This is from the News & Record:

“Nonprofit arts organizations in North Carolina generate economic activity of $723 million a year and at least 6,669 full-time jobs, according to a study being released today by the N.C. Arts Council. … The study’s release comes as arts advocates from Guilford County and across the state converge on Raleigh today and Wednesday for Arts Day 2004. They will launch a statewide arts awareness campaign and lobby legislators for more public funding.”

I’m sure they’ll be handing out more “I support the arts, and I vote” bumper stickers. I wrote a column about this mindset a few years back. It’s not one of my best works, but it has a few good lines:

“The meaning [of ‘I support the arts, and I vote’] is, of course, ‘I don?t support the arts, but I vote for politicians who have convinced me they?ll force you to give money to the arts.’ What vainglorious hooey! Not only are they tightwads who conscript others into paying for their desires, they?re proud of it. And if that?s not enough, they expect us to appreciate them for it.”