http://frontporcheditions.com/catalog8.html

Thank you for this article.

It is painfully sad that arts budgets are usually the first cut, and it’s interesting that the arts are considered extraneous, unneccessary & of lesser importance than other budgetary items. One only has to attend *any* arts event to see that the arts are a large part of what can create and nurture community. The Really Big Show is a great example. (Unfortunately we missed the Really Big Show this year). It’s a great event & everyone invloved should be applauded.

We are blessed to live in an area that’s so rich in art and artists (& we mean that to include all the arts), but it’s unfortunate that there’s so little funding. I think we’re perhaps fooled a bit into believing art does receive adequate funding because there are just so many artists and creative people in the Valley who often create things on a shoestring or self-fund. The real danger, we believe, is of a creativity-drain to other distant communities that not only fund public art, but offer wonderful incentives and subsidies to artists to practice and relocate. Look to a community like Paducah, Kentucky, and their Paducah Arts program & Lowertown Arts District (to name one), and you’ll wonder why we aren’t trying some of the same tactics here.

He questioned why we are cutting school arts and music budgets and made us all sit back and realize that supporting the arts are the job of a community.

Even the small list we found is great & we look forward to visiting them all (we’ve already been to some of ‘em). We’d love to know about more.