Dallas Chamber music just sent around an e-mail urging people to tell city officials not to cut arts funding. It reads:
Just as Dallas is preparing to open our most exciting arts venue, the Dallas Performing Arts Center, the city is proposing to cut the arts budget and merge the Office of Cultural Affairs with the library. With the positive economic impact the arts have in Dallas, we believe that shorting the arts budget is a mistake. Similarly, it is a serious mistake to combine the disparate organizations of the Office of Cultural Affairs with those of the library. We ask for your help in preventing this by contacting the mayor ([email protected]), the city manager ([email protected]) and your Council member to tell them you want to keep an independent Office of Cultural Affairs and not to reduce the arts budget. Let your voice be heard. For more information go to: www.dallasneedsthearts.com.
I sympathize with them. But a couple of points need to be made here: 1) the “Dallas Performing Arts Center” doesn’t exist. The Dallas Center for the Performing Arts does, but it’s not a venue. 2) That Dallasneedsthearts.com is awesome. I had no idea people were still using GeoCities. 3) The city’s budget shortfall is $190 million. This is going to hurt, folks. No way around it.
