Jan. 25, 2010, The New York Times — Cultural support in New York State would be cut $9.6 million under the 2010-11 budget proposed by Gov. David A. Paterson on Tuesday. A final version of the budget is due to be enacted by April 1. The governor’s proposal would cut funds to the New York State Council on the Arts by $6.5 million for its grant-making and by $600,000 for its administrative budget. In addition state support would be eliminated for the Egg performing arts center in Albany and begin to be phased out for the New York State Theater Institute in Troy. (There would also be a decrease of $400,000 from the 2009-10 budget because of the elimination of one-time funds for grants to arts and cultural organizations provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.) “I’m deeply disappointed and distressed,” said Norma P. Munn, the chairwoman of the New York City Arts Coalition, referring to the proposed reduction in arts council funds. “That’s an extraordinary cut.”
Robin Pogrebin
August 7, 2009, The New York Times — Now that the Broadway producer Rocco Landesman is officially chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts — he was confirmed on Friday — his straight-talking style, Missouri roots and affinity for baseball and country music are expected to give him a leg up with many legislators.
June 29, 2009, The New York Times — Who is that woman and what is she doing?
That is what seemed to be going through the minds of many guests at a gala dinner in early June atop the High Line, the elevated downtown railway that has been transformed into a landscaped esplanade.
The long, elegantly decorated tables were packed with luminaries of the New York social circuit, including Oscar de la Renta, Martha Stewart, Harvey Weinstein and Jerry Seinfeld.
June 8, 2009, The New York Times — Katherine G. Farley, a senior managing director at the real estate company Tishman Speyer and head of Lincoln Center’s redevelopment project, has been appointed the chairwoman of Lincoln Center.
April 22, 2009, The New York Times — Even as arts groups around the country are cutting back because of declining endowments and donations, a new foundation to support the work of American Indian, Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native artists is being established with an initial $10 million from the Ford Foundation.
April 11, 2009, The New York Times — More than 2,000 applications have poured in to the National Endowment for the Arts from cultural organizations all over the country seeking a piece of the stimulus pie allotted to the arts by President Obama.
One would be hard pressed to argue that a call from Robert Redford to the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, helped salvage money for the arts in the economic-stimulus bill last week.
