Here’s what Marvin Chernoff, father of the Columbia Festival of the Arts, had to say in a memo to the festival’s "advisory committee" in response to our editorial this morning:
Three things.
1. If you saw this morning’s State newspaper editorial it would be pretty obvious that they feel strongly that festivals like ours should be paid for by "private donations not public money".
Well guess what? I agree. And, unless I’m missing something, that’s exactly what we did. You see, aside from the sponsor money, the in kind contributions from media, the contributions to Friends of the Festival and sales of gala tickets, the money we got from the city and the county was from hospitality and accommodations taxes.
Those are "private donations" made by people like you and me whenever we eat some prepared food or stay in a hotel. It just goes to the city for them to hold and then turn around to pay for things like festivals that bring people to those restaurants and hotels.
What would the State editorial board have the city do with that money, pave roads? I think that might make the restaurateurs and hoteliers who collect it upset. And the people who pay it too.
2. Joint ticketing is now available on our web site. It’s really neat. You can go to www.columbiafestivalofthearts.com click on the ticketing icon and pick out your tickets for up to 17 different events. And miracle of miracles your etickets are printed out on your printer.
3. Tickets to the Gala are going fact. If you are going to the gala, I would buy my ticket now. There will be nothing any one can do for you after they are all gone.Less than three weeks.
To see what the editorial board would "have the city do with that money," read the editorial. As we said, this is money that could be going straight to arts groups, and could also come out of direct funding they might want in the near future.
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What an utter buffoon this guy is! If these accommodations taxes are ““private donations” made by people like you and me whenever we eat some prepared food or stay in a hotel” does that mean I can refuse to make any further such “donations”? It’s people like this, sucking at the public teat for all they can get, who make our taxes as high as they are. Phooey!
Your editorial is spot on. In fact, I would extend it to cover stadiums, arenas, ball parks, coliseums and all the rest of the boondoggle facilities largely paid for with public funds. If sports teams or rock bands want to play here, let them build their own facilities or team up with another team or promoter. We don’t build factories for private industry so why should we build “factories” for sports teams and rock bands?
While I believe Mr. Chernoff has the best of intentions in creating this festival and I wish him well, I must agree with LexWolf. To call a sales tax a donation is a stretch even for a former Advertising/Marketing Executive.
Someone should turn some pigs loose at this Pork-a-thon.
Well,Lee,you and Lex could show up.I’m sure Marvin would welcome two true patrons of the arts.Maybe he’ll supply a trough if you make reservations.
A few stray thoughts on this:
Unless I am misunderstanding the nature of the hospitality tax, there is a bit of a contradiction in the State’s editorial on this topic. The State says that a festival intended to stir up greater focus on local arts offerings “should be supported by private donations — but not public money.” Yet a few sentences later, the editorial worries that “by promising future hospitality taxes, Columbia is limiting the amount of money that will be available to arts groups and others that compete for funding each year. So funding the festival could undermine the same cash-strapped local groups it purports to help.”
Either the hospitality tax is (partly) intended to benefit the arts in Columbia or it is not. If the former, then the fact that there is a public financing role for the city in terms of its cultural life is an acknowledged fact. Chernoff’s argument for doing this whole thing then, if I understand correctly, is that this would be a funneling of that funding into an effort to ignite a greater regional awareness of the Columbia arts scene in order to build (one hopes) a larger audience and wider support base for the future. He believes that the arts groups will ultimately share the benefit over the long haul from this festival, especially if it continues for a few years. Now, a number of local folks prominent in the arts scene that I’ve talked to are not so sure if that’s true, but that’s Chernoff’s argument, and I believe there is a point to it if done right.
So, to Lex’s point, yes actually you can refuse to make such donations by not eating at restaurants or staying at hotels. These funds do not come out of property taxes or sales taxes on groceries, etc. We could get into an endless argument about whether or not there is a proper role for public financing of the arts, and of course Lex would say not. I would just counter that if we are talking “boondoggle,” there are many things, certainly on a national level, where we are truly getting ripped off via taxation. In general civic, state, and federal funding for the arts remains extremely low by a non-Third-World standard, anyway. Incidentally, Lex, while we may not directly “build factories for private industry” we most certainly DO pay for certain companies to locate in this area or this state, via various tax incentives and so forth.
Where the State’s editorial is correct, however, is in pointing out the rather worrisome and unorthodox manner of handling the city’s contribution to this festival. And, even assuming Mr. Chernoff’s good intentions, as an artist it does stick in my craw just a bit that the vast majority of the funds for this festival is going into the pockets of ad agencies, the funding of ads, paying website designers and graphic designers, salaries for Mr. Chernoff and others, and I imagine very little going specifically as payment to performing musicians, visual artists, actors.
I could refuse to make any sales tax “donations” by not buying any food or clothing, too.
Or maybe you could stop talking in euphemisms, or at least realize that your use of them reflects your subconcious recognition that this junk social spending is a corruption of our government.
Lee, I should have put “donations” in quotes to indicate that it’s attributed to Chernoff; I wouldn’t have used that word myself. Call a tax a tax, I say. But the point I was making is that these are NOT taxes on essentials like groceries or clothing. You can’t very well choose not to buy food and clothing, but dining at restaurants and staying at hotels falls under a different category, I think you’d agree.
The whole thing is really nothing more than a slush fund for local politicos. I remember before these taxes were passed in Lexington our local piggies were talking about getting the tax passed first and then they would figure out who should get the money. In other words, there was no pressing need at all. They just wanted this money so they could better buy votes for their reelection.
Phillip, sure I can choose not to patronize restaurants and hotels but why should I be deprived of their services unless I’m willing to pay baksheesh to fund some politicos’ pet projects?
Right Lex… and the other aggravating piece of this whole thing is that the editorial board at The State could not bring themselves to firmly and unequivocally denounce this unneeded and onerous tax. Do you remember this? When tis abomination was being contemplated by West Columbis and Lexington, all we got from Brad and the other gals were vague doubts about the propriety of the tax and tremulous questions about whether the money would be used appropriately. The board knew good and well it was a slush fund and that it wouldn’t be used properly…it couldn’t be because the government was wrong to take it in the first place…which the oard also knew. But heaven forbid that Brad and Cindi actually take a solid and blunt stand against a tax. Couldn’t have THAT! Ed
These types of festivals that are taxpayer supported along with the Watermelon, Cotton, Sweet Potato, Rice, Strawberry, et. al. across the state are part of what makes me laugh when do-gooders rail on about not enough money for education, for the poor, for health care, and all the other causes. As I have noted before, the poor in America are actually the middle class or upper middle class in most nations. But, in the spirit of Easter and the resurrection of Our Lord, I hope all have a great and blessed Easter Sunday. Even if you go to a taxpayer supported Easter Bunny festival somewhere.
Phillip,
I travel for a living, and I spend a lot of money in taxes on hotels and restaurants because every municipality looks for non-voters they can rob, like the tourists and business travelers. Then they coo about local government being accountable to the people. Most politicians don’t want accountability – they want hosts for their parasitic existance.
While the schools are taxing old people out of their homes, they are handing out $500,000 a year to the Arts Commissions with no accountability. They hand out $100,000 to this festival, $200,000 to that one. Lots of the cronies and politicians themselves own advertising agencies, marketing firms, public relations firms, which are ideal vehicles for laundering bribes and payola.
It’s people like this, sucking at the public teat for all they can get, who make our taxes as high as they are.
That’s rich coming from you, Lex, considering that your ardent support for a massive government entitlement program that will have the state taking MY money and giving it to YOU.
If it is wrong for the state to force you to pay for $4,500 vouchers for some one else’s child, how wrong is it for you to demand an entitlement to their money to pay $12,000 to send your child to a state school?
KC, the state is already taking YOUR money to pay for MY child’s education, just as it’s taking my money to pay for other kids’ education. The only question is who should decide where and how that money is spent: some educrat or the kid’s parents.
If it is wrong for the state to force you to pay for $4,500 vouchers for some one else’s child, how wrong is it for you to demand an entitlement to their money to pay $12,000 to send your child to a state school?
I don’t have a child, Lee. But I don’t object to contributing tax dollars to public education, which I view as a public good.
What I DO object to is people like you and LW wanting the state to confiscate my money and put it in your wallet so that you can send your kids to some overpriced private school with ZERO accountability to me or the public.
LW, your constant use of ad hominem (“educrat”) is not having a persuasive effect on me. But if you keep it up, I may have to think up a similarly dismissive term for people who want to take my money to finance their private school “choice.”
I know – “confiscocrat.” How do you like being a confiscocrat, Lex?
kc, what you object to is those who actually EARNED their money having control of it, and of their children’s education, instead of the State confiscating their wealth to propagandize their children in the government brain laundries.
So, Lee is actually against ANY tax by the government.
Not-so-Ready attempts to use a very childish form of reducio ad absurdum to create a straw man.
If any of you object to your tax dollars being used for Lex’s children to attend school, or some poor black child in Allendale to attend the school of his choice, there are other alternatives.
Just let everyone pay for their own children’s education, food, clothing and entertainment. How novel! Since they won’t be needing public schools, and other programs, taxes can be reduced by the amount of those extinct programs.