$166.4+ Million to provide funding for City investments from 2021 – 2028.
The city is investing 52% of the 2021 Capital Budget in projects that support Land Use & Transportation. Which means pretty roads leading to high-rise condominiums to complement bike paths and bus lines. Welcome to another experience of uncompromised Literature from LessWork. This time we are tracking the money moves from when we researched Madison's 2021 Adopted Budget. Of course, I will be tasteful, yet unrestricted. All the information within this non-monetized blog is public information. The topics I will address and speak on are solely my opinions and not meant to serve as professional advice.
A little background on me and why I chose to write about Madison's $671,000,000+ plan to organize local funding. I am Breyon "1neofmani" Sommerville, a local artist and entrepreneur by survival. My focus in art is via my cultural contributions to rap music. I moved to Madison from Peoria, Illinois when my mother was diagnosed with cancer for the second time in her life. By the grace of God my mother is alive and healthy today. I also attended Globe University where I studied Music Business. I had my first child in 2013 and my second child in 2019. I opened my first office location for LessWork Local Lifestyle with K.I.L.O aka SkitL'z in 2018. As local artists ourselves, we have solutions for the existing problems of local artists with the intention of highlighting their talents as services to sustain their residency and pride in Madison. Our tagline is "Local Is The New Global." We believe tools like the internet remove musical limitations from older traditions.
My interest in Madison's funding obligations is focused on their priorities to "support" the Culture and Character makeup of Madison, Wisconsin. From my research the politics behind support in this city lies between your nonprofit status and your corporate likeness. My biggest concern is the versatility in local artists getting overlooked by a stigma designed to make the hip-hop/rap genre less safe which also promotes resistance to support the genre aloud, effecting financial growth. That's where I must intervene because Madison's rap community is lacking credible voices from the ground level. Let me be clear, my research and my voice should only be held accountable for my own views. Images from the 2021 Adopted Budget are used to serve as visual aid in highlighting how Madison's budget will be prioritized. We believe tools like the internet remove musical limitations and outdated traditions.
The Capital Improvement Plan invests $994.7 million in 156 projects and programs that align with the elements outlined in Imagine Madison. These projects advance the following priorities: Affordable Housing: Make sure everyone can afford to live in Madison. Transportation: Provide robust and rapid transportation options to our whole city. Sustainability: Build resilience in Madison by mitigating our contribution to and addressing the impacts of climate change. Equity: Work to eliminate racial disparities that exist in our community.
Projects funded in the 2021 Capital Budget & Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) work to make the recommendations called for in Imagine Madison a reality. “In the Capital Budget and CIP, I outline a 5-year plan to increase funding for affordable housing and homeownership to those who need assistance the most, advance equity in business ownership, improve our transit system - a critical service to underserved communities, expand our investments in solar energy and solar jobs, among other priorities,” said Mayor Rhodes-Conway. Let's follow the money.
The Operating Budget total includes all city operating expenses within the General and Library Funds, Enterprise Funds, and Other Funds. To break it down for my LessWork Literates. All financial obligations (or the money) have been streamlined based on what was determined to progress the city. The bigger mystery is who specifically decided on which areas to throw money at? Here are the prioritized pillars for 2022 funding and beyond. I will focus on Culture and Character (cultural vibrancy | unique character) while including Economy and Opportunity (growing economy | equitable education and advancement). Let's start with breaking down Culture and Character.
According to the Imagine Madison 28-page public recorded document. The two main goals for prioritizing Culture and Character in Madison, WI are:
photo credit: excerpt from Imagine Madison website Goal 1 is that: Madison will be a vibrant and creative city that values and builds upon its cultural and historic assets. Goal 2 is that: Madison will have a unique character and "strong" sense of place in "its" neighborhoods and the city as a "whole." Reading that one would believe this approach is inclusive. That is yet to be determined. I spent countless moments pocket-watching (researching) the financial direction of what the document highlighted as city-wide elements and project budgets by their "funding source" (where the money is coming from). It's important to know where the money is going to follow its trail properly. In other words, I did my homework. I will do my best to simplify the jargon (big words or sophisticated terminology)
The projects below represent Madison's attempt to cater to our diverse CULTURE AND CHARACTER. Specific details can be located within the 2021 City of Madison Adopted Budget pdf. Here is a glimpse of the funded projects prioritized for 2022 and the years to come. Reminder: I am highlighting this information to reveal the financial capacity of Madison, Wisconsin, and its decided areas to prioritize local funding. golf courses = $3,307,654 library = $2,193,694 parks = $1.2M room tax commission = $13.4M streets = $9.8M senior center building improvements = $7K park facility improvements = $1M police building improvements = $311,100 henry vilas zoo = $75k 10 plus years flooring replacement to begin in 2024 = $175,000 central library improvements to begin in 2022 = $100,000 library major repairs = $140,000 library collection = $720,000 building and building improvements = $180,000 machinery and other equipment = $217,500 athletic field improvements = $515,000 dog park improvements = $50,000 forest hill cemetery improvements to begin in 2025 = $1.5M law park improvements = $150,000 park land improvements = $2.2M playground improvements = $880,000 warner park community center = $15,000 (wow) municipal art fund = $150,000
Is it safe to say funding for the city of Madison has been designed to cater to premium residents, tourists, and businesses of higher maintenance? We all know rich people play golf but damn, that's some HIGH maintenance. Remaining focused on the City's Culture and Character priorities surrounding music, we now aim our pen towards the recipients who choose to speak, act, and build in the interest of local recording artists in Madison. The image displays five columns that highlight the Actual dollar amount, Budgeted amount, Projected amount, Executive amount, and the Adopted amount to support tourism marketing activities dating back to 2019 up to 2021.
These numbers, in so many words, are generated based on the number of hotel rooms they fill. According to the Wisconsin Hotel & Lodging Association, "Wisconsin’s Room Tax was originally created in 1967. At the time, the lodging industry supported the small industry-specific tax as a vehicle to pool resources for marketing and promoting local tourism. Today room tax is an incredibly crucial tool for creating a strong tourism industry in our municipalities. Unfortunately, we often find municipalities who are unintentionally or unscrupulously raiding room tax funds that are meant to bring tourists to their communities, which will in turn cause a decline in tourism and further erode the overall room tax revenue coming into the city - it’s a vicious cycle." It is also stated within the 2021 Adopted Budget, "The presentation of the Room Tax Fund has been modified from prior years to reflect changes to state law and to reflect the requirement, first effective in 2017, that 70 percent of room tax revenues be transferred for allocation by a Room Tax Commission created by the City."
Funds from the Room Tax will be used to promote conferences and/or enterprises that the City helps host or sponsor that are designed to provide education and training for Madisonians and promote Madison as a city of distinction and place of topical interest. This includes funds for events as determined by the Arts Commission that result in tourism and hotel room nights in the City.
In 2021, $45,000 was allocated for a study that was conducted by the Planning Division of ways to support and expand the diversity of music tourism in Madison. - Greater Music Madison City, Sound Diplomacy, UCAN This includes funding for Dane Dances ($10,000) Make Music Madison, a summer solstice festival ($10,000) a Madison Songwriting Conference and Festival ($10,000) Downtown Temporary Art Installations ($15,000) These allocations are lower than in previous years and at the time reflected the impact of the global pandemic. Or is that the politically correct thing to say? What I will say is this. The jig is up, I have concluded that for solutions to be considered, especially solutions for black progression in this city, the source of that solution must be a registered non-profit organization. Which explains why so many Black operating non-profits have popped up over the last 5 years. I'll get back to the non-profit society but first things first. Let's look into the organizations that have been positioned to lead a more inclusive Madison by offering solutions that complement the Culture and Character of this "diverse city."
Dane Dances president of the board is Alphonso Cooper, a Black man who can be quoted for saying: "Dane Dances is community-owned and not owned by one individual. Anybody who gets involved with Dane Dances owns it." I am not involved with Dane Dances, but I will investigate the gesture upon publishing this blog with pure intentions to help. Their website also reads: "Dane Dances believes that everyone should be able to feel safe and supported and by doing so, simultaneously building diverse relations in the community." As a community member whose artistic expressions are best described in my music, which happens to be rap music. I question the diversity in Dane Dances community relations. Rappers are just as much a part of the community as musicians of other genres. Dane Dances have been around since 1999 and to my knowledge, the organization has never featured an isolated local hip-hop artist in their diverse offering.
Organizations like Make Music Madison are a casualty of inclusion. Make Music Madison was initiated in 2013, as an extension to the larger Make Music Day. At best, Make Music Madison is an attractive attempt to collect data on active recording artists in the city. They don't have a strong presence in the hip-hop community or a public image for supporting the genre. We entered the 2021 celebration instead of sitting on the sideline complaining. Our goal for getting involved with Make Music Madison was to share our views on the event experience.
My personal take on this yearly event is a sign of disrespect to all artists involved. In an attempt to uncover data and pat the stats. Make Music Madison produces a blanket platform for artists to turn any piece of approved land into a performance stage every year on June 21. Requesting labor, drive time, and social media promotions about the event in advance without any form of compensation before, during, or after the event. $/0 DJ M Bone who cut his booking fees to provide audio services to accommodate the performing artists on our LessWork stage. There is potential for Make Music Madison to come out on top with a great reputation. Money to pay artists on the bill, cover dj/sounds services, and of course more exposure. How can any company be okay with artists, fathers, daughters, and family members positioning their business model without follow up? Interviews, gift cards, covering artists' production costs, anything would be appreciated. When you leverage your company based on artists participation, those same artists should be acknowledged as stakeholders and compensated as such.
Once we (LessWork) created our account to host our first MMM (MAKE MUSIC MADISON) event I noticed no hip-hop artists (except Willie Wright) were signed up or knew how to navigate their website. After multiple posts encouraging local hiphop/rap artists to book our FREE stage. I was forced to get creative because artists were not able to navigate their official site.
Utilizing the underestimated influence of local artists, I created a CTA (call to action) post on Facebook allowing artists to book themselves on our stage. As you can only imagine the responses were that of a domino effect. Our time available for that day was from 6pm to 9pm. We gave every artist 15 minutes of stage time, LWL merchandise, HD photos to post/share online, and a chance to win premium apparel sponsored by Serieux Clothing. All this to accommodate the displayed artistry and the sweat equity that goes into preparing for live shows. Oh yes, we used our own funds and resources to make this happen. In all fairness Make Music Madison covers the permits to host the event outdoors on this day. Through my affiliations, I am aware of the discounts and advantages of obtaining a 501(c)(3) non-profit status and reserving public spaces like parks. In 2021, Madison funded this annual event with $10,000. Most of its sponsors are local non-profits or corporate companies with lots of notoriety. Here's how we used our flyer that was supplied by Make Music Madison response team.
Numerous sponsors but not a red cent allocated for the local artists who Make the Music in Madison. 🤔💭 Make It Make Sense?
Recommendations for Make Music Madison to consider moving, is to accept an offering to partner with LessWork or partner with local artists from each genre to create unique fundraiser opportunities to split the pot with all parties involved. Anything is better than putting us to work for free to highlight the numbers of those engaged to increase funding. We received marketing materials such as banners, flyers, yard signs, and tip buckets. While being encouraged to use certain hashtags for campaign measurements. The longer it goes on without criticism it's only expected to worsen. We are willing to work in a collaborative space as members of the planning and dispersing of compensating involved parties. Why is the goal for non-profits to fundraise for finances at the expense of volunteer labor?
At the heart of any business is Goods or Services. UCAN (Urban Community Arts Network) partnered with Sound Diplomacy to perform a study on how the local music industry contributes to the goods and services of this city's make-up and how it can be viewed as a source of tourism). However, I believe local is the new global and with or without government funding the lifespan of content creators lie in the hands of supply and demand. How much content can you Supply and is that enough to satisfy the Demand of what you're offering? Let me say this, I'm not blind to the facts or the liabilities of rap/hip-hop but that's all subjective in comparison to other issues at local events with different genres in Madison, Wisconsin.
"The raw truth is local artists are not at the tables when policy makers are positioning the plates. Leaving us only room to be on the menu. Well pull up a chair, It's Eat or Be Ate."
The Solution Well aware of the problem. I believe speaking on issues without offering solutions is worse than complaining about the issue itself. The value of local artists, preferrable hiphop/rap artist, is based on the number of industries they can service with their talents beyond performing on stages. How can the City and local companies who are favored to be funded assist with our uncovering? One idea is to dedicate at least 1% of their funding to collaborative efforts with local hip-hop artists and/or organizations. For example, most successful local businesses don't have a strong social media presence but local hiphop artists do. There's always an available chair at every marketing meeting I've ever attended. Then there's always that awkward silence when asking about the solution to getting the local communities more involved. Who knows the culture and character of the local scene better than local performing artists?
In the game of politics, you either shit or get off the pot. I say that to say this, if you're not a non-profit and you're advocating for a niche-based service some nonprofits will view your attempts as in the way of what they're representing. No one organization can ever know what's best for all people affected by what their solution offers. To be clear I'm not targeting nonprofits either. They're just casualties of the war on the Black experience in Madison, WI. Some of them have been used to exploit our daily existence at the expense of losing the moral interest of the complete community.
LessWork Monthly Music Meetings. Our meetings are once a month with the intention of giving artists and creatives a day off from performing and carrying such a heavy load on their own. Our meetings are designed to cater to the business side of artistry. -
From:
- writing down your goals,
- playing creative games,
- networking to uncover your tribe
- enjoying the best food and hospitality
With your support, LessWork can offer a 1-stop solution under the roof of a 24/hour production house right here in Madison. Our meetings are FREE & open to the public, but our online group will remain private to protect our members. Every month we meet up at various locations to assist with locating creatives all around the City of Madison, Wisconsin. These meetings are our opportunity to highlight our value as more than Rappers, Photographers, Djs, Graphic Designers, Bloggers, Painters, Poets, Singers, and Dancers. We are community pillars who should be viewed as partners instead of participants in the lion's share of opportunities in this city. We invite creators of content to join as we continue to lay-out the blueprint to "A New Narrative in Madison."
LessWork Local Lifestyle offers exclusive services in our Monthly Members package. When artists sign up for our subscription service, they will receive free Broadjam primo accounts and a promo code for half off Eleven Music Career Center artists career coaching services.
If you are a rap/hip-hop artist in Madison, WI. This subscription was designed with your problems in mind. #WeTheWay
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About the writer: 1neofmani
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LessWork Literature is an extension to the LessWork Local Lifestyle to support local artists that rap in Madison, Wisconsin first. To continue discovering local talent in Madison, Wisconsin please subscribe and support this non-monetized literature by making a direct donation to secure our longevity and a source for BLACK recording artists.
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LessWork Local Lifestyle is raising funding to launch the world's first 24/hour one-stop shop for all things production to benefit underserviced BLACK local artists and business owners in Madison and beyond. This is our attempt to "Own What WE Influence" We know music and entertainment and we also know Money Makes Changes. Our goal is to build, operate, and employ local artists to use our talents to service our communities. When you support LessWork, this is the mission you are fueling.
Respectfully, contact the details below for more information on how to become a sponsor or to be featured in our blogs. Breyon "1neofmani" Sommerville lessworklifestyle@gmail.com
Written by: 1neofmani Pen
video/photo/ credit: LessWork Lens
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Title: A New Narrative For Creatives In Madison
Blog: #33
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