DATE: Friday, July 18, 1997                 TAG: 9707180004

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial

                                            LENGTH:   41 lines

ARTS COMMISSION CITY MUST PRIORITIZE

Arts supporters are an ardent bunch. In Washington each year they gamely battle the U.S. Congress to retain funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.

Locally, activists for the arts are having their own dust-ups.

The latest skirmish is in Virginia Beach where five members of the Beach Arts Commission recently resigned, angered over the city's refusal to create a separate arts department or to sever the commission's connection to the Department of Museums.

``As long as we are aligned with any department, we are going to be a second or third priority,'' huffed Cathy Sampson, the resigning vice chairman of the commission.

We should hope so.

As fond as we are of the arts, local government must prioritize, and arts cannot be at the top of the list. Cultural amenities are nice, but when faced with choices between spending tax dollars on public safety, education, infrastructure and the arts, it is clear where most citizens want their money spent.

By creating a separate arts department, the city would be enlarging local government, something it has pledged not to do. The commission was created in 1979 and is run by volunteers. It does not need its own department.

These resignations are ironic, since the city demonstrated a considerable commitment to the arts by adding $100,000 to the commission's budget this year, bringing the total to $432,278. This money will be spent mostly on grants to nonprofit cultural groups like The Actors' Theater, Commonwealth Musical Stage and the Contemporary Arts Center of Virginia.

To ease tensions, the city staff has offered to rename the department the Museums and Cultural Arts Department. In addition, city officials say they will hire a full-time administrator to assist the commission.

This is a sensible and generous solution.

Replacements for the commissioners will be appointed by City Council, and already dozens of arts lovers have offered to serve. We wish them well.

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