Cultural leaders predict hard times ahead.
By: David Campbell
Princeton cultural leaders predicted hard times ahead for all New Jerseyans in the wake of Gov. James E. McGreevey’s proposal this week to eliminate $31.7 million in funding for culture and the arts in next year’s state budget.
"It will reduce the quality of life in our state," said Jeff Woodward, managing director of McCarter Theatre. "We’re angry and we’re puzzled by this decision. We understand the state is in a fiscal crisis, but we don’t understand why we’re being singled out."
Faced with a $5 billion deficit, the governor on Tuesday outlined a $23.7 billion budget proposal that does away with all arts and cultural funding through the Department of State. The plan still faces legislative review.
Based on last year’s disbursements, this means the elimination of $18 million to the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, $10 million to the New Jersey Cultural Trust and $3.7 million to the state Historical Commission.
In fiscal 2003, the Council on the Arts awarded $1.8 million in state funds to nearly 20 cultural organizations and projects in Mercer County, funds that area art groups will not receive in fiscal 2004 under the governor’s proposal.
McCarter Theatre received the largest appropriation to a Mercer County organization of $688,631, or about 7 percent of its budget last year, Mr. Woodward said, while the American Boychoir School received $184,410, about 6 percent of its total budget, according to Boychoir President Donald B. Edwards.
Opera Festival of New Jersey was awarded $144,776, about 8 percent of its budget, according to Executive Director Douglas Rubin.
The Council on the Arts also awarded grants to Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Princeton Pro Musica and the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission, which dispersed $76,819 in funds to smaller organizations like The Arts Council of Princeton on Witherspoon Street.
Gail F. Stern, executive director of the Historical Society of Princeton, said money from the state Historical Commission accounts for one-third of her annual operating budget, and said her small staff of five could be cut in half without it.
At risk are the society’s new development director, registrar and part-time shop manager, who were hired to increase revenue and programming, Ms. Stern said.
"In a larger sense, the state funding was helping us to be more self-sufficient," Ms. Stern said. "This could mean drastic cutbacks for us in programs and services."
Several local arts leaders, including Mr. Woodward at McCarter, cited a recent study by ArtPride New Jersey showing the state’s cultural organizations generated $1 billion in economic activity, including $27 million in tax revenue. Mr. Woodward is president of ArtPride New Jersey.
"We represent 11,000 jobs in this state," Mr. Woodward said. "New Jersey is looking for ways to generate tax revenue and jobs and to stimulate the economy we are something that stimulates the economy."
Mr. Woodward said it is too soon to say how McCarter will be affected by the funding cuts, but said educational outreach and some programs will likely suffer.
"Clearly there will have to be significant reductions for us to go forward," he said. "Princeton can expect less of McCarter."
Mr. Edwards said school and community outreach, which the Boychoir offers free or at reduced fees, would be the first to be cut, noting that the governor’s proposal comes at a time of diminished private and corporate grants.
"We’re not as dependent on state funding as some organizations are, but it’s a very large amount and in this economy and this market there are no likely sources to replace this money," Mr. Edwards said.
Mr. Rubin said the state cuts represented a "large chunk" of the Opera Festival’s $1.8 million budget last year, a gap he said he hopes can be filled with ticket revenues and donor gifts.
"Fortunately, many opera patrons have been very generous," Mr. Rubin said, noting that the festival has managed to see an increase in private and corporate sponsorship.
But, he added, "I think it’s a shame people have to look to New York or Philadelphia as the only place to find art when it’s going on around us," and said of arts in New Jersey, "It will go on, but it will go on in a much-diminished capacity. You’re going to get less of it."
Princeton Symphony Executive Director Joshua Worby said of the cuts, "It’s obviously terrible news," but expressed faith in the governor’s support for the arts.
"I know this was as painful a decision as he could make," Mr. Worby said.
He said lost state funds account for less than 5 percent of the symphony’s budget, a loss he said that is not "catastrophic," and noted that the budget proposal is still just a proposal, one that has yet to be approved by the Legislature.
"My sense is there’s an overreaction at the moment," Mr. Worby said.
Council on the Arts Chairwoman Sharon Harrington said arts advocates throughout the state, including council members she has spoken with, plan an aggressive lobbying and educational effort with state legislators.
"It’s shocking, it’s disappointing, it’s devastating, it just cannot be," Ms. Harrington said of the governor’s cuts. "We will do everything humanly possible to see that this really important funding is restored."

