In Thursday’s (8/13) Tennessean (Nashville), Will Ayers reports, “The Metro Nashville Arts Commission has denied the Nashville Symphony’s appeal of its 2009-10 operating grant award. The symphony filed an appeal because its 2009-10 grant was 55 percent less than last year’s, which might cause the organization to cut programs such as free music lessons for Metro students and its annual Independence Day concert on the river, said Symphony CEO Alan Valentine. The symphony received $345,000 in 2008 and $156,000 this year, its smallest grant since the 1992-93 fiscal year according to commission data. … Even though the annual Arts Commission grant is a small piece of the symphony’s $23.8 million budget, Valentine said the shortfall is especially difficult because $3 million in spending cuts already are in place for the next fiscal year. … Valentine said the symphony hasn’t decided yet if it will cut programs. Before that happens, the organization will chase other grants as well as private funding. ‘If we don’t, we’ll have to make some tough choices,’ he said.”
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