Already facing a significant cut in funding from Milwaukee County, arts groups may now see payments delayed after a Milwaukee County Board Committee voted on Tuesday to reconsider how funds are allocated.
The vote by the Committee on Parks and Culture calls for the Cultural, Artistic and Musical Programming Advisory Council (CAMPAC) – which recommends how Milwaukee County arts grants are allocated – to re-examine the current funding structure, under which each arts group receives the exact same payout regardless of size or impact.
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“Equality does not equal equity. There’s a big difference between the two,” committee chairman Sheldon Wasserman said. “I don’t think the current allocations are equitable.”
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A total of 48 arts groups each had been scheduled to receive $6,413 in October, down from $9,269 in 2024, marking a 30% cut. Most groups had received funding of more than $10,000 in 2023.
This year’s reduced allocation comes after the Milwaukee County Board slashed the overall budget for the arts to $307,825, compared with $407,825 last year. There are also four more groups set to receive funds this year, further depleting individual payouts.
CAMPAC, if it decides to follow the request, isn’t expected to report back to the committee about funding allocation until December. This means a delay in expected payouts, absent any further action.
Following the decision, Milwaukee Rep executive director Chad Bauman issued a detailed statement to the committee and CAMPAC in which he expressed concern about delaying “urgently needed funding for arts organizations.”
“We shouldn’t have to choose between immediate funding, disaster response and much needed reform,” Bauman wrote. “I support releasing the current allocations now, with the understanding that CAMPAC and the committee will thoughtfully revisit the funding process soon.”
Arts groups of various size receive funding from the county, from smaller group such as Optimist Theatre, Black Arts MKE and Quasimondo Physical Theatre, to larger organizations that include the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Milwaukee Ballet.
Bauman testified on Tuesday against the current funding setup, which had been altered just a few years ago.
“The system that you have gives an equal grant whether we are serving one Milwaukee County resident or more than 100,000 Milwaukee County residents, which we do,” Bauman said.
Bauman argued that funds from the county are inadequate for the Rep, one of the state’s largest performing arts organizations.
An earlier revision of the allocation method already resulted in deep cuts in funding for the organization, which came in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic that devastated many arts groups, he said. The Rep received more than $19,000 in funding from the county in 2023, about $31,000 in 2022, about $40,000 in 2021 and more than $53,000 in 2020.
Bauman also noted the recent flooding that hit the group’s new 30,000-square-foot production center in Wauwatosa, which caused $8 million in damages, up from an initial damage estimate of $5 million.
He said the Rep has “weathered multiple existential threats this decade.”
“Now, we need action,” Bauman said. “Without your support, our ability to continue to deliver will be greatly diminished.”
Imagine MKE executive director Christine Hojnacki testified against the overall cut in funding while noting that the local nonprofit arts sector, despite extreme financial pressures, generated $334.6 million in economic activity, according to a study by Americans for the Arts.
Public funding is critical for area arts and culture organizations, she said, adding that a deepening reliance on private philanthropy isn’t sustainable.
“Private philanthropy cannot continue to carry the burden of sustaining arts and culture,” Hojnacki said.
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Milwaukee County’s funding formula has undergone dramatic changes in recent years. Prior to 2020, a private consultant managed the process and was paid a fee to manage fund distributions. In 2020, the Milwaukee County Parks Department took over the role, with CAMPAC serving as an advisory council.
CAMPAC decided to enact equal distribution of funding under a three-year transition period from the old funding model to the new. The change resulted more money for smaller groups and much less for Milwaukee’s largest arts and culture organizations. The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, for example, received more than $84,000 in county funding in 2020, but saw that figure drop to about $63,000 in 2021, about $48,000 in 2022 and about $31,000 in 2023, before all groups began receiving equal funding in 2024.
The current formula takes the full pot of funding and divides it by the total number of qualified applicants, giving equal distribution to all, Milwaukee County Parks deputy director Jim Tarantino explained.
“I carry a message from the CAMPAC group that they are trying to do what they can to support the performing arts in this community,” Tarantino said. “The CAMPAC group (comprises) performing artists. No one wants to see declining support for the arts.”
No CAMPAC members attended the meeting.
Tarantino went on to note that public funding for the arts in Wisconsin is “abysmal.”
“Our public sector, whether it is cities, counties or the state, we are last or close to it,” he said. “That is a problem.”
Equal distribution of county funds to all qualified groups was done “to be fair,” Tarantino said.
“Obviously, no one is entirely reliant on a grant of $6,413 for their annual operations,” he said. “This is meant to achieve the goal of having free publicly accessible performing arts events during the course of the year.”
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Tarantino said he’d been in contact with the groups awaiting funding, and that plans had called for 48 checks to be cut to those organizations in October.
“Any delays would be a disappointment,” he said. “We have a pragmatic issue. This fund for the arts is an annual appropriation. If we don’t distribute it, it doesn’t get in the hands of the arts organizations.”
Tarantino, who stated that CAMPAC is not prepared to revise the funding formula, said he felt obliged to advocate on behalf of the smaller arts organizations, including the group that presents the summer concert series at Washington Park.
“Those artists have been paid, and that organization is expecting to be reimbursed,” he said.
County supervisor Anne O’Connor said ranking at the bottom for public funding is “not acceptable.”
“Arts contribute a lot to our well-being and quality of life here in Wisconsin,” she said, adding that she received at least 40 emails from constituents upset with the overall cuts in county funding for arts groups, not with the distribution formula.
O’Connor explained that she was voting against the allocations “just to raise awareness.”
“I would like to see more focus on this from our government relations and our administration,” she said.
The committee voted 4-2 to reject the current allocation of funds and return the matter to CAMPAC to devise a new funding formula based on testimony from Tuesday’s meeting. The vote is essentially a recommendation to the full County Board, which could act against the recommendation.
Supervisors O’Connor, Priscilla Coggs-Jones, Juan Miguel Martinez and Wasserman voted in favor of the motion, with Steve Taylor and Jack Eckblad voting against it.
“What I’m not OK with is squeezing these small arts organizations who have been budgeting for this funding and we simply don’t cut the check and leave them high and dry,” Eckblad said.
Milwaukee County isn’t in a position to solve the public funding crisis facing arts groups, Taylor said.
“For some reason, the state of Wisconsin does not value that,” he said. “Republicans and Democrats in Madison have made the decision that we have other priorities. There’s nothing Milwaukee County can do.”
The county has other more pertinent matters beyond public funding for the arts, Taylor insisted.
“We have those decisions to make about what’s a priority, and mine is sure not in this category,” he said.
In his statement following the meeting, Bauman said he’s encouraged to see how quickly constituents mobilized in speaking out against the funding cuts but sees lingering issues.
“It’s clear Milwaukee County lacks a dedicated champion for arts and culture,” he said. “The Parks Department brings deep expertise in parks, but not necessarily in the arts, and CAMPAC is left to divide shrinking resources among growing needs. Both have been placed in a near impossible position.”
Bauman said addressing the issue will require leadership and collaboration among the county board, county executive and what he described as a “vibrant” arts community.
