In Sunday’s (8/9) Dallas Morning News , David Flick and Michael Granberry write, “This fall, the Dallas cultural community hopes, the opening of the $354 million Center for the Performing Arts will make the city a player on the world stage. This summer, they say, they’d be content with a little respect at home. At issue is a proposal in the pending city budget that would combine the Office of Cultural Affairs with the city library system. … However dry the topic might sound to the average resident, the proposed reorganization has so dismayed arts supporters that it has even overshadowed their concerns about spending cuts. That same $1.9 billion budget calls for an average 30 percent decrease in allocations to arts programs. Exact figures won’t become known until the City Council approves the budget next month. … The proposal to combine administration of the arts with the library system is part of a plan to reduce the number of city department heads from 31 to 22. … Lin Medlin, a cultural affairs commissioner, argued that $4.6 million in city arts grants last year led to more than $90 million in private support. He contended that every dollar spent by the city on arts programming and facilities generates $298 in related business.”
Posted August 10, 2009
