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Cultural Life Task Force Nearly Set To Release Recommendations For Arts Funding

A group of community and arts leaders in Charlotte is still working to develop recommendations on how to keep arts-and-cultural organizations afloat in the future.  

The Cultural Life Task Force was originally scheduled to release its report by February, but that’s been postponed until June, Task Force co-chair Valecia McDowell told WFAE's Mark Rumsey.

McDowell says that understanding Charlotte’s arts sector is a complicated process.

"We’ve used this additional time to bring in additional experts, look at more data, and really test some of those theories so that we can be most comfortable with the recommendations that we present to the community..so..we wanted to make sure we got it right," McDowell

The Task Force is examining how other cities fund the arts, how to compensate for a decline in workplace giving for museums and other cultural programs, and – whether to recommend a local tax to support the arts.  

The Arts and Science Council says total giving to the ASC fell by 29 percent from 2007 to 2012.

Mark Rumsey grew up in Kansas and got his first radio job at age 17 in the town of Abilene, where he announced easy-listening music played from vinyl record albums.