Statement of Purpose
Arts Accountability Houston is a grassroots collective advocating for robust, equitable, and accessible public funding for artists and arts organizations in Houston.
The Situation
Historically, public funding for the arts in Houston has favored larger and mostly well endowed art institutions at the expense of investing in smaller local art organizations and artist micro businesses, negatively impacting residents’ access to the arts. Public funding for the arts in Houston is also almost entirely dependent on Hotel Occupancy Taxes, which are highly subject to the vagaries of nature such as hurricanes and now pandemics.
We now call on public officials to rectify this situation by:
- Ensuring both local artists and small to mid-sized arts organizations make it through the pandemic by MAINTAINING funding levels; a tiny fraction of Houston City’s American Rescue Plan Act of $600 million could be directed to this.
- Continuing to increase access to the arts by increasing public investments in local artist micro businesses, as well as small to mid-sized arts organizations.
Who we are
Arts Accountability Houston is an independent grassroots collective advocating for robust, equitable, and accessible public funding for artists and arts organizations in Houston. AAH is an ad-hoc group recently formed, made up of current City of Houston artist grantees, past grantees, and concerned members of the arts community in Houston.
