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Philadelphia- On Tuesday, June 15, the City Commerce Department announced that the Office of Arts and Culture, which for two decades has promoted the city's arts and culture, would close effective June 30. At this time, it is unclear what will happen to the Office's programs including Percent for Art (the first such public art program in the nation), Art in City Hall, and the Marian Anderson Awards (a prestigious $100,000 annual award with previous recipients including Oprah Winfrey, Harry Belafonte, Gregory Peck, Elizabeth Taylor, Danny Glover and Quincy Jones).
"I have been a champion of the arts for a very long time, and I find it quite heartbreaking that this had to happen," City Commerce Director Stephanie Naidoff wrote in a letter to city employees.
News of the closure became public on the same day that the U.S. House of Representatives voted by a record margin (241 to 185) in favor of an amendment to increase federal National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) funding by $10 million and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) funding by $3.5 million.
“We’re disappointed that the City administration would close the Office of Arts & Culture, the cultural community’s vital focal point in the Mayor’s office.” said Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance President Peggy Amsterdam. “This is a short term reaction that could cost the city large dollars in the years ahead.”
Meanwhile, the ongoing Philadelphia City budget crisis continues. On Thursday June 10, as expected, Philadelphia Mayor John Street vetoed the city budget passed by City Council on Memorial Day. This budget, which contained full restoration of funding for arts and cultural programs, is now dead. City Council has prepared a second amended budget, which still provides relief to the original cuts but not full restoration of cultural funding. The amendments in the new budget contain restoration of 86% of overall funding to arts and culture, including proposed total appropriations of $2,000,000 for the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, $300,000 for the African American Museum, $264,000 for the Atwater Kent Museum, and $2,000,000 for the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
On Monday, June 21st, Council will meet again and officially submit the new budget proposal. At that point, the mayor can either immediately approve the budget, or wait until July 1 and veto. If that happens, the city will be unable to pay city bills or meet payroll. This will be a historic first for Philadelphia that will not rank alongside the city’s claim to the country’s first public art museum (Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts), public zoo (Philadelphia Zoo), and oldest national history museum (Academy of Natural Sciences).
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