By Joyce Kryszak
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wbfo/local-wbfo-960203.mp3
Buffalo, NY – Dozens of cultural groups gathered Monday night at the Allendale Theatre in Buffalo to rally support for City funding of the arts.
When Erie County pulled funding for small and mid-sized arts groups this year it set off a panic. Already struggling groups wondered how they would meet payroll and continue programming.
The crisis is not over by a long shot. But the panic has given way to new possibilities.
The Buffalo Common Council recently adopted a resolution that would restore some funding - at least for a year - for city based groups. Ed Cardoni is with the Greater Buffalo Cultural Alliance. He said there is reason for optimism.
"Just to have a resolution that puts City arts funding back on the table after a decade of it being absent I think is major progress," said Cardoni.
The City measure could yield as much as $300,000. If approved by the mayor, it would add to the $430,000 raised by the Fund for the Arts - a group of private foundations. And there is money coming in through a fundraising campaign by Artvoice.
Randy Kramer is on the GBCA steering committee. Kramer said each of these resources is a valuable piece of a broader sustainable funding plan.
"By diversifying our funding sources what we can do, is we're not relying heavily on any one, and we're not asking any one source to be burdened by this," said Kramer.
"But instead, working together, just like any good not-for-profit would do, we create diverse sources of revenue for cultural funding."
Still, Kramer admits they have a long way to go. There are no guarantees that the funding being pooled this year will be repeated in future years.
And big cuts are still to come in state funding. The New York State Council on the Arts expects to be cut another ten percent. That will mean a total cut of about 40 percent over the last few years.