Northern Michigan Arts Groups Await Word on Fate of $10M in State Funding

Dozens of northern Michigan arts and culture organizations are bracing for word on whether nearly $10 million in state support will disappear.

Michigan lawmakers appeared to avoid a looming shutdown by announcing a budget deal Thursday night for the new fiscal year, which begins Wednesday. But whether the Michigan Arts and Culture Council (MACC) (the agency that distributes grants for everything from student programming to basic operations) survived the final iteration isn’t clear yet.

In Fiscal Year 2025, MACC awarded more than $10 million statewide. Seventeen Grand Traverse County organizations alone applied for $709,203 in grants that award period, with nine receiving a combined $243,115, including Old Town Playhouse (OTP) which landed $33,338. Leaders like OTP’s Deb Jackson say those dollars help bring bigger opportunities to our area’s arts scene. OTP typically counts on about $20,000 in MACC operating funds, says Jackson, with this year’s award split between operating support and upgrading sound and lighting equipment.

“With a break-even operating budget, it takes special funding like this to replace antiquated equipment and upgrade technology,” she says. Without it, staff would be forced to go after new funding sources, extra work that could “distract focus from programming.”

For newer nonprofits like Mash-Up Rock and Roll Musical, which brings musical theater performances of “new works that remix popular culture,” the wait is daunting. Co-founder Lesley Tye says MACC support has been “absolutely essential for us to exist and grow.” Last year, the group received its largest award ever: $24,178 in total, including $19,880 from the state and $4,298 in federal NEA funds. That package included $17,500 in operational support plus $6,678 that went towards new wireless microphones.

Tye says the funding allowed the group to hold down ticket prices, add student and senior discounts, and stage one “Pay What You Can” performance for each production.

The grants also impact jobs, Tye notes. “This last year with those four productions we paid out over $44,000 in stipends to local actors, musicians, crew members, designers,” and more, says Tye, adding that that total was “way more” than what they’d received in the initial MACC grant. Without operational support, Mash-Up could face closing its new venue space at the Cherryland Center where the Traverse City Philharmonic also resides.

There, Development Director Jennifer Hricik calls the potential loss of $37,000 in annual MACC support a “significant challenge,” saying that if the loss comes true, the orchestra would face “immediate action to secure alternative funding.” Over 25 years, MACC has provided nearly $350,000 to the TC Phil, which Hricik describes as pivotal to sustaining our region’s only professional orchestra north of Grand Rapids.

At the City Opera House, Executive Director Chad Lindsey says last year’s $27,400 grant helped fund youth programs, including a playwriting series and a summer intensive where 50 students train under Broadway professionals. “Without that funding, it’s going to make it very difficult for us to continue to do that sort of very unique work” of bringing acclaimed artists and mentors to northern Michigan, he says.

Lindsey also points out that data from the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) shows arts and cultural production makes up more than three percent of Michigan’s economy and adds $20.5 billion in value. “It’s an economic driver,” he says.

House Speaker Matt Hall has previously pushed for those cuts as a means to pump more money into Michigan’s roads, which currently rank 40th in the nation. Governor Gretchen Whitmer has also said road improvements – which garnered $1.5 billion in additional funding in the agreed-upon budget – are a priority for budget dollars, but didn’t advocate for cuts to the arts.  

Whitmer, State Rep. John Roth, and State Sen. John Damoose couldn’t be reached for comment, but in a statement to The Ticker on Wednesday, September 24 (prior to the approved budget), State Rep. Betsy Coffia’s office said: “Rep. Coffia opposes the House Republican budget as it is unserious and harmful, including reckless cuts to everything from the arts, schools, hospitals, businesses, public safety, etc. Instead, she is pushing for a better budget for the people of northern Michigan and our state.”