Budget Rut; Tough Times Are Ahead for the City's Arts and Cultural Organizations.

Summary

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"I don't know if it's fair for me to say, `This pool might have to close or this recreation center may have to close but the Art Museum we will hold harmless,'" said the mayor. "The Art Museum has a lot of very well-heeled and wealthy benefactors. I suspect that if the Art Museum and all of its supporters got real serious about it, they could hold an event and raise a couple million dollars without a whole lot of trouble."

"It's the money that groups use to keep the lights on, the heat running, the staff paid or to buy the costumes and supplies," she says. "It's the hardest money to come by."

"At a time when we're trying to reposition Philadelphia's economy," he says, "we ought to be investing more in the arts and certainly not cutting back. This sends the absolutely wrong message, not only to our cultural community, but also to the local and regional business community."

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Budget Rut; Tough Times Are Ahead for the City's Arts and Cultural Organizations.

Philadelphia's cultural arts funding was put on the chopping block recently when the mayor proposed his budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. If City Council doesn't amend the budget, funding for the arts will be slashed by nearly 75 percent, o...

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