Don’t Expect, Inspect – Arts and Math Don’t Mix! by Randy Pace

The KNS editorial guest of 7 May 2017 misleads the public for personal gain. The Director of the Arts and Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville is paid handsomely by taxpayers through grant money (tax dollars). She refers to her detractors as ignorant. The truth of the matter is that she is most interested in maintaining her lucrative salary. Over 20% of the tax dollars provided to support her cause goes into her pocket. That is after the state pays 24% of what is allocates from state taxes for the arts in salaries for full time employees. The amount provided to her by the feds is roughly 4% of what her organization takes in each year according to IRS 990’s and the State’s budget data. The “paltry 46 cents” that the director refers to represents a hardship to a great number of people and could certainly be better spent.
There are roughly 450 thousand people in Knox County, about 150 thousand are under age 18 or over age 65, about 70 thousand live in poverty. The actual cost to Knox County Residents for her “Non-Profit” is about $2.81 per tax payer and does not come from NEA. Quite frankly the amount she refers to as paltry does not even cover her salary. Of course this does not include the money going to all the other “non-profit” organizations that support the arts. Considering she makes more than twice the median income of Knox County residents, I would encourage her and others living under this kind of model to rethink their fleecing of the public. I love the arts and I’m willing to support them, but please at least be honest about what it costs and where the money actually goes and stop calling people names if they disagree with you.