Virginia House shoots down pleas to 'save' arts

[Blue_Tires]

Even as hundreds of arts supporters wearing "Save the Arts" stickers descended on the Capitol, the House of Delegates passed a version of the state budget on Thursday that would eliminate the state arts commission.

Advocates packed the House gallery and lined the halls and staircases to urge lawmakers to preserve the Virginia Commission for the Arts. Del. Jenn McClellan, D-Richmond, welcomed the visitors, but no discussion of arts funding took place before the 61-38 vote.

If the commission gets killed in the final 2010- 12 budget in mid-March, and arts groups get no state money starting in mid-2011, "it would change who we are," said Luci Cochran, executive director of the Peninsula Fine Arts Center of Newport News, who was among the arts advocates. Her group received $55,130 this year from the commission.

"For the last year or so," Cochran said, "we've looked at 'What can we trim?' over and over again. There is no fat. And with these times, economically, the private sector cannot make up the difference."

The center would probably have to cut a position and cancel exhibitions or programs, altering its mission, she said.

John Dixon, director of the Academy of Music in Norfolk, visited the offices of 67 delegates Thursday, he said. For his group, which provides music classes, scholarships for low-income children are at stake.

http://hamptonroads.com/2010/02/virginia-house-shoots-down-pleas-save-arts