Georgia’s lawmakers are proposing an amendment to the Georgia Music Investment Act, HB 347. If passed the amendment will bring new tax advantages to the city and state - creating even more growth within the industry.

Significant work went into educating legislators on the specifics needed to make the Act more robust and effective. Among those actively promoting changes to the original act was Doug Shipman, President and CEO of The Woodruff Arts Center. Just two days after the amendment was proposed, we spoke with Shipman about the features of the amendment and potential benefits that passage could bring to Georgia.

On February 22, 2019 Smith & Howard’s Director of Marketing, Julie Barnes and The Woodruff Arts Center CEO, Doug Shipman discuss the Georgia Music Investment Act (HB 155) and the growth it has given Georgia’s entertainment industry including the performing arts.

Highlights of the amendment include:

Transferability and salability of credits

Increase in percentage of production expenditures considered for tax credits (from 15% to 30%)

Lowering of thresholds

Removal of the 12-month period from the definition of “performance”

Change in limitation of origination and debut

Ability to aggregate expenditures

Giving Georgia a Competitive Advantage

While arts organizations form a nationwide community, they are often competitive. All performing arts – whether theater, ballet or opera – require layers of talent and local resources to reach an opening curtain. Set design and construction, costume production, residences for actors, hotels and more are all involved in a production premiere. Shipman says that having the music tax credit (as amended) as part of the package for those looking for the best place to produce these Broadway-bound musicals for the first time would actually “give us a huge competitive advantage on the national landscape. And it would do exactly what it’s supposed to do – bring folks here that would potentially go elsewhere.”