When Ballot Issue 2A was passed by Boulder voters in 2023, it set aside roughly $3.6 million a year in funding for local arts organizations.

However, arts leaders have raised concerns over how much of that newly-allocated funding they will actually receive.

The initiative, which passed with around 75% of the vote, extended the city’s existing 0.15% Sales and Use Tax, which was set to expire at the end of 2024. The ballot item stated that the revenue from the tax going forward would be split in half between city services — including fire and emergency responses — and direct and grant funding for arts purposes.

As this year began, the Boulder arts community that advocated for the initiative noticed that the 2025 city budget took around $1.3 million of that $3.6 million in dedicated arts funding and put it toward city administrative costs, salaries, reserves and outside consultants.

With the cityy dedicating another portion of the funding for future uses, Boulder artists are upset that only 51% of the 2A arts funding is actually going to local arts causes this year.

“The way it’s being spent this year is really disheartening,” said Marie-Juliette Bird, founder of Boulder arts nonprofit The New Local. “Just shy of half of that supporting these internal city expenses really is not what that money is intended for.”

In response, local arts leaders are rallying around a digital petition asking the city to restore the arts funding back to the full sale tax revenue proceeds they believe they were promised.

While the $1.8 million the city set aside for arts funding this year is still helpful for Boulder creatives, Bird explained why it can’t do as much as the full $3.6 million. She said the full funding could go toward grants that could help new arts nonprofits get off the ground.

The restored funding could also help arts nonprofits and working artists afford market rate rent, since most are not in city-owned or subsidized spaces.

“That grant money can go to help support those nonprofits who are in really expensive venues,” Bird said.

Bird created the petition in February with support from other local arts organizations, including the Boulder Philharmonic and the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company.

As of Friday, the petition has received over 2,100 signatures. It also received a response from Boulder City Councilmember Taishya Adams, who stated that she is aware of the petition.The city recently released its 2025 Office of Arts and Culture Bridge Year and Blueprint, which breaks down the office’s budget. The update lists sources of government spending on the arts aside from Ballot Issue 2A, including rent subsidies and the Community Culture, Resilience and Safety tax.

However, “the fact remains that nearly 50% of the specific, direct arts funding (2A) was spent otherwise,” Bird wrote in an email Friday.

With the Sundance Film Festival announcement still fresh, Boulder arts leaders are aware of the city’s opportunity to become more of an artistic hub. What’s still missing, Bird said, is the necessary funding.

“This is a real turning point for our community in terms of becoming a real cultural nexus,” Bird said.

The petition calls for the Boulder City Council to reallocate funds ahead of its 2025 spring budget adjustment. It also urges the city to use money from the general fund to cover the internal city expenses.

Nick Forster, founder of Boulder music and media nonprofit eTown, is one of the signees of the petition. He said the 2A funding is meant to strengthen and support Boulder’s creative community, which he added is especially important since Boulder doesn’t have much arts philanthropy.

“We believe that all of those dollars should go out into the community, and that the city should pay for its own staff out of its own budget,” Forster said. “Great cities are often defined by their cultural institutions, none of which are self-sustaining.”

Forster said that while the Sundance announcement created momentum for the Boulder arts scene, he’s not sure the city will adjust the 2A funding this year considering the economic uncertainty around federal funding.

“There’s an understandable amount of caution,” he said. “But I think that doesn’t change the fact that 75% of the voters voted for exponential change in funding for the arts in Boulder, not incremental change.”

Jan Burton, a local arts advocate who campaigned for Ballot Issue 2A, also supports the reallocation of the funding.

“I don’t feel like that is what the voters voted for,” Burton said. “They voted for support to the arts, not to support the city and their infrastructure.”

Burton added that she believes supporting the arts will also support the city, as more tourists who come for performances and shows will spend money in areas that support the city’s economic landscape as a whole, such as food and shopping.

“When we invest in the arts, we invest in the city’s revenue,” Burton said.