Budget Recap
Friends,
Monday night was the final vote on the city budget. I voted against it - with two of the most grassroots-oriented fellow Councilors on the Democratic side of the aisle, Dr. Carlos Perkins and Rena Allen. All six Republicans also joined us in voting no - and our reasons were not so very far apart, actually!
The budget ended up passing anyway, 16-9. But my hope is that this narrower margin than we've seen in years will be a wake-up call to the Hogsett administration, that listening to the Council and the people of Indianapolis are non-negotiables.
Today I wanted to present you a few "exhibits" explaining my vote.
This is a whole lot of text, and likely will not be interesting to a very broad audience. But as the budget is the most impactful thing I touch as a Councilor, I think it's very appropriate and in fact necessary for me to share all of my thoughts around the process. I invite any feedback, questions, or concerns.
I'm proud to represent you, and it's truly an honor to serve.
In love and solidarity,
Jesse
Exhibit A: the speech I gave on camera at the meeting.
"I will be voting no on this budget, and I wanted to explain to the public why.
I'll first thank all of my colleagues for their work getting us to this point and all of the dozens and dozens of taxpayers who have come out in person to speak about the budget this year.
And I'll acknowledge that there are some long-needed improvements in this budget. The proposed budget finally fixes the RequestIndy app to stop it from telling everyone their case is closed with no action. That's a relief. And we are finally building a new animal shelter to replace the horrifically inappropriate facility we are using today.
But at the end of the day, take a look around the city.
The condition of the roads is just plain bad, and this budget locks in the fact that they're going to get worse. So many streets have no lines on the road that can be seen anymore. Huge neighborhoods in my district have no functional sidewalks, and the sidewalk budget is cut compared to last year. Alleys are just totally left in ruin across my district, and the city has no plans to help with that, ever. And that's not even getting to the requests from my constituents for crosswalks for their children to cross the street. I think I've had to tell a half dozen parents this year that the city had no money to even consider protecting their kids. And again, infrastructure gets worse with this proposed budget, when the whole city is crying out for it to get better. Roads and alleys have been by far the biggest point of frustration for my constituents.
The second biggest set of complaints I've gotten from my constituents has to do with housing and the lack thereof. I've spoken to multiple people with severe habitability issues their corporate landlords refused to address. I'm talking, black mold, infestation, non-functioning furnaces, and other serious health and safety concerns. The city offers these people next to no help, even if their landlords threaten to evict them to try to silence them.
And these complaints are mirroring a broader trend we can see in statistics about our city.
Rents have gone up faster in Indianapolis than in almost any city in the country over the last several years. And that’s leading to some very tough decisions for families, and it’s making people homeless.
Homeless families are living in their cars, in tents, on the sidewalks, in every park in the district, and down by Pogues Run Creek all throughout my district. And there's more coming behind them! 500 evictions are being filed every single week in Marion County. The Indianapolis Housing Agency had to be taken over from the Federal government this year, and it still is on the point of total collapse. The federal and city employees there I spoke with last week said it's very likely that thousands of public housing recipients will be thrown onto the streets in the near future. And this budget does what for housing, exactly? 545,000 in opioid funding to pay for a master lease program we have been talking about for years now. This is 30 apartments the city is renting to help people not live on the streets. A conservative estimate of the number of unsheltered homeless people in Indianapolis right now is 400. You do the math, and tell me if you think this proposed budget is doing enough.
The final issue I’ve heard substantial comment about from my constituents has to do with the horrible wages the City still pays many departments and groups.
Right now there are full time employees of the City of Indianapolis a decade of tenure who are making poverty wages. The people working hard to be the front door of government, at the Mayor's Action Center, deserve the same type of wages that the city expects contractors to pay. This budget does not include increased wages at this and other low-wage departments. When the city pays poverty wages, it creates unmet needs in our community and exacerbates other problems.
Finally, let’s talk about what concerns constituents have brought to our attention at public meetings.
The number one cause was support for a cease-fire in Palestine, but let's set that aside in terms of the local budget.
The number two cause was support for preserving urban forests and turning them into city parks. The clear ask from dozens of people who came out on multiple occasions was six million dollars in this year’s budget for urban forest acquisition. This proposed budget offers less than one million specifically earmarked for stormwater.
The next most frequent ask from public comment was for the city to grant the Arts Council a $3 million dollar budget to influence the hundred million dollar arts industry. This is actually LESS money after inflation that Republican Bill Hudnut gave the arts council decades ago. That's not in here either.
I will submit that when constituents are asking for things passionately and our current tax rates don't provide enough to pay for it all, a responsive government should start holding public meetings asking how the public wants to raise additional revenue.
But even without generating new revenue, the city could easily pay to make giant impacts on everything I've mentioned tonight, within the existing funds.
As a reminder, this is a $1.65 billion dollar budget. The highest ever amount spent on IMPD. That includes roughly 20 million dollars for officers that city leaders unanimously agree we will not actually be able to hire. Even if we want to keep all 20 million within the realm of public safety, why not expand the clinician led mental health response team? Why not continue to fund the gun violence reduction work that has been so effective? Why not create a pilot for a civilian led traffic enforcement team, to actually enforce traffic laws since police say their staffing doesn't allow that?
This also proposes to set aside tens of millions of dollars more than required for our rainy day fund, the unassigned fund balance.
Ask the people living in tents. This is a rainy day. Today. Now.
This budget reflects the choice - and let’s be clear, this is a choice - to kick the can down the road for another year, failing to address the problems tearing this city apart.
I cannot in good conscience vote for this.
Thank you."
Exhibit B: the first draft of the speech I wrote.
I decided not to share this on the mic as it was focused on process, and at the end of the day I voted no because of the end result, not because of the process. But I wanted to share these arguments as well.
"We have arrived at the final vote for the Indianapolis city budget. As we’ve heard my peers mention time and time again, this is the most important duty of our branch of government. It’s twice as important because we live in a state where our State Legislators frequently pre-empt and overrule our attempts to solve problems with ordinances and policies developed locally.
We started planning for the budget months ago, have had far more committee meetings and twice as frequent full council meetings over the last six weeks, and have not introduced special resolutions other than the ones creating an investigative committee for the last three months, all so we have ample time to focus on this task.
Even though this is our most important job, we welcome the Mayor’s collaboration and even leadership in preparing a budget. This is important, because Council staff does not include finance professionals and has a harder time finding information from various departments and agencies about what they need.
But we have done our part to share what our constituents are asking for, and in fact demanding.
19 out of 25 Councilors on this body are Democrats. That means that 76% of the Council is Democratic. That’s a stronger supermajority than Republicans have in the Indiana Statehouse, where Democrats hold only 30% of the seats.
Trying to get 19 people representing 19 different districts to work together and find common priorities to support can be challenging - but we did that. We worked together, with huge support from our Council leadership and our Council staff people, to come up with this beautiful document in advance of budget season. This document is titled “Council FY2025 Budget Priority Areas” and states that the Council and Administration should be able to point back to these pieces, providing constituents with a touchpoint and a vision moving forward. We identified five targeted areas that had support from all 19 of us. The list was:
“Housing and Development”, regarding the creation, maintenance, and improvement of affordable housing and the broader aspects of community and economic development.
Infrastructure and Environment, regarding physical infrastructure projects, environmental sustainability initiatives, and the maintenance and improvement of natural resources.
Public and Multimodal Safety, ensuring the safety and security of the public through law enforcement, emergency services, and safe transportation options.
Education and Quality of Life, addressing educational opportunities and overall quality of life, including health, recreation, cultural activities, and social services.
Government and Community Collaboration, emphasizing the importance of collaborative efforts between city and county governments, as well as community engagement, to manage resources efficiently and provide comprehensive services.
The back of the document breaks these five categories into eighteen more specific and targeted areas. That includes housing supply creation, eviction resistance, homelessness, environmental sustainability including urban forest funding, an expansion to the clinician-led response team, and living wages for city employees and contractors alike.
The number one issue that we Councilors said we wanted to see leadership in was housing, with a particular focus on homelessness.
As our public housing agency continues teetering on the edge of collapse, as 500 evictions are filed every week in Indianapolis, and as homelessness has gotten worse year over year, where is our funding for affordable housing in this budget? Absent, that’s where. We’re spending only about half a million dollars on our Master-Lease program, funded almost exclusively from opioid settlements, and only providing 30 apartment units for the over 300 people living unsheltered on our streets and in our parks. There’s another 1400 people staying in shelters, sleeping on friends’ couches, or in their cars. Actually, that’s based on last year’s point in time count, so realistically those numbers are now much higher.
As a reminder, last year the Mayor and the Council worked together and found a way to make the Signia Hotel project move forward, putting $750 million in revenue bonds in the service of tourism. That included paying $52 million to buy the land at the Pan Am Plaza from Kite Realty, the company that failed to find a successful way to finance the Signia project. That’s 82% above the median between two appraisals for the property.
So we have millions and millions of dollars to help make sure private businesses continue profiting, but can’t seem to find that money, which at least all of us Democrats and I suspect several Republicans as well, said we’d like to spend on helping alleviate the problems of homelessness.
Just in case we weren’t clear about all of the priorities we were hearing our constituents ask for, we went out of our way to unanimously vote for Special Resolution number 21 in July. That resolution, which I was proud to co-sponsor with Councilors Boots and Evans, insisted that the Council wanted to find six million dollars in funding to acquire and protect urban forests in Indianapolis. Similarly, in June, many of us on the Parks and Recreation Committee stated clearly, into a microphone, on a recorded meeting, that we expected to see at least $3 million for the Indianapolis Arts Council in the budget. There’s still not $3 million for the Indy Arts Council in this proposed budget, despite the welcomed and appreciated increased funding from the CIB and Bond Bank.
I’m going to ask my fellow Councilors, do you see these shared priorities reflected in the budget we are about to vote for tonight? I sure don’t. Do you see $6 million for urban forests? Do you even see ONE million? No.
Councilors have met to come up with proposed changes to the budget this year, which would have moved money away where it’s sitting in unassigned funds and instead put it towards many of these top priorities. This administration made it crystal clear that such efforts were unwanted and would be met with opposition. That’s why you have seen no amendments from the Council on this tepid and myopic budget.
Dozens and dozens of public comments have made it clear that taxpayers and advocates want to see money for arts, for trees, and for gun violence reduction programs. Instead, we are contemplating a budget that includes $20 million for imaginary IMPD officers that every leader knows we will not actually hire. This is a budget based on PR and marketing, not based on meeting the needs of the city or providing a visionary path forward.
This year, I am proud that we as a body came up with a list of priorities and insisted that they must be funded. The Mayor’s refusal to meet us in the middle or work with us on compromise is shameful. Just as with the soccer stadium vote earlier this year, the Council is left out of important conversations and decisions, and then we are bullied or sweet-talked into serving as a rubber stamp for a failing policy agenda. The decisions are made before even speaking with the Council, and Councilors are expected to tow the company line silently.
That’s not compromise. That’s not collaboration.
My constituents did not elect me to office to quietly give a thumbs-up to tepid proposals that continue to fail this city. I’m here to make life easier for my district, not to make life easier for the mayor. I will be voting no, and hope my peers join me in demanding better for our city."
Again - you, loyal readers, are the first to read this exhibit. Hopefully it explains my reasoning even further.
Exhibit C: the public testimony we received about the budget.
This is a sampling of the public comments made at committees I'm on. There were additional comments that I watched via video for other committees, but I did not try to transcribe them all. Since this was just me transcribing with a pen and a notebook, I missed a few names and I'm sure missed a lot of eloquent turns of phrase and details of arguments, but I'm confident I captured the main thrust of each speaker. Feel free to fact check me by reviewing the recordings of the Council meetings.
Public Comment
9/23:
Mary Bookwalter wanted funding for forests, DPW and IFD to give increased pay for employees.
Elliott Berger from District 2 talked about how beloved trees were and asked for funding for land acquisition to protect forests. She also came up later in the evening to testify in favor of the increased IACS funding and the new shelter for animals, which her family has supported.
Janie also wanted funding for forests, and mentioned the stormwater impact, thanked Councilor Boots for his leadership on this issue, and emphasized that timing was critical.
Cecilia Gomez from District 12, wanted MCAT to receive increased funding. She thought we were giving too much to IMPD, which she found disrespectful, and which she said does not represent the needs of the community. She pointed out that the Council does not seek working class opinions.
Brigette O’Reilly from Councilor Barth’s district mentioned that the proposed budget fails people, particularly women and the poor. She wanted more funding for MCAT and more money to help house the homeless. She said it would take two percent of the annual budget to house everyone on the streets. She also pointed out the abusive culture in the mayor’s office.She asked more elected officials to call for the mayor to resign.
Stephen Lane from District 12 said that his neighborhood in Haughville was under-resourced and over-policed. He called for more funding for the arts and pointed out that a flat budget during record inflation is essentially slashing the public arts budget. He also pointed out that this year Indianapolis will spend 12 times as much via federal taxes to arm Israel as we spend locally on arts. Lane said that the IMPD and Sheriff’s Department together make up 40% of the budget. He pointed out that Louisville provides 5 million dollars a year for arts (nearly double the funding that the Arts Council requested). He cited Denver and Cincinnati were other relatively nearby cities that also funded arts at much higher rates than Indianapolis does.
Aya from District 7 said that the proposed city budget underfunded many important programs, but gave IMPD 338 million dollars. She said that the increased funding was wasted on IMPD, and said she believes that IMPD attacks Black and Brown communities in Indianapolis. She pointed out that the clinician-led, non-police mental health response team, CLCR, could and should have expanded citywide to lower the duties assigned to IMPD officers. She was frustrated that the City fails to push back against Israel despite overwhelming public comment and demonstrations. She said that the Mayor’s priorities are not in line with the people’s priorities.
Noah L, from District 12, said that he was opposed to the proposed city budget. He noted that every year, the police always seem to get more money - even while no charges were brought against IMPD officers when they hit and kill pedestrians and cyclists with their vehicles. He pointed out that armed Sheriffs were paid to stand in the Public Assembly Room, and suggested this was to intimidate and silence people. He pointed out that the proposed budget defunds IFD, OPHS, and the election board.
Eli Morey, representing the organization Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, compared the city budget to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. He pointed out that the state of Indiana was continuing to buy Israeli bonds with tax dollars, while the city remains silent. He pointed out that the City spends 40% of its budget on policing; this reminded him of the way the federal government spends such large portions of its discretionary funds on Israel and war. Eli declared that Councilors remaining silent were on the wrong side of history. He disagreed that the issue of opposing the war in Palestine was divisive, but said that if there was a divide, Councilors should ask themselves which side they stood on - the side of peace or war?
Brian Zoeller from the Southeast side of town thanked the Council for supporting efforts to stop a huge warehouse development. He grew up in the Northeast side subsidized apartments and said that nearby trees were a highlight of his childhood. He spoke for other inner city kids and their needs to be in healthy forests.
Jonathan Monroe, from Councilor Boots’s district, clearly enunciated the desire for six million dollars for urban forestry. He brought his young children to the Council meeting that night. He pointed out that their generation, when they became adults, would be asking why so little forest remained in our city. He pointed out that zoning laws are all creations of humans, and when we see that development of new areas in our already-sprawling city isn’t helpful to us as a society, we should simply not do that. He thought the result of such development would be that a very few people would make a large amount of money while the rest of the city suffered, all because leaders didn’t have courage.
A representative from the Tree Board commented that trees were very important to people’s lifestyles and to the future generations. There is no easy way to go back and preserve mature forests once they are cut. This commenter thought that preserving trees was deeply impactful and a bargain for the price on offer. They mentioned that many of those who live near urban forests find that the forests are the best features of their neighborhoods. They strongly urged the Council to insist on the 6 million dollars in funding for forest preservation.
Barb Smith said that she hated public speaking but came because she felt this was important. She lived near forested green spaces and said this had a medical benefit, both mentally and physically. She said that we must fund the protection of forests, as this was our legacy as leaders. She mentioned childrens’ drawings on the topic, and said that if we lose our trees, we lose our city.
Riley Park, a grad student at UIndy, said that the Council should fund communities, not IMPD. He said that Hogsett must resign. And he insisted that the Council should oppose any more money to Israel. He said that Hogsett was not accountable, and has overseen egregious behavior from his staff. He also mentioned that the Council had deprived him of his rights and acted egregiously last month by touching his, and another wheelchair user’s, chairs and bodies without consent due to what he described as orders from Council President Osili.
Sarah Huntsman from Councilor Boots’s district, came to speak for the forests. During the worst of COVID, she tried to visit all of the Indiana State Parks, and found this to be a safe and cost effective way to boost her mental health during a highly stressful time. She thought that forests overall were more helpful to our city than factories were. She pointed out that the average city in the United States has 15% of its population close to forests; in Indy only 5% of our population lives this close. She closed by saying that Hoosiers deserve green spaces.
Beau Underwood, a pastor at Allisonville Church in District 2, came to support the urban forest proposal as well. He said that biologically and socially, we were better with forests.
Jeff Stant, the executive director of the Indiana Forest Alliance, thanked the Hogsett administration for putting money into the budget that could be used for forest preservation via stormwater funds, and via the individual Council budgets of 1 million dollars. He reiterated that there were 3 urban forests within ten minute walks of substantial residential neighborhoods, for sale under their appraised value. He said that the city must buy these now, and he asked Councilors to use their budgets to buy the forests.
Laura Cain from the Grace and Care Ministry at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church came to call for forest preservation. She was working to purchase and conserve forests, especially those that mitigate the effects of climate change. She said that forests do this due to breaking up heat islands and by being carbon sinks, and said that forests will be vital for the city to reach net zero carbon emissions. She was grateful for the stormwater funding, but wanted the full requested 6 million dollars in the budget.
Adrienne McCarthy had never been to a Council meeting before, but came out because she and her daughter had wanted to bike to the Franklin branch of the library less than 2 miles from her home. She and her daughter tried to safely bike there twice, but both times were turned back by roads with no bike lanes or even shoulders, unsafe railroad crossings, and a lack of bus service. The third time the two made it to the library, they found it was closed as the branch was not open 7 days a week. She wasn’t even sure what to ask for other than to emphasize that her family needed help - buses and bike lanes came to mind, though.
Eric Manwell, from Councilor Roberts’s district, came to advocate for forest funding. He said that humans had always looked to nature for inspiration throughout history. He claimed that forests were shown in study after study to be our sanctuaries, and to bring hope and a feeling of connectedness to nature. Eric urged the Council to do everything we could to preserve these sources of inspiration.
A commenter whose name I missed from Councilor Delaney’s district stated that her immigrant parents shared with her the values of respecting nature and becoming a homeowner. She asked that we avoid cutting forests in order to build “yet another” warehouse or apartment complex. She thought that out of state investors tended to profit most from these developments, at the expense of people of color. She stated that everyone knew there was room in the budget for land preservation if we had the will to prioritize it. The same commenter came up later to advocate for animal welfare, stating that breeders should require a license - just as she requires a license to be a realtor. Barring this kind of licensure, she recommended policy to get people education about ethical breeding practices.
Mike Oles, an organizer with Indiana Forest Alliance, said he had gotten interested in local politics because he saw it as a way for regular people to make real change. He said it was exciting to see what we had done in indianapolis. But he brought up that there were several important plots of land that needed to be purchased as soon as possible. These included the Eastside Flatwoods, which is a 100 acre site that could be acquired for 3 million dollars. 70 acres of the site was very mature forest, with the spongy ground that shows the land has never been plowed under. The site is currently surrounded by warehouses and that’s the likely future of the site without intervention. Oles thanked the Council for creating pathways for preservation. But he called on us all to keep fighting.
Janette Smith from Councilor Jones’s district came to plead for sustained funding for the Gun Violence Reduction Strategy. She prayed with her faith community as a congregation to reduce violence, and was a member of CURV (Congregations United to Reduce Violence). She said that murders were down 37% in Indianapolis, which was great. But she said that other cities who have tried similar programs show that sustained progress will not occur without sustained funding.
Laura Dailey from District 7 came to urge everyone to protect the woods. She said that protecting urban forests protects everyone in the city, even those who don’t visit the sites themselves, due to the stormwater and climate impacts of the forests. She pointed out that the better parks of Indianapolis tended to be in the wealthier areas of town, whereas poor people and people of color were far more likely to experience childhood asthma. She asked that we preserve forests to take action for children.
Natalie Kaleen from district 7 also testified in support of preserving more forests for Indy. She pointed out that as the city has expanded, more trees have been cut down, which has had negative impacts on our stormwater retention as well as the beauty of the city. She pointed out that a commitment of $6 million was already unanimously supported by the Council that was considering the budget.
Ari Hodes said he currently lives in Lebanon, Indiana, but was a longtime Indy resident. But his other relevant experience was that he had lived in New Orleans before it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. He also had relatives in New York who were hurt by Sandy. Over his lifetime, he has seen the impacts of climate change, namely that the four distinct seasons of his youth seem to have become two brutal ones each year. He thought the city Council could and should do more to preserve forests to combat climate change. He also held up an image of an Israeli flag on his phone and mentioned that, speaking for himself, he was grateful that the city had NOT come out with a ceasefire resolution.
Jan said she had been in Indianapolis for 25 years. She said that trees were pretty. They created oxygen. They were a place of peace. She had heard of and agreed with other good causes here tonight, and pointed out that Indy had a bad image. She also thought that developers were morally bankrupt and thus couldn’t be trusted not to pave over forests.
Kelly Tribble, from Councilor Delaney’s district, came to thank the council for the support she knew she’d see from us, and thanked us for speaking up and preserving the forest legacy for our children.
Annette Johnson, the Pike Township Trustee,came out to thank the council for our nonbinding resolution in favor of $6 million in funding for land acquisition. She thanked Councilors Boots, Barth, Brown, Delaney, and others for meeting in person to see the forests firsthand and really experience what we stand to lose. She pointed out that there were 58 square miles of Marion County that were forested, but very little of that was protected in parks or other public lands, and called for us to do more.
Matt Arant, from District 1, thanked the Council for continuing to support IndyGo, as it was a major way to get people to and from grocery stores and combat food deserts. He mentioned that in the far future he’d love to see an L train over the Monon Trail. He suggested we could legalize the sale of hemp to pay for it. He called on Councilors to appeal to their ethics. He stated that there was one family of Indianapolis citizens who had lost over 50 family members due to the mass death in Palestine. He said as a Syrian person that he considered it blatantly racist that the Council had suppressed speech and public comments and had refused to allow the introduction of a ceasefire proposal. As a matter of ethics, he called for all Councilors to personally disclose any stocks or bonds they held in Israeli companies or weapons companies, and to divest themselves of these.
A commenter whose name I missed said she had been in animal rescue for 45 years. She wanted the Council to keep an eye on the money for the new shelter and how it was being used. She also wanted us to push for mandatory spay and neuter laws. Barring those, she suggested that anyone wanting to leave their pets able to breed should be forced to tour and watch how terrible the conditions at the shelter were. She said she appreciated the efforts the Council has already made for animal welfare.
Parks Committee meeting October 3, 2024
Over 20 people came out to advocate for arts funding.
David Craig Starkey from the Indianapolis Opera, who served as President of an organization of local arts group CEOs, asked if city leaders meant what they said when they talked about the “creative economy.” He said that major industries in Indianapolis included health, sports, science, and engineering - but arts should be on this list as well. He said that the arts were a $500 million per year industry in Indianapolis. The City’s role in that industry was small but important. He stated that according to his formula, the arts were outperforming other industries in terms of both growth and inclusivity. But over the years, the arts organizations were doing more, while the city continued to do less. He thought this was hampering the arts industry.
James Johnson, president of the Indianapolis Symphonic Orchestra, said that his organization contributed $37 million in activity to the Indy economy, by providing 239 full time jobs (with 140 direct employees of the ISO). These were good, middle-class jobs, and a majority of them had unions. Yet the ISO’s funding from the city was down 66%. They provide over 100 concerts a year, as well as educational programs. He thought that the ISO was not more deserving of funding than the other organizations who had assembled here, but that all could share in the benefits of stronger arts funding.
Lauren Curry, the director of Indy Movement Arts, asked Councilors to think of how they feel when they are dancing. Those feelings, she claimed, are not auxiliary to the rest of our budget. They were foundational to full personhood. She pointed out that work was important, but it wasn’t the only important thing in life.
Leeann Herschman was the president of the American Pianist Awards. Every two years, they put on 8 months of public competitions, and the winners often went on to win Grammy’s Emmy’s, and the like. Winners often called Indy their second home thanks to this program, the Indianapolis Piano Awards. She said her organization was ready to grow and to bring even more people downtown to spend money and have fun watching the competitions, with more funding.
Paul Daley was the head of the IF Theater, which was the host of the Indy Fringe Festival. Though Paul is relatively new to his role, he said that he has heard that the City and the CICF worked together to fund the Fringe Festival, which in turn transformed Mass Ave. He said that greater arts funding can bring this kind of transformation to the whole city.
Jenni Warner, from the New Harmony Project, talked about their recent new play festival. This included commissioning and funding 8 new plays, which are on track to lead to at least 2 world premieres of completed plays. Jenni pointed out that Indy could be known as the home of artists and playwrights, and that was why the New Harmony Project had started investing more of its time and energy in the city. But funding was cut in half due to lack of funds for the grants program. Their staff of 2 people, who had to hire 80 artists to help with the festival, would struggle to grow at this rate.
Joshua Thompson spoke on behalf of the chamber orchestra. He mentioned the top 10 essential skills for adults, including communication, teamwork, adaptability, problem-solving, and conflict resolution, all were developed by people who participate in the arts, and this was worth sustaining.
Jared Thompson, a saxophonist and composer, spoke right after his brother Joshua on behalf of the Jazz Foundation. He described his constant attempts to function as a creative in the city, but mentioned that when organizations could not afford to pay him a fair rate, he had to turn down work and look elsewhere for a way to pay the bills. He stated that the arts engage all five senses and he’d much prefer to work in the arts - but he’d noticed that artists were increasingly leaving the city due to a lack of the ability to pursue their crafts and earn a living wage.
Marty Miles, representing the Indianapolis Women’s Chorus, spoke next. The IWC has less than one full time staff member to support 120 singers (who were mostly from the LGBTQ+ community). Participants in the chorus were looking for ways to find the joy of singing together, often after feeling unwelcome in church choirs or after graduating from choirs in school. She described that venue costs had doubled during the time period when her organization’s funding through grants had decreased. This made it very difficult for her to find ways to bring music out into the community.
Michael Johnson from Kids Dance Outreach worked with schools to bring dance to children. The organization served over 2000 children, and had been focused since its founding on equity issues and the ability to offer free programming to those who cannot afford to pay. He said their funding was cut 50% this year, which was devastating. He pointed out that participating in activities like dance had been shown to help kids who have struggled academically realize that they can be leaders, improving their performance at other subjects as well.
Mariel Greenley from the Indy Dance Council testified, stating that dance gives people purpose. Art saves lives. She said that there were 47 dance studios in the Indianapolis area, but that only a dozen of them were within 465. She asked us to imagine if everyone had access to the arts. She pointed out that due to a rising cost of living and inflation, a flat budget was slowly squeezing arts from the city. She pointed out that much of our city budget was going to deal with the consequences of despair, rather than preventing despair via funding the arts.
Jennifer Cohens represented an organization that connected with 20,000 children per year. She said that art helped children with social-emotional learning. She said that students who receive arts education perform better on tests, and have better stress relief and emotional well being.