ArtServe: the Great Debates

1. In 2010, State funding for the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs is at its lowest level of funding since 1974. What is your position on whether and how increased arts and cultural funding should be part of Michigan's economic strategies for the future?

I believe Art and Culture should be merged with Libraries and History to preserve our Record for posterity and future generations. EMU's preservation of the historical marker programme is great, but the State needs to fund something for a State wide festival say at the Wayne County Fair and concomitantly for the Detroit Cultural District by offering some programs that can be free to the public likened to what is done on first Sundays at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, but could extend to the DIA and other cultural venues.
2. Arts and culture, education, entrepreneurship, transportation, phyusical design and walkability, recreatiion, green initiatives, and public safety are among the critical building blocks for sustaining vibrant and strong Michigan communities. Will you commit to supporting new revenue strategies, and what strategies would you employ, to ensure the sustainability and vibrancy of Michigan's communities?

Likened to the Appalachian Trail that goes North to South in the USA, Michigan could develop a trail that goes from the Detroit Riverwalk to the U.P. corporations could partner with the State and government entities that the trail would traverse so that companies could poster attractive LED (new technology bill boards along the path that could be powered by renewable energy).
Describe the priorities of public investment, in addition to building a competititve tax structure, you believe are critical to creating and sustaining vibrant communities and quality of life that would attract and retain talent, businesses and families in Michigan.
See above