota” displayed at the Center for Western Studies at Augustana University in Sioux Falls wouldn’t exist without the grant from the state arts council.
“My greatest vision is bigger than what I really could afford. And so just that little boost of that small grant money in the grand scheme of things has been hugely impactful for not only my career, but I think for our state,” Rutherford said.
Rutherford says the footprint her art has made in the community is an example of how state and federal dollars are helping elevate the beauty of South Dakota.
“It’s been going for three months and has two more weeks left. And in those three months, hundreds of people have come through the show,” Rutherford said.
The South Dakota Arts Council tells KELOLAND News it has, “…not received any official information regarding potential federal budget cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts but will continue to monitor the situation.”
