This afternoon, Mayor Nutter announced a plan to manage the impending $1 billion deficit that the city faces over the next 5 years. In the current fiscal year alone, the city is looking at a minimum of a $108.1 million deficit. The city is legally obligated to balance its budget each year, so in order to achieve a balanced budget by the end of FY09, the Mayor has instituted some of the following measures:
Eliminate approximately 220 filled positions, 600 unfilled, and 2,000 seasonal, part-time and contractual positions; Reduce overtime across government, including police overtime; Eliminate unfilled 200 police vacancies and cut 5 fire engine companies and 2 ladder companies; Close 11 libraries and eliminate Sunday hours at three regional libraries; Eliminate limited residential street cleaning, snow removal on smaller streets, and dedicated leaf, bulk and tire collections; Impose salary cuts for Cabinet-level officials, Deputy Mayors, the Managing Director’s Office and Mayor’s Office staff, including the Mayor; and Require five furlough days for certain exempt employees
Specific to the Arts & Culture community, the following cuts
will be made:Philadelphia Cultural Fund will be reduced to $3.2 million, a reduction of 23.8% from the FY09 budget. This is still an increase of $1 million-roughly 50% – over the FY08 budget; Philadelphia Museum of Art will be reduced by $600,000, a 20% reduction; Atwater-Kent Museum will be cut 20%, from $320,000 to $256,000; African American Museum will be cut by 20%, from $301,000 to $240,000; Mural Arts Program will receive a $500,000 cut.
A number of other arts-related initiatives receive direct support through the City Representative’s Office, and these have also been cut, by $35,500 each. They include:Avenue of the Arts, Greater Philadelphia Film Office, and Historic Philadelphia.
Certain programs within the City that are arts related have funding that consists only of modest staffing (one or two staff), and/or are privately supported or legislatively mandated. These program budgets will be cut to the extent of any overall salary reduction or furlough plan for City employees. These include: Office of Arts, Culture & Creative Economy (part of Mayor’s Office), Art Commission, Art in City Hall, and Percent for Art.
What next?
Recognize that the economic difficulties we face are felt across the board, and that arts and culture are not being cut disproportionately. Thank the Mayor for his continued understanding that the arts play an important role in the vibrancy of the City of Philadelphia.Continue to collect stories on why you and the work that your organization does is integral to our city. Tell your story!
Whether it’s in a narrative, or in a picture or an original video, keep collecting the stories that tell everyone why the arts matter. Join the discussion on the Cultural Alliance’s Facebook page (www.philaculture.org/artsmovement) Post your stories, your videos, your photos.
In your stories, demonstrate the links between your work and the core themes and values that the city has expressed, including public safety, healthy neighborhoods, sustainable economic growth, and strong public education. If your programs and activities have an impact in these areas, be sure to tell stories that illuminate what’s happening.You are already out there making a difference in the lives of our residents; take this opportunity to put a spotlight on your activities and the ways they can help everyone get through this tough economic time.
For example:
There are 11 libraries scheduled to close and Sunday hours will be eliminated at 3 regional libraries. For those of you with library resources to help students/residents with their educational needs, take this time to tell people about your resources and the ways in which they can access them. This summer, 62 of 73 outdoor pools will close along with 6 of 8 indoor pools. If your organization does outstanding programming that will help our youth fill this time, make it clear that you have lots of engaging activities on your schedule that are prime for this age group.
For those of you with winter activities, three ice rinks are scheduled to close ? if you have winter opportunities for kids, make it known that the winter will still be fun at your organization.
A tough economy requires our sector to position ourselves as indispensable. This is a time for us to demonstrate the ways in which our missions position us to supplement the gaps in services that will be cut.
In addition to stories, collect data about your organization and always have it accessible. How many people do you serve annually? Where are your audiences coming from? How many free performances or exhibits are you offering? How many schoolchildren participate in your programs and activities?
Where you can, link that data to your stories that illustrate the city’s core themes mentioned above. This is information that decision makers need to see-this is what helps make our case for the arts.TELL A FRIEND. Pass this email on to as many people as you can to keep them informed on how to take action for the arts.
The economic picture that has been unfolding for the past few months has been anything but rosy. So it isn’t a surprise that today, Mayor Michael Nutter announced that there will be cuts in the city’s budget. We understand that such action is necessary, and will continue to work with the Administration, the Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, and all of you to persevere during this time of economic crisis.
The Cultural Alliance will continue to keep you updated on the latest news in public funding for arts and culture. On October 17, 2008, the Cultural Alliance presented a session titled Leading in Turbulent Times, about managing cultural nonprofits in these economic times.
A PDF of the transcript is now available online at
http://philaculture.org/mship/LeadinginTurbulentTimes-Transcript.pdf
Founder & Editor at The Dance JournalWhile not a dancer himself, Weisz’s love for the arts and dance started as a child growing up in New York City. With parents, who were strong supporters of the arts and part of a community with an incredible array of notable artists in music, dance, theater, and fine arts, Weisz’s access and affinity for the performing arts took root. Upon attending college in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania in the mid-’70s, Weisz started performing as a puppeteer, magician, juggler, and fire eater as a means of supplementing his income. This soon grew into what became Rainbow Promotions Inc., one of the largest entertainment and special events producers in the region. It was here that he began to promote and book dance for major events throughout the city. Many of the dancers he worked within the early days of his company are now major choreographers in Philadelphia. At the same time, Weisz’s interest in computers and the early developments of what is now known as the Internet led him to also start another company, Delaware Valley On Line, which became one of the first regional ISPs. It was this combination of event production, internet development, and event marketing that led him to examine the use of the internet as a means to promote the arts. Dance continued to be a major interest for Weisz and in 2005 he founded PhiladelphiaDANCE.org as a major online resource to promote dance in the city. It was soon after that the Dance Journal was also founded as a way to provide an outlet for writing on a range of topics that encompass the ever-growing and emerging dance community in the region. Weisz continues to run both the non-profit PhiladelphiaDANCE and The Dance Journal on purely a voluntary basis with no income derived from any of his projects. He is also the Director of Graffito Works, an international platform for dancers and performing artists in Europe that creates site specific. More recently, Weisz has expanded his creative endeavors into the realm of photography through the establishment of ArtImagined.photo.
Koresh’s premieres Hollow Apple
Koresh Dance Company premiered “Hollow Apple,” choreographed by Roni Koresh, at the Suzanne Roberts Theater in a four-performance run last weekend. The cryptic title is
