After Michael Donovan heard the Missouri governor’s budget proposal would bring cuts to the state arts agency he leads, he presented his case for funding the arts in a House of Representatives budget meeting last week.
Donovan, executive director of the Missouri Arts Council, emphasized the impact the council has made in its 60 years.
“We want to make sure that every community benefits from the arts, and every school benefits from arts education,” Donovan said.
The agency distributes funds that support cultural and arts events and small town theater groups across the state — the kind of things that drive tourism, Donovan said.
Gov. Mike Kehoe’s budget, unveiled to lawmakers Jan. 13, proposes a 36% funding reduction for the Missouri Arts Council.
“The arts have a huge economic impact in the state,” Donovan told lawmakers. “We know that the people that come to Missouri for the arts spend more and stay longer.”
Kehoe’s $6.39-million budget proposal for the council is $3.7 million less than was provided the past two years.
“We think that the arts benefit jobs,” Donovan said. “This is something that we think is important to develop the state's economy, and I believe that this offers a low risk, high return investment in Missouri.”
Margaret Keough, Mid-America Arts Alliance’s director of advocacy said she was perplexed by the suggested cuts. The Kansas City nonprofit supports artists and communities through grants, training and traveling exhibitions.
“To cut a revenue generating industry is quite surprising,” Keough said. “When you think of the funds for the Missouri Arts Council, those are dollars that are really reaching across the state of Missouri.”
In 2025, the council’s grants funded arts groups in all 163 of the state’s House districts.
According to U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis figures, the arts delivered more than $12.6 billion to the state's economy in 2023, almost 3% of the state's GDP, and for-profit and nonprofit creative companies employ more than 89,000 Missourians.
By comparison, the agriculture and forestry sector brings in $6.6 billion statewide.
“That's a number that surprises a lot of people across the state — including elected officials,” Keough said.
‘Tough decisions are being made’
The governor’s cuts to the arts are part of an austerity initiative for Missouri that emphasizes smaller government and fiscal discipline.
Kehoe stated his intention in this year’s State of the State address “to align with the spirit of President Trump’s DOGE efforts at the federal level.”
The governor’s office wrote in a statement to KCUR that Kehoe has been a supporter of the arts and humanities in the past.
“Given the seriousness of Missouri’s budget imbalance, tough decisions are being made to restore responsible spending across the entirety of state government,” the governor’s office wrote.
Keough said the cuts mean communities will miss out.
“These are dollars that pay for a band at a street festival, take a play to a school, organize Poetry Out Loud competitions in high schools,” Keough said. “These are often small grants that really help get a community going.”
Taylor Swift and out-of-town athletes fund Missouri arts
According to Keough, funding the Missouri Arts Council should be straightforward, because the state already sets aside money for it.
By state statute, 60% of the Nonresident Professional Athlete and Entertainers’ Tax are supposed to go to the Missouri Arts Council Trust Fund. The specialized tax applies to athletes and entertainers from out of state who earn income from performances, games and appearances in Missouri.
But Keough and the Missouri Arts Council said legislators frequently underfund the agency.
By their count, in fiscal year 2025, the state collected $40.9 million from the athlete and entertainers’ tax, which means about $24.5 million should have gone to the MAC Trust Fund.
Instead, only $10.1 million, or 25% of the tax collected, was allocated.
“As often is the case with cuts to our state funding, the hardest hit communities often are the rural communities," said Branden Haralson, director of public policy and government relations for ArtsKC, a nonprofit that supports the regional art and culture community.
“In times where there is less revenue to give out to agencies like Missouri Arts Council, they cannot grant out as much as they would like,” Haralson said. “That's one of the real tragedies of cuts like this.”
Advocating for the arts
The governor’s budget proposal is far from becoming law just yet — the House and Senate will debate budget plans over the next several months, and must finalize an agreement by early May.
That legislative process means there is still time to lobby for more arts funding, said Keough, of Mid-America Arts Alliance.
“We've got time to talk to our elected leaders about wanting those dollars restored in the budget,” Keough said.
And each year, more than 100 artists, performers, and members of arts groups come from all over the state for what art nonprofits call Arts Advocacy Day, timed to coincide with the legislature’s budget negotiations.
“That is the best boots-on-the-ground way for our community to be able to engage directly with our electeds,” Haralson said, “to share, not only their thoughts about our funding, but also what the impact of the arts is in our community, both economically and culturally.”
If Kehoe’s budget cuts go into effect next year, the Sugar Creek Slavic Festival is one of more than 80 Kansas City area cultural events that stand to lose funding.
For four decades, it's been a chance for people who trace their heritage to countries like Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Russia, Serbia, and Croatia to gather to dance, eat traditional food and drink beer.
“We believe that exposure to the arts is an important fabric of our community, and organizations like the Missouri Arts Council, through their Folk Arts Program, helps make that possible,” said the festival’s organizer, Mark O'Renick.
The arts council has been an important festival partner for 19 years, he said, and it’s helped him bring in national acts.
“We happen to be Slavic, but we love all of the different cultures. And I think the melting pot of America is built on that,” O’Renick said.” If not, we’ve lost a significant part of who we are and who we should be.”
