About 50 people have gathered at a gallery inside the Refinery Building in Asheville's South Slope. It's a whos-who among people in local dance, theater, music, the visual arts. They're here as a nascent arts alliance, putting new effort behind a familiar message--that city and county officials should prioritize the arts in their annual budgets.

About 50 people have gathered at a gallery inside the Refinery Building in Asheville's South Slope. It's a whos-who among people in local dance, theater, music, the visual arts. They're here as a nascent arts alliance, putting new effort behind a familiar message--that city and county officials should prioritize the arts in their annual budgets.

About 50 people have gathered at a gallery inside the Refinery Building in Asheville's South Slope. It's a whos-who among people in local dance, theater, music, the visual arts. They're here as a nascent arts alliance, putting new effort behind a familiar message--that city and county officials should prioritize the arts in their annual budgets.

Artists in Asheville aren't unique in this sense--artists everywhere apply and compete for funding from their state and regional arts councils. They're the custodians of the portion of your tax dollars that fund arts and culture in our communities. But Asheville's artists are in a particularly tough spot. First, there are many more of them in our region than is typical for communities our size. Second, Western North Carolina lacks some potential sources of funding generally available to artists

Artists in Asheville aren't unique in this sense--artists everywhere apply and compete for funding from their state and regional arts councils. They're the custodians of the portion of your tax dollars that fund arts and culture in our communities. But Asheville's artists are in a particularly tough spot. First, there are many more of them in our region than is typical for communities our size. Second, Western North Carolina lacks some potential sources of funding generally available to artists in metropolitan areas: There's no real corporate base, no nonprofit foundations dependably funding the arts and very few individuals or families known for their arts philanthropy. That leaves the Buncombe County government as the greatest source of arts support here--that is, until this current budget, where county commissioners lined out all cultural funding except for operations at Pack Square.

Artists in Asheville aren't unique in this sense--artists everywhere apply and compete for funding from their state and regional arts councils. They're the custodians of the portion of your tax dollars that fund arts and culture in our communities.

Artists in Asheville aren't unique in this sense--artists everywhere apply and compete for funding from their state and regional arts councils. They're the custodians of the portion of your tax dollars that fund arts and culture in our communities.

Artists in Asheville aren't unique in this sense--artists everywhere apply and compete for funding from their state and regional arts councils. They're the custodians of the portion of your tax dollars that fund arts and culture in our communities.

Artists in Asheville aren't unique in this sense--artists everywhere apply and compete for funding from their state and regional arts councils. They're the custodians of the portion of your tax dollars that fund arts and culture in our communities.

Artists in Asheville aren't unique in this sense--artists everywhere apply and compete for funding from their state and regional arts councils. They're the custodians of the portion of your tax dollars that fund arts and culture in our communities. But Asheville's artists are in a particularly tough spot. First, there are many more of them in our region than is typical for communities our size. Second, Western North Carolina lacks some potential sources of funding generally available to artists