After outcry, KC reinstates some of the cut Arts funding...

No. Mr. Mayor Lucas, no.

Still not enough. And many other efforts are still losing money. And considering that these allocations are in the low hundreds of thousands, compared to other city efforts and costs, they just don't measure up. People always talk a good game. They want the arts, they say they support the arts, but what does that actually even mean? The ideology that society could exist without the liberal arts, would be tantamount to embarrassing folly, and two mockeries of a sham. If not for the lack of an audience, or more specifically patrons that purchase, that truly support the livelihoods of the people working in non corporate/private sector aspects, it could be held that people in all creative walks could stand a chance to herald forth a defined reason to call Kansas City a creative city. It isn't, it hasn't been for a long time, if ever.

We love to tout a studio founded by Disney, that only survives by donation and grants. Everyone loves the crossroads because it's a social scene. I have met people that believe that creatives from musicians, to dancers, to painters, to poets, should just be grateful that they even got attention, or a forum to entertain the masses from.

The majority of arts fail because they are underfunded, misunderstood, misrepresented, underrepresented, or left to wallow in a stagnant pool of afterthought and obscurity.

Likes on social media, do not fund movements. They do not pay bills. They CAN help with awareness. They DO help engagement. They ARE just the beginning of any effort.

Arts programs of all kinds are left to the wayside because of the inability to take the power back. To be able to rise and make a stance on why indignation and remedial belief in what their inherent worth is, can best be represented by an umbilical cord made of flavor of the month promises.

Arts programs and creatives need to become self sustaining. The communities crying out for this, NEED to embrace the notion that just like any business, movement, or belief. Any of them can dry up and wither, without resolute and consistent support.

For every one of you that has dreams of creating, no matter what that may be, rise to it. Remember that you have a unique way of looking at life. That you have every right as a person to express that creative brilliance. To bring it out, to share it, to have people support you. When endeavors start up, support one another. When shows happen, do all you can to let others know, and attend them if you can. WE are the lifeblood of independent art movements. Not just the creatives, but the heartened supporters, the patrons, the people that want to see better things, new stories, and new visions come to life for themselves and those yet to come along.

- Mario, the Artisan Rogue
Illustrator, Voice Actor, Writer, Animal Rights Activist

www.theartisanrogue.com