The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘A piece of our humanity’
Arts organizations fear loss of federal funding would devastate programs
The arts won’t be silenced, but President Donald Trump’s proposal to eliminate funds for the National Endowment for the Arts and other cultural agencies would squeeze the many arts groups in Connecticut that rely in part on federal money.
Leaders of arts organizations are hopeful that the NEA, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will be spared in the next fiscal year’s budget, as they have overcome threats to their existence in the past.
But they also fear that artists without a large constituency, those who push the envelope in their work and audiences whose tickets are subsidized by federal money would be hurt the most. Organizations that expose young people to the arts could also feel the squeeze. One of those is Music Haven, a tuition-free nonprofit organization that brings individual and group lessons to youths who live in low-income areas of New Haven.
“I’m honestly infuriated because the arts is a huge part of human expression,” said Robert Oakley, a junior at Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven, who takes viola lessons at Music Haven.
“Music Haven is everything,” said Oakley, who also plays piano, flute, recorder and clarinet. “It’s love, it’s expression, it’s connection, it’s family, and all through music, which really displays the power of music … because music is one thing that brings everyone together.
“It’s a horrible thing trying to cut out the arts. It’s basically taking away a
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Cristofer Zunun, a sophomore at Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School in New Haven, has been playing violin since at least third grade and said performing has helped his self-confidence.
“I honestly don’t know what I would do without music,” he said. “I would be a much different person than I am right now.”
Karina Irizarry was hired at Music Haven as administrative and student support coordinator after doing her work-study there as a University of New Haven student. “I see it doing a lot for the kids,” she said. “They learn mentoring, they learn how to communicate, how to work together. They also learn just how to be real people. … What I love about it is the kids are so loving and welcoming and they make you feel at home. Music Haven is home to me.”
Executive Director Mandi Jackson said Music Haven is not in danger of closing down, even without the NEA money it receives, which is matched by the state Office of the Arts. This year, Music Haven received $10,000 in NEA money toward its $600,000 budget, and federal funds have made up as much as 5 percent of the organization’s budget in some years. “NEA funding has been one of the few sustainable sources of arts funding … There’s not a lot of sources out there,” Jackson said.
But Music Haven stands to lose more than its NEA grant. After-school, violence-prevention and other programs, which also benefit Music Haven, also face big cuts in Trump’s budget, Jackson said.
Without NEA money, all arts organizations will have to “put more pressure on funders,” Jackson said. “We’re competing for all the same donation dollars. So when you cut public money … it’s just increased competition from an already crowded field.” Relying more on the private sector is “not a sustainable model,” she said.
In fiscal 2016, the NEA received $148 million, which went to every congressional district in the country, according to its website. Since its founding in 1965, the endowment has awarded more than $5 billion in grants.
An email sent out by the Arts Council of Greater New Haven pointed out that the NEA represents 0.004 percent of the federal budget, leverages more than $600 million in matching grants and generates 4.8 million jobs.
Well-known organizations such as Elm Shakespeare Company and the International Festival of Arts and Ideas will be affected, but so will numerous smaller groups and artists, said Daniel Fitzmaurice, executive director of the arts council.
“The NEA is a very small funder for most of our organizations but a symbolic Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval,” he said.
Eliminating the budget for the arts and humanities endowments and for public broadcasting “really works against the Trump agenda of creating American jobs, hiring American people,” Fitzmaurice said. “It’s a pretty good deal, in Trump’s language, if you take into account for every dollar in NEA funding the organization typically raises $7 … from donors, foundations, funding support.”