Wisconsin Arts Board

The Wisconsin Arts Board (WAB) is a state agency based in Madison, Wisconsin. It is one of fifty-six state art agencies of the United States and works as a partner regionally with Arts Midwest and nationally with the National Endowment of the Arts. WAB’s mission statement declares that it “is the state agency which nurtures creativity, cultivates expression, promotes the arts, supports the arts in education, stimulates community and economic development and serves as a resource for people of every cultural heritage.”

The statutory agency known as the WAB was preceded by the privately funded Wisconsin Arts Foundation and Council (WAFC). Established in 1956, the WAFC organized conferences, published a quarterly arts calendar, and worked for state support of the arts. It changed its name to the Wisconsin Arts Council (WAC) in 1970 and in 1977 became the Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts.

In 1963, Governor John Reynolds created the Governor’s Council of the Arts in order to promote the arts throughout the state. The Council did this particularly by establishing the Governor’s Awards, but it did not receive state funding. The WAFC and the Governor’s Council worked as separate entities.

In 1965, the newly elected Governor Warren P. Knowles dissolved the Governor’s Council of the Arts and designated the WAFC as “the official state coordinating group of the arts.” Under its new designation the WAFC continued the Governor’s Awards and received a study grant from the National Endowment of the Arts to investigate the formation of a state funded arts council. In 1967-1968, Governor Knowles introduced a bill to establish a state supported arts council, but the measure was tabled.

Under the urging of the WAC, Governor Patrick Lucey introduced a clause into the 1973-1975 budget bill to create and publicly fund a state arts council. On August 2, 1973, the Wisconsin Arts Board was established by the Wisconsin Legislature in Section 20. 15.53 of Wisconsin Assembly Bill 300.

In 2011, the independent bodied Arts Board was folded into the Department of Tourism, where it retained its independent, Governor-appointed board.

According to Chapter 41 Subchapter IV of the 2011-12 Wisconsin Statutes and Annotations WAB’s powers and duties are as follows:

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