knife by youngthousands

When times are tough and governments start cutting their budgets, arts programs are often the first to feel the pain.  Case in point, Arlington County is planning on cutting arts grants by 36% next year, an equivalent of $100,000, while DC is proposing a 10% or $1 million cut (PDF) to its operating budget.  As a patron of the arts, this isn’t something I like to hear about, but understand that other spending generally takes precedence over the arts.  Susan Kalish of Arlington County’s parks and recreation department says, “Arts or cops? The county’s got to make a tough decision.”

My hope is that as the economy improves in the years to come, arts funding will go back up.  If you’d like to speak your mind about the arts budget cuts in DC, stop by to testify at the budget hearing for the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities on April 27th at 10AM.