Lamenting the gradual sidelining of the arts in school curricula, a group of prominent artists wrote to the Chief Minister last year, asking him to allocate more funds to support arts education in schools. However, no such increase has been announced in this year's Budget. The artists expressed their deep anguish at their request not being approved, but many of them remain optimistic about funding in the future.
Which of the statement(s) below is/are logically valid and can be inferred from the above statements?
(i) The artists expected funding for the arts to increase this year.
(ii) The Chief Minister was receptive to the idea of increasing funding for the arts.
(iii) The Chief Minister is a prominent artist.
(iv) Schools are giving less importance to arts education nowadays.