Sunday, October 04, 2009
Cultural groups prepare for RAD cuts
Post Gazette: "Doing more with less is likely to be the best tack for the region's cultural groups, which are facing cuts of 2.5 percent to 10 percent in a $79.4 million preliminary budget announced last week by the Allegheny Regional Asset District."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
What's interesting here is the Museum's recognition that general awareness will be key to long-term success. Adding better signage (i.e. the flagpole) will hopefully increase patronage and in turn profits. The irony is marketing costs are some the highest expenses non-profit organizations can occur. Museums are arts organizations, much like theatre, that are routinely changing the exhibitions/programming. Cutting funding decreases what can be brought in. Decreasing programming will exponentially hurt the museum and likely lead to its closure unless outside funding can be found.
I think that putting the money into the perspective of "Who's job is this/" or "What shows will be cut?" show the impact that these cuts are going to have. Its not like people are cutting superfluous spending, this money goes to where it needs to be and now there isn't enough to go around. People are aware of the financial climate and are cutting their personal spending, which generally mean the arts get cut. And now these groups just can't bring in the audiences they need, because those people aren't going out anymore. I hope the cultural groups get through this and bounce back eventually.
This article, while making the unfortunate points of the budget cuts clear, did a good job at keeping everything in perspective. While it is hard to know how loosing half of a job will hurt the museum without knowing how many staff members there are, it doesn't seem too bad compared to other institutions. It is also nice to see that the organizations are being very careful how this money is spent that they are getting. First to attract a new patron base, and only after that doesn't work do they move to cutting jobs and programming. It is important to realize that while canceling or removing programming is sad, it is good for the organization to keep its strongest aspects alive. On the flip side, once stopped these smaller programs may take a long time to return.
Post a Comment