Well This Is Just Plain Depressing

I haven’t looked into this too much yet (frantically getting ready for trip to NY and PEN World Voices), but I just got a message from NYS ARTS about the Governor’s proposed budget and its impact on the New York State Council on the Arts.

According to NYS ARTS, the Governor is proposing a 40% cut to NYSCA’s grantmaking for 2010-2011. Forty percent! That would drop the overall budget from $41.6 million in 09-10 to $25.2 million in 10-11. More striking, if approved, the state’s per capita spending on the arts would plummet from $2.48 to $0.77 dropping NY below the national average of $0.90 and ranking us 26th in the country in arts funding. I don’t even want to imagine which states would be ahead of New York . . .

Anyway, if you want to lodge a complaint about this proposed cut, you can do so by clicking here.