Kansas arts advocates plan to converge at the Statehouse Thursday to protest a proposal from conservative Republican Gov. Sam Brownback to cut state arts funding.

The advocates are making Thursday their Arts Day at the Capitol. They’re planning to lobby legislators.

They’ve been upset with Brownback since shortly after he took office in January 2011 and proposed replacing the Kansas Arts Commission with a private, non-profit group.

Lawmakers blocked the move, but the governor vetoed the commission’s entire budget.

Last year, at his urging, legislators merged the commission with the Film Services Commission to form the Creative Arts Industries Commission.

The new commission’s budget is $700,000, but Brownback has proposed reducing it to $200,000 for the fiscal year that begins in July.