Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge President and CEO Jonathan Grimes shared his views with Business Report on the sector’s current challenges and economic impact.

Louisiana as a state has one of the nation’s lowest rates of per capita spending on the arts—less than 50 cents by some measures. What do we need to be competitive?

Ideally, we’d want the state to spend $1 per capita on arts and culture. The numbers don’t lie on return. There’s about a $7 billion impact currently.

What would you say to the business community right now as the arts face yet another major challenge with the reduction in federal funding?

We rely on businesses for financial and in-kind support, and if they have the capacity to increase their funding with arts and culture, that’s going to help everybody in the long run.

Have donors pulled back?

Our donors have been rock-solid and willing to help in any way. They’ve been pretty consistent, but with this cut at the federal level, we’re looking to our business leaders to help us bridge the gap and weather the storm. I am encouraged about things continuing as normal.

Read the full Q&A here. This story was originally published by Daily Report on July 3. To keep up with Baton Rouge business news, subscribe to the free Daily Report e-newsletter here.