After last year’s moral panic where city council yanked arts funding over “inappropriate material” (translation: they saw something that made them clutch their pearls), Lubbock’s cultural programs are getting their money back. The Cultural Arts Grant Program—funded by tourism and hospitality dollars, not local taxes—will continue supporting projects that make the city look like it has more to offer than Buddy Holly statues and dirt storms.
Artists and advocates showed up to remind council members that you can’t brag about having an “arts community” while simultaneously gutting it. Shockingly, that argument seemed to land this time. The council voted to restore the funding, with Councilman David Glasheen assuring everyone that new “eligibility requirements” will keep things squeaky-clean enough for their delicate sensibilities.
So, for now, the local art scene has a lifeline. But don’t worry—council also promised to “keep monitoring.” Because nothing says creative freedom like a bunch of politicians looming over your shoulder with a censor’s red pen.
In Lubbock, art doesn’t imitate life—it survives it. For now.
