Dear Wichita Arts Community,

To promote and advance art and culture in our community, we must focus on our mission. Here are several key activities we want to highlight:

Advocacy

• In the last couple weeks thousands of NEA grants were terminated. Impacting both our State and City arts and cultural programs, but also local private organizations, like Ballet Wichita for instance.  

We urge all community members to take immediate steps via Americans for the Arts (AFTA) guidance:

• Connect with Your Elected Officials
  Share your story. Personalized outreach is critical at this moment. Remind them of the irreplaceable value of the arts in your community. 
• Use the  Arts Advocacy Alert to send an email to your elected officials.
• Refer to our Arts Advocacy Alert phone script when calling your Members of Congress.
• Or use this template to send a letter via the U.S. Postal Service with a personalized note to your elected officials.
• Complete the National Pulse Survey to help AFTA quantify the harm and amplify your voice with lawmakers:
  
  If you are an arts and culture organization, please complete the survey by EOD Friday, May 16. The survey will only take six minutes to complete. 
  
  If you are able to share this survey with your local network of arts and culture organizations, please forward the survey using their email template for distribution.

Education

• WSU's Ulrich Museum of Art celebrated it's 50th Birthday with an awesome Gala. Congratulations to the team at the Ulrich and everyone involved. What a fun evening! 
• The most recent session of the Wichita's Artist Inc program held their Workshare evening on May 6th at Harvester Arts. After an epic 8 weeks of professional development, the FIERCE roster of local creatives presented their visions to the community. Opportunities to join another live class for the fall in KC or Topeka are open now. 

Outreach

• The Arts Council hired Connie Bonfy with Prairie Muses to serve in our Executive Director function. Connie has already begun connecting with stakeholder to promote and advance our mission.  
• Arts Council Board members were honored to participate in the inaugural Asian Association Gala on May 1st to kick off Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.  
• The Arts Council was grateful to The Orpheum Theatre for opening their doors one more time before they close for renovations for our May 5th Arts Mixr. Our next get together will be June 11th, 5-7 PM at Flying Pig Improv.  

Final Thoughts

Please take a few moments to utilize the county and city budget simulators. The information that city and county officials obtain from this public engagement influences their decision making. 
  
The Arts Council launched a new 2025 Campaign fundraising site so that we can continue to do our mission the very best way we can. Join us!   

We are pleased to announce we recently selected three recipients of our community grant funds:

• “Inspiration in Motion” at Westlink Branch Grand Reopening - Regina Klenjoski Dance Company
•  Doc Sunback Film Festival in Mulvane, KS - Mulvane Community Foundation
• 2025 Plein Air Competition at Wichita RiverFest - Wichita Festivals, Inc.

Thank you for being an integral part of the Wichita Arts Council community. Don't forget our Emerald 55th Annual Art Awards - Save the date for Brunch - Nov. 8th, 2025.

Together, we are creating a vibrant cultural future for our city!

Warm regards,

Matthew Broderick
President, Wichita Arts Council