Protests mount against arts sales tax

Waving signs saying "Save our Arts" and "Don't Tax Behind Our Backs," nearly 150 people massed at the Bellevue in Center City to protest a proposal to tax tickets for museums and performing-arts venues to balance Pennsylvania's state budget.

State Sen. Larry Farnese, one of three state senators to join in the noontime protest, said he "will join my colleagues in the Phildelphia Senate Delegation, and we will fight to oppose this tax."

State Sen. Daylin Leach denounced the proposed tax as a "backroom deal" and said he would oppose the tax, but not necessarily the state budget.

Leach encouraged the crowd to spread word that the tax should not go through.

The tax will add 8 percent to the cost of an arts ticket in the city and 6 percent elsewhere.

Organizer Thom Weaver, a theater lighting designer, said he sent out an e-mail about the protest on Tuesday that went "viral," resulting in a larger than expected turnout.

The protesters, mostly college students and members of the theatrical union Actors Equity, marched down the Avenue of the Arts following the protest, chanting "Save our arts!"

The march ended at City Hall at about 1 p.m. with a crowd of nearly 30 University of Arts students singing and shouting.

On Monday, hundreds of determined arts leaders attending the annual meeting of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts vowed to fight the tax, saying it would hurt museums and performance arts groups.