Current Issues


March 30, 2018

Arts Funding in Tompkins County

Dear Constituents,

The Legislature has been receiving lots of emails about funding the arts in Tompkins County.  I share everyone’s appreciation of and support for our arts and culture.  And, as is the case with everything else the County must support, I know that there are never enough resources to fully fund our arts and cultural organizations.

Given the timing and content of these emails, I would guess that it was prompted by Legislator Klein’s recently posted website, his communications to and through various arts and cultural organizations, and/or his 3/29 letter to the Ithaca Journal.  Mr. Klein’s concerns about arts funding levels are focused on the level of funding certain organizations receive through the Arts/Cultural Organizational Development grant program (ACOD).  Unfortunately, as is so often the case, a tight focus on one aspect of an issue excludes the larger context in which the issue must be viewed in order to gain a complete and accurate understanding of what is actually going on.  Please, bear with me as I try to clarify this particular issue in context.

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