I don't know if anyone else saw this but it is pretty depressing. The Mass Cultural Council has announced that it is forced to cut their program significantly thanks to the state's decision to cut appropriation for Fiscal Year 2010 from $12.7 million to $9.7 million: a cut of just over 23 percent. They managed to do this by cutting staff and not programs thankfully but I can't imagine having to make that decision.
From the press release:
The MCC eliminated five full-time staff positions, cut administrative spending, and ended several partnerships and initiatives. Taken together, these decisions allowed the agency to lessen the impact of the budget reduction and ensure that no organization, school, or local cultural council sees its grant cut by more than 23 percent.
Local councils are still giving grants but this doesn't bode well for the arts. Are we always the first things cut? It really p*sses me off when the first reaction to hard financial times is to cut off funding for the arts. Like people visit Boston for it's fine financial institutions? Really?
