The arts community in New Jersey was under no illusions that the 2004 fiscal year would be a pleasant one. Currently laboring under a staggering $5 billion budget deficit, New Jersey, like nearly every state in the union, faces drastic belt-tightening in the upcoming funding cycle. But no one was expecting what they got when Gov. James McGreevey, a Democrat, unveiled… return to article
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Reader Comments (10)Page 1 of 1 pagesFederal money should be spent on more important things than art… Sorry, it hurts to hear it, especially considering that I make a considerable amount of my income as AN ARTIST! Yeah, that’s gotta hurt, betrayed by your own… Maybe if we have a booming economy, but right now private funding for the arts is a better option.
Posted by ROCKTIME on Mar 11, 2003 at 5:15 PM Research shows that ‘standardized testing’ had little criterior-related validity. “No Child Left Behind” enables children to go forward without being able to read. Testing itself can place children into a box whereas ART can help them become escape artists. Forget the testing and emphasize the ART!
Posted by JJ on Mar 12, 2003 at 3:19 PM First, thank you for covering this important story. The arts have a significant economic and social impact on their communities. It doesn’t make sense to stop fueling an economic engine when that engine is needed the most. Second, private funding sources are drying up as the economy continues to struggle. Federal, state, and local government funding are some of the few sources that arts organizations can count on during tough economic times. Third, the percentage of state budgets that goes to arts funding is miniscule. The money should continue going to arts organizations where it can generate additional spending and tax revenues.
Posted by A Bell on Mar 12, 2003 at 7:29 PM I said a lot more that the author chose not to quote. Cultural funding in New Jersey brings in over $27 million in state taxes, employs 11,000 people and generates over $1.5 billion each year through insitutional and patron spending. A lot more will suffer if this Governor’s budget passes—cultural tourism and state image. Singling out the arts for elimination sends a terrible message regarding the quality of life in our state, and we’re certain the Governor would like to attract corporate business (and their employees and their taxes) to a state with a dynamic cultural life.
Posted by Ann Marie Miller on Mar 13, 2003 at 3:04 AM I have a report I need some info on new jersey that would help me thank you if you do send me some please.
Posted by Zachary Boyer on Mar 22, 2003 at 1:53 AM If cultural funding generates $27 million in taxes, how much does it generate in income to those entities paying those taxes?
Why can’t that income supplant the $18M funding?
Posted by Nus on Mar 26, 2003 at 9:36 PM Art and Culture make all the difference in the World. I am originally from Rockville Maryland in Montgomery County, they had lots of $$‘s and therefore perfectly paved roads to lead to all the chain stores.
Montreal has horrible roads, but that does not matter, I don’t need to go anywhere to participate in what I think is the worlds greatest cultural mecca. Festivals every week of the year vs smooth roads. I’d rather have art anyday…
Where would you rather live? In front of a beautifully paved road that leads to the local McDohs or in the middle of a vibrant arts district?
Posted by Chris on Mar 26, 2003 at 10:10 PM The sad part of this is that the nation and states like NJ are truly suffering because of the huge outlays required to support mass immigration programs and policies.
Healthcare and education systems as well as a myriad of entitlements funded by our government have been under severe strain as they attempt to serve population booms. 37-52 million came to our shores in a decade and thousands sneak across our borders daily. This net increase of 20-25% to our systems will mean that the finite dollars available for certain programs will be diverted to others. This is especially true when the economy is under duress. The bottom line is study after study has apprised our politicians that mass and illegal immigration has hurt Americans and cannot be sustained. Sadly, until these vote seeking politicians do something we will witness further cuts and woes.
Posted by chet polwin on Mar 30, 2003 at 3:25 AM Even if much of what constitues “money” is simply figures on a screen, it does go somewhere other than the arts. Over $6. billion subsidises illegal aliens in CA. Federal lands, which are not built on and produce “income”, have a financial slack that gets picked up in price increases, and this is also true of tax-exempt foundations and such like. The middle class pays and with what is considered whealthy not being one who actually makes a million, the middle gets squeezed even more, so there goes many of the patrons.
The monopoly capitalism and socialism of the states budgets not only goes against the states constitutions, but the national contract as well wherein the states are promised “a republican form of government.”
Internationalising the economy, as it’s being done, is great for funding the rest of the world by de-funding this country in some grandiose socialist dream; and that’s what it is, so why be nice about it?
Within the arts still lie the seeds of an American identity, and this is most true, I think, in the commercial arts because they have to be experienced by the public, ergo the scrutiny is greater.
Perhaps the states ought to find some sensible manner to be de-federalised from the ground up. I believe as long as they come begging to DC, the freedom the act selfishly and nationally for one’s own good will be polluted with ideas, retrictions, and people better suited for the Old World and not this one.
I hope what’s good for the whole union can be had, I know it can, but for now, my republic is California and I want what’s best for its arts according to our own laws, own needs, and resources as much as can be had.
Posted by terry wilson on Nov 7, 2003 at 11:19 PM Page 1 of 1 pages -
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