The Art House on Court Street is located about 915 miles from the White House. But President Donald Trump's rumored plan to cut funding to 17 federal agencies could have lasting effects on not only the United States, but Missouri, Fulton and the Brick District, as well.
"We have culturally gained a lot because the Art House is here," said Brian Warren, owner of Brick District bookstore Well Read Books. "It gives local artists a place to show off their work."
In an article published Jan. 19 for TheHill.com, it was reported staffers for the Trump transition team have been meeting with career staff at the White House to outline plans for shrinking the federal bureaucracy.
Among the suggested cuts was the elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities.
The NEA and NEH were founded in 1965 when Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act into law. Since 1965, the NEA has made more than 128,000 grants totalling $5 billion to art projects, national initiatives and partnership agreements across the United States.
The elimination of the NEA and NEH would have a tangible financial impact on not only Fulton's Art House, but the Brick District as a whole.
"Before the Art House moved in, that space was empty," Warren said. "Its existence has a direct impact, an economic impact down here."
It should be noted the president does not set the federal budget, he suggests one. Ultimately, the budget is created and passed by the House and the Senate.
In short, the president asks and Congress tells.
Now, the numbers.
The NEA's annual report for 2015 listed its budget as $146 million, the same as the previous fiscal year. The NEH's annual report for 2015 listed its budget also as $146 million. Together, the NEA's and NEH's budgets made up about 0.003 percent each of the federal budget in 2016.
The ripple effect caused by the elimination of those two agencies will be felt especially by the Missouri Art Council. The MAC operated on a budget of $5.7 million during 2015, of which 85 percent went to funding grants and incentive programs around the state.
And 13 percent of that $5.7 million comes from the NEA, according to the MAC fiscal year 2015 report.
That 13 percent doesn't sound like a whole lot - only about $694,000. However, when you consider losing that money would be equal to cutting 80 percent of the MAC's administration budget or 15 percent of their grant budget, the need for federal funding becomes clear.
With its current budget, the MAC reported it was only able to fulfill about 44 percent of the total grant money requested. All grant applicants received at least some of their requested funding.
Michael Donovan, the executive director for the MAC, said while the story about cutting the NEA is unsubstantiated, the impact the NEA's money has in Missouri is not.
"What we do know is that the federal money is important," Donovan said. "We take our relationship very seriously."
Donovan said the money from the NEA goes to helping people in need around the state.
"We have certain things we fund, including critical needs in rural communities and schools," he said. "We also help underserved populations around the state."
That mission includes the MAC's Ghost Light Project, which aimed to increase the MAC's reach to every Missouri House district. The MAC already serves every Missouri Senate district, but Donovan said they want to take it further.
"We have gone from serving 88 percent (of Missouri House districts) to 95 percent this year," he said. "The more you get into communities without arts infrastructure, the more every Missourian has a chance to access the arts."
While rumors of budget cuts may be dying down now, Donovan said if they return, the MAC will not give up without a fight.
"We will be very active about communicating the impact of that money in our state," he said.
The money from organizations like the MAC are distributed throughout the state, including Fulton.
The Art House, a local art gallery receives funding from the Missouri Association of Community Arts Agencies, another organization partnered with the NEA and the MAC.
"[Our mission is] to provide a vibrant space for artists to sell and exhibit their original work, as well as provide a working area for art classes and other arts educational and communal events," said Jane Mudd, the Art House's curator and board member. "And to bring the arts out into the community."
Mudd said the Art House benefits the community by providing fine arts and crafts, classes and speakers, as well as three large annual community events: The Palette Affair, Callaway Plein Air and Autumn on the Bricks.
Without the funding from the MACAA, Mudd said the community would be asked to shoulder the burden.
"Our community has been really supportive in so many areas of the Art House in getting us off the ground our first three years," Mudd said. "I would like to see the community continue to come to our events and buy art, and not have to keep asking them for large sponsorships to put on events."
Mudd added arts organizations like the Art House barely break even, but provide an extremely valuable service.
"The intent of arts centers is to provide arts in its many expressions to the community," she said. "So the community becomes more open minded and culturally richer and has a better understanding of each other and their world."
Mudd said the cutting of the NEA would be a terrible idea.
"The NEA touches millions of people in millions of ways through exhibitions, events and programming that are usually not for profit," she said. "So tax payers you are enriching our culture by supporting freedom of expression in not only the museums around the country but in music, literature, performing arts, etc. We are exposed to other cultures and diverse ways of understanding our world."
Joe Potter, the artistic director of theatre at William Woods University, also is against the idea of cutting the NEA.
"I absolutely, vehemently disagree with the president and Washington, D.C., in cutting funding for the arts," he said. "Arts are part of society, they make us who we are."
Potter said theater is a window into a society.
"We see ourselves reflected on stage," he said. "Sometimes what we see is challenging. Sometimes it is entertaining. But it is all beneficial to the growth of society. Arts are connected to the development of human kind."
Potter said while arts funding is an easy target for budget cuts, it is up to citizens to demand funding.
"If we don't speak up, he's going to do it," he said. "He's probably going to do it anyway, but if we don't say something, we are part of the problem as much as he is."