Impact of Proposed Budget Cuts to the Arts

Under the University System of Georgia’s proposed budget cuts, ABAC Arts Connection, the beating heart of arts programs and events in 12 south Georgia counties, will be left crippled, resulting in the loss of many of the arts programs that have been woven into our community over the past 34 years.

Are we really ready for the demise of the Grassroots program---a program that permits 26 emerging organizations in 12 counties to plan and present arts and cultural events? The Arts in Schools program, the Summer Enrichment program, and the Have a Seat program that every year gives numerous season tickets to at-risk children and their chaperones are programs that fall under ABAC Arts Connection, and we are at risk of losing them all.

The Arts and Entertainment Series that brings quality national and international touring companies to Tift, Turner, and Irwin counties while admitting ABAC arts students to these events free of charge is about to be hit with a lethal blow.

Are we really prepared to lose ABAC Arts Connection, an office here in Tifton that serves not only as a respected regional and statewide resource, but also as a vital resource to more than 50 local artists? If implemented, the cuts will leave us without the Wiregrass Film Festival where short, independent films are featured. It will pull the plug on the Wiregrass Young Writers Camp that is presently being organized, soon to be implemented.

The proposed cuts will leave lifeless a yearly jazz workshop featuring a world-known, professional artist and offered free of charge to ABAC students and regional high school jazz bands from across the South. The Tuesday Concert Series, produced by Dr. Susan Roe, will suffer without the publicity, staff support, and piano tuning provided by Arts Connection. And again, like many of our arts programs, the First Tuesday Series admits faculty and students free of charge.

The loss of ABAC Arts Connection will leave arts councils in Turner, Irwin, Ben Hill, Worth, Coffee, Ware, Bacon, Wilcox, Jeff Davis, Atkinson, Tift, and Telfair counties struggling to survive without the support they need to produce arts and cultural events.

What will happen to the Arts in Black Festival that celebrates African-American heritage? Along with Arts in Black, we risk losing La Fiesta Del Pueblo festival, a celebration of Latino culture, arts, and heritage.

In 2009, the total economic impact on our community as a direct result of ABAC Art Connection totaled over 2 million dollars. In 2009, one-thousand students received the equivalent of $9,000 in tickets while the First Tuesday Series, iMovie Festival, and Wiregrass Film Festival received approximately $15,000 in direct support.

The cuts will debilitate Love Affair, a premier fine arts festival that brings over 25,000 visitors to Tifton annually---visitors who spend money for food, lodging, gas and other purchases while in Tifton. The children’s art competition at the Tifton Museum of Arts and Heritage and a poetry café supported by Love Affair will likely disappear along with Love Affair.

Close your eyes and imagine May without the pulsing excitement of the longest running festival in Tifton, a festival that breathes art, dance, drama, music, culture, and yes, fun into our community every year during the first week of May, a festival that admits all without charge, a festival that has been the pride of Tifton for 30 years.

If the proposed cuts are approved vital arts and cultural programs will be left on life support. It will be a sad day for not only the residents of Tift County, but for counties throughout the South.

Brenda Rose,a member of the arts community in South Georgia