WESTERN NEW YORK
Legislators, cultural leaders brainstorm on funding for arts
Published: July 22, 2009, 12:30 am
Story tools:
Share this story:
Over July Fourth weekend, 2,500 volunteers re-enacted the Battle of Fort Niagara, a turning point in the French and Indian War. They did it for the love of history but were supposed to receive medallions from the state commemorating the battle’s 250th anniversary as a token of thanks.
It almost didn’t happen.
Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte, D-Lewiston, had to wring $7,000 out of the state Division of Budget at the last minute to pay for the items, which cost less than $3 each.
“That’s how tough a budget year it was,” DelMonte said Tuesday at a brainstorming session on cultural funding that drew Democratic state legislators and area arts and cultural leaders to Kleinhans Music Hall.
With state revenues still in free fall, 2009-10 will be even tougher, warned Assemblyman Steven Englebright of Setauket, chairman of the Assembly Committee on Arts, Sports and Tourism.
The committee, including Buffalo’s Sam Hoyt, worked hard to put back tens of millions of dollars for the New York State Council on the Arts that Gov. David A. Paterson slashed last fall to help close a multibillion-dollar deficit. All but $2 million of the arts council money was restored, Englebright pointed out.
“This was a fight worth the battle,” he said.
Moreover, the committee managed to save all of $9 million Paterson cut from a special fund that helps zoos, aquariums, museums and botanical gardens care for the living things in their trust. The Buffalo Zoo stood to lose $150,000, the Buffalo Museum of Science $119,000, the Aquarium of Niagara $50,000 and the Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens $43,000.
“We began in a hole. When the dust cleared, that was the only 100 percent restoration,” Englebright noted.
“We’re going to have to do that again,” he added.
The onetime arts council program analyst called on the arts community to close ranks with legislators to ward off further attacks on what he called “perhaps the greatest strength of this state” — its culture.
“Investing in it is a way out of economic difficulty,” he said, “and many of you are custodians of the way back. It’s a process— a journey—and we have to walk together.”
tbuckham@buffnews.com
Newsletters
Sign up now for daily and weekly newsletters from BuffaloNews.com and get quick links to the info you want delivered directly to your inbox.Reader comments
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Comments have been disabled.
Due to a high volume of submissions that violate The News’ guidelines, commenting is no longer available on this story. If you’d like to share your thoughts on this story, click here to get information on contributing to The News’ opinion pages.