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AMENDMENT FOUR: "SAVE THE MIDDLE"

Problem
Seattle has become top-heavy. Five major arts institutions, each with budgets in the $10-15 million range, good enough finally to aspire to real national distinction. Their need for more and more money in order to play in these big leagues sets off a Darwinian battle for resources that will decimate the smaller groups. Not only must we find new sources of funding, but these funds should be correctively skewed toward the mid-size and emerging groups, not allocated according to the majors-first philosophy of CCA, PONCHO or other traditional large patrons.

Solutions.
Divert city admission tax for all venues under 1000 seats and donate it into a "Save the Middle" fund. Add to the fund, a district-specific 1% of new development fee (for all development over a million dollars), or a head tax by arts district assessed on employers of over twenty five people and calculated according to a head count. A designated amount of the newly upped Percent for the Arts program-say, one half a percent-should also be allocated to this fund. How about an Arts Benefit Credit Card? Cost: $50 a year. Benefits: five percent off from all participating merchants. These merchants in turn rebate five percent of all ABC purchases to the ABC Fund. Fifty percent of the ABC Fund will be reserved for groups that are under five years old or under $750,000 in budget, so long as the awards are carefully juried for excellence.

AMENDMENT FOUR: "SAVE THE MIDDLE"

AMENDMENT FIVE: "CALL ARTS MEDIC ONE"

AMENDMENT SIX: "ART TO THE EDGES"

AMENDMENT SEVEN: "LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL"

AMENDMENT EIGHT: "OPEN ARTGATES"

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