Projo Biz Blog

As Rhode Island legislators grapple with a budget deficit estimated at $440 million, people representing various constituencies have besieged the State House in recent weeks to lobby for money in next year’s finance plan.

Advocates for the state’s arts and culture community joined the chorus yesterday gathering in the outer chamber of the governor’s office to underscore the effect their endeavors have in the state’s economy. Many arts and cultural organizations around the state rely on the state for some part of their annual budgets.

Rhode Island last year was home to nearly 2,400 arts-related businesses that employed nearly 13,000 people, according to a national study highlighted by the group, Rhode Island Citizens for the Arts.

“Many of these organizations work hand-to-mouth,” said Yvonne Seggerman, managing director of the Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre in Pawtucket. “If we lose the funding, some organizations will be laying staff off.”

The people gathered yesterday at the State House were joined state General Treasurer Frank Caprio and a small group of legislators, including Rep. Peter Lewiss, D-Westerly.
“We all know the unemployment [number] in Rhode Island has been moving in the wrong direction,” Caprio said.

Rhode Island last month shed another 700 jobs, the fourth consecutive monthly decline, and the state unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.1 percent, according to state figures.
So far this year, Rhode Island — the only New England state economists say is in recession — has lost 6,300 jobs, and its payroll employment has fallen to its lowest level since June 2003, according to the state Department of Labor and Training.

“This is an extremely challenging year for our state,” said Lewiss, noting that people employed in the sector are asking legislators and the governor to “treat us fairly and equally.”

Caprio considers the arts and culture sector “an important economic engine for Rhode Island,” he said, and “one of the bright spots in the economy.”

The group gathered at the State House used as the basis for its argument a study released last week by Americans for the Arts, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group. The study, Creative Industries 2008: The State Report, relied on data gathered by financial research firm Dun & Bradstreet.

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