News

Drop in hotel-room taxes forces deep funding cuts for arts

A long-standing program that utilizes San Francisco hotel-tax revenue to fund the arts is facing dramatic cutbacks, and a number of cultural programs are now endangered.

The city of San Francisco uses a significant amount of money from its 14 percent hotel-room tax for Grants for the Arts, an international model for supporting cultural programs. Of that 14 percent, Grants for the Arts gets 6.4 percent.

However, occupancy rates in San Francisco hotels have dropped 10.2 percent in a year, and room rates are down –- from some $156 to $128 -– as well.