State Budget and Federal Support

In addition to tracking bills, we are also closely watching the state budget from both the Governor and the Appropriations Committee to see money allocated to arts & culture. Below are helpful resources from the state that outline the latest updates to the budget.

Appropriations Committee Budget FY 22 – FY 23

This is the proposed budget by the Appropriations committee for the state. To find information pertaining to the arts & culture sector, use keywords like “arts” or “tourism fund” by using control+f (Windows) or command+f (Mac) on the document.

Page 123 of the PDF is the beginning of the Department of Economic and Community Development’s budget which organizes funding for arts & culture organizations.

Highlights include:

  • Flat funding for Office of the Arts, Connecticut Humanities, most line items and tourism marketing**
  • $1.2 million in additional funding including:
  • $100,000 for Music Haven (new line item)
  • $50,000 for Norwalk Symphony (new line item)
  • $250,000 for Riverfront Recapture (new line item)
  • $200,000 increase for “various grants” for a total of $593,856
  • $196,295 increase for Maritime Center Authority for a total of $500,000
  • $246,121 increase for Beardsley Zoo for a total of $500,000
  • $177,603 increase for Mystic Aquarium for a total of $500,000

**See next item. Tourism marketing is proposed to receive an additional $15 million in the Deficiency Appropriation.

Appropriations-Committee-Budget-FY-22-FY-23Download

Deficiency Budget

The Appropriations Committee has also released An Act Making Deficiency Appropriations for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2021, which proposed to allocate money from the General Fund for specific purposes. Notably, the Tourism Fund will receive an additional $15 million specifically for tourism marketing as noted on page 2 of the PDF.

Deficiency-BudgetDownload

American Rescue Plan State Allocations

This is Gov. Lamont’s plan for allocating the federal funding coming to the state from the American Rescue Plan.

His proposals include:

  • $45 million–$30 million in FY 2022 and $15 million in FY 2023–to support reopening Connecticut’s economy and restarting tourism with a focus on the hospitality industry, a tourism marketing campaign and modernizing regulatory and licensing requirements. 
  • $6.375 million in FY 2022 to help arts and entertainment organizations recover from economic hardship related to the pandemic.
  • $15 million during FY 2022 for free admission for Connecticut residents age 18 and younger to Connecticut museums, arts, and educational venues from July 1st through Labor Day.
Governor-Lamont-ARPA-Allocation-PlanDownload

We urged the Appropriations Committee to increase the $6.35 million in ARPA funds that the Governor is proposing for the arts to 1% or $26.5 million. You can read our ask to the Governor and the Appropriations Committee below:

STATE-OF-CT-ARPA-FUND-REQUESTDownload

CAA is calling on municipalities to reserve 1% of their ARPA money for the arts. Read the letter that we send to municipalities below. Also check out this resource by PolicyLink that offers ways that municipalities can make their ARPA investments equitable.

CAA-letter-to-municipal-leadersDownload
PolicyLink-ARPA-RecoveryGuideDownload