NY Arts Groups Want Love

Today is Valentine's Day and New York arts organizations have one request to the state: Give us some love!

Crain's New York Business reported yesterday that the Arts NYS Coalition, a group that includes a number of nonprofit cultural organizations like the Children's Museum of Manhattan, is launching a campaign to get increased state funding to the New York State Council on Arts (NYSCA).

Although President Barack Obama's new federal budget proposes an increase of $8 million to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), state funding has declined in recent years, especially in New York.  Governor Andrew Cuomo's proposed grants to NYSCA is $31.6 million which, while not a reduction from the previous year, is almost $4 million less than it was in 1985.  The Arts NYS Coalition is asking the state Legislature to increase funding by $4.5 million to $36.1 million.  The ultimate goal is to reach $50 million in funding during the next four years.

Groups like the Arts NYS Coalition say that investing in the arts can pay off big time for the state.  This claim seemed to be backed up by a 2005 study by the Alliance for the Arts, which found that NYC nonprofit cultural groups generate $5.8 billion in economic impact and create 40,500 jobs.

You can read more about this story in Crain's New York Business.