Contact Information: 415 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155. Phone: (651) 296-8634. E-mail: rep.terry.morrow@house.mn.

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2006 MCA Candidate Survey Results:

1. Minnesota’s nearly 1600 non-profit arts and cultural organizations provide access to the arts and support quality of life in every corner of the state. While providing over 22,000 jobs, arts organizations served nearly 4.5 million people in 2004.
What arts activities have you attended, participated in or supported in the last year?
Check all that apply: Music, Theater, Visual Arts, Literary Arts, Dance, Other.

Answer: Music, Theater, Visual Arts, Literary Arts, Dance, Other.

2. Over the last three biennium the State Arts Board and Regional Arts Council appropriations were cut by 34.5%. These are substantially larger cuts than the cuts to the overall state budget. Would you support an increase in arts funding to restore the cuts that were made, in recognition of the important role the arts and culture play in our economy and in our quality of life? Select One: Enthusiastically Support, Support, Neutral, Opposed.

Answer: Enthusiastically Support.

3. During the 2006 legislative session the legislature considered a constitutional dedication of funds for water, hunting and angling and various cultural purposes including the arts. Would you support a similar constitutional amendment in the 2007 legislative session? Select One: Yes, No, Don’t Know

Answer: Don’t Know.

4. Research shows that students with high levels of arts participation outperform other students on virtually every measure from standardized tests to community participation, and that learning through the arts has a significant effect on learning in other areas, particularly in the early years. Would you support policies and funding to increase the availability of the arts in our schools? Select One: Enthusiastically Support, Support, Neutral, Opposed

Answer: Enthusiastically Support.

5. We would welcome any additional comments you would like to make with regards to the arts in Minnesota.

Comments: My family and I are deeply dedicated to the arts. I appreciate the significant contribution to our quality of life that the arts give us as participants and as audiences. My district is rightly proud of its arts and recognizes the economic advantages that a vibrant arts community brings. My wife Martha is a founder of the St. Peter Children’s theatre. My children, Maggie and Sally, are regular theater performers, study dance at the Mankato Dance Conservatory, and study piano. As an attorney, I served on the Arts Council of Santa Clara County and assisted numerous nonprofit organizations, including the San Jose Opera, Los Gatos Shakespeare Company, and more. We are yearly contributors to the MSU-Mankato Theatre program, the Merely Players Theatre, and the St. Peter Arts Center (where my wife, Martha, and I serve as docents).

Q2: I am very familiar with the status of the state’s funding of the arts. My wife, Martha, and a friend started the St. Peter Area Children’s Theater, which has received important support from the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council. As chair of the St. Peter School Board, I have worked to ensure similar funding for Prairie Fire summer theater opportunities for our town. Q3: The specific components of the measure need to be delineated. For example, the important question of existing our new sources for such funding would need to be answered. Rep. Mike Charron’s amendment on April 24, 2006 to include the arts in the outdoor funding bill offered significant arguments for including the arts in this legislation. Q4: As a school board chair, I am very familiar with the funding challenges surrounding instruction in the arts in our schools.

Additional Notes from MCA: None.

Contact Information: 421 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155. Phone: (651) 296-3248. E-mail: rep.kathy.brynaert@house.mn.

Send an e-mail to this elected official using MCA’s quick & easy Desktop Lobbyist.

2006 MCA Candidate Survey Results:

1. Minnesota’s nearly 1600 non-profit arts and cultural organizations provide access to the arts and support quality of life in every corner of the state. While providing over 22,000 jobs, arts organizations served nearly 4.5 million people in 2004.
What arts activities have you attended, participated in or supported in the last year?
Check all that apply: Music, Theater, Visual Arts, Literary Arts, Dance, Other.

Answer: Music, Theater, Visual Arts.

2. Over the last three biennium the State Arts Board and Regional Arts Council appropriations were cut by 34.5%. These are substantially larger cuts than the cuts to the overall state budget. Would you support an increase in arts funding to restore the cuts that were made, in recognition of the important role the arts and culture play in our economy and in our quality of life? Select One: Enthusiastically Support, Support, Neutral, Opposed.

Answer: Support.

3. During the 2006 legislative session the legislature considered a constitutional dedication of funds for water, hunting and angling and various cultural purposes including the arts. Would you support a similar constitutional amendment in the 2007 legislative session? Select One: Yes, No, Don’t Know

Answer: Don’t Know.

4. Research shows that students with high levels of arts participation outperform other students on virtually every measure from standardized tests to community participation, and that learning through the arts has a significant effect on learning in other areas, particularly in the early years. Would you support policies and funding to increase the availability of the arts in our schools? Select One: Enthusiastically Support, Support, Neutral, Opposed

Answer: Support.

5. We would welcome any additional comments you would like to make with regards to the arts in Minnesota.

Comments: I am and have been an enthusiastic supporter of the arts as a parent, a community member and a school board member. However I did not check “enthusiastically” here because actual budget proposals and/or constitutional amendments need to go through the hard work of legislative debate and compromise before being realized and it is difficult to commit to a funding proposal or amendment out of context of a complete bill and discussion.

Additional Notes from MCA: None.

Contact Information: 75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Capitol Building, Room G-24, St. Paul, MN 55155-1606, 651.296.6153.

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2006 MCA Candidate Survey Results:

1. Minnesota’s nearly 1600 non-profit arts and cultural organizations provide access to the arts and support quality of life in every corner of the state. While providing over 22,000 jobs, arts organizations served nearly 4.5 million people in 2004.
What arts activities have you attended, participated in or supported in the last year?
Check all that apply: Music, Theater, Visual Arts, Literary Arts, Dance, Other.

Answer: Music, Theater, Visual Arts, Dance.

2. Over the last three biennium the State Arts Board and Regional Arts Council appropriations were cut by 34.5%. These are substantially larger cuts than the cuts to the overall state budget. Would you support an increase in arts funding to restore the cuts that were made, in recognition of the important role the arts and culture play in our economy and in our quality of life? Select One: Enthusiastically Support, Support, Neutral, Opposed.

Answer: See below.

3. During the 2006 legislative session the legislature considered a constitutional dedication of funds for water, hunting and angling and various cultural purposes including the arts. Would you support a similar constitutional amendment in the 2007 legislative session? Select One: Yes, No, Don’t Know

Answer: See below.

4. Research shows that students with high levels of arts participation outperform other students on virtually every measure from standardized tests to community participation, and that learning through the arts has a significant effect on learning in other areas, particularly in the early years. Would you support policies and funding to increase the availability of the arts in our schools? Select One: Enthusiastically Support, Support, Neutral, Opposed

Answer: See below.

5. We would welcome any additional comments you would like to make with regards to the arts in Minnesota.

Comments: The questions like many others are hard to answer. I am finding everyone wants a yes no answer. I support the arts - I defended public art in Mankato - but am not up for pledges. Q2: If funding available. I support arts funding- the question is hard to answer like no new tax pledge. Q3: I really think Constitutional Amendments are a problem in general over using them. Q4: I support a balanced education and options for students including arts..

Additional Notes from MCA: None.

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2006 MCA Candidate Survey Results: Candidates did not respond to survey.

Additional notes from MCA:

April, 2006 : In a statement made regarding the Senate passage of the proposed consitutional amendment on conservation, clean water, public broadcasting and the arts, Governor Pawlenty displayed his neglect of the value of the arts: “While I appreciate the Senate’s willingness to vote on this important issue, I hope the bill will be more focused in its final version. Conservation and clean water are too important to be watered down by other issues. While the arts and public broadcasting are important, they do not rise to the level of being in need of dedicated constitutional support.”

May, 2005: Governor Pawlenty vetoed a measure to create an official poet laureate in Minnesota, remarking: “Even though we have a state ‘folklorist’, I have concern that this will lead to calls for other similar positions. We could also see requests for a state mime, interpretive dancer, or potter…”. Minnesota would have joined its neighboring states North and South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin in having an official poet laureate if Pawlenty had not vetoed the bill.