King County Council Moves To Dissolve 4Culture...

…In reality if not in name. Yesterday we discovered that King County Councilmember Dave Upthegrove introduced an ordinance to take over decision making of 4Culture's arts, heritage, preservation, and public arts program.  This ordinance blindsided our entire cultural community.

The proposed ordinance allows council members to (read the full text):

• To veto the 4Culture budget, which determines funding for arts, heritage, preservation, and public arts
• To hire and fire the 4Culture Executive Director
• To nominate and directly appoint the majority of 4Culture board members without consultation

4Culture strives to distribute funds in the most strategic, meritorious, and equitable way possible, while acknowledging that improvements can always be made. The dismantling of 4Culture is not the best path toward progress, nor is it in the best interest of King County’s cultural and artistic health. We understand that 4Culture has always welcomed the chance to work with the King County Council to address its concerns. But this work must be undertaken with a shared understanding and appreciation of the effectiveness and efficiency that has defined 4Culture’s legacy over the past 15 years.

Contact your King County Councilmember today! We ask you to send a clear message to the Council: Partisan politics should not have a place in public funding for arts and culture.  The public expects that the funding decisions made by 4Culture's citizen review panels are not influenced by politicians or special interests.

• Find your councilmember
• When communicating to your councilmember, tell them (in your words from your personal perspective):

1. 4Culture has served the community well for 15 years and has the public trust
2. The proposed ordinance undermines 4Culture’s independence, threatens the competitive application process, opening the door to favoritism and inequitable funding
3. Please do NOT support ordinance #2018-0086. Now more than ever, independent agencies like 4Culture are critical

• The Council will assign the ordinance to a committee.  When that committee meets, we will need your support at that hearing. Watch for an alert from Advocate4Culture with more information about a public hearing that advocates should attend.

Thank you advocates!

Councilmembers:
Rod Dembowski rod.dembowski@kingcounty.gov
Claudia Balduccci claudia.balducci@kingcounty.gov
Dave Upthegrove dave.upthegrove@kingcounty.gov
Reagan Dunn reagan.dunn@kingcounty.gov
Jeanne Kohl-Welles jeanne.kohl-welles@kingcounty.gov
Pete von Reichbauer pete.vonreichbauer@kingcounty.gov
Larry Gossett larry.gossett@kingcounty.gov
Joe McDermott joe.mcdermott@kingcounty.gov
Kathy Lambert kathy.lambert@kingcounty.gov

Advocate4Culture is an independent group. The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of 4Culture or its employees.