Dear editor:

The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation joins other cultural institutions in the state opposing the proposed state budget amendments to strip $10 million from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund. 

As the Wyoming Arts Alliance noted, “Since 2007, WCTF has issued $10.9 million in grant funding towards community-based arts and culture projects around Wyoming. These grant dollars have generated $56.5 million in matching funds and $12.4 million in in-kind contributions.”

State and federal money dedicated to the arts and humanities is spent in our local communities. These funds employ local contractors and builders, and visitors to the various institutions supported by the trust fund eat at local restaurants, stay at local hotels and shop in our stores. 

We agree with State Rep. Cody Wylie, R-Rock Springs, who wrote in a recent column in Cowboy State Daily about “a growing tone in our Legislature suggesting Wyoming is broke and we need to be ‘saved.’ We don’t.”

Wyoming’s budgetary house is in order. Cutting spending on cultural institutions isn’t prudent financial management. It’s a destructive self-inflicted wound that damages what helps make Wyoming great. We urge the Legislature to reject these amendments.

Heart Wyoming Foundation Board of Directors