83% cut in the Decentralized Arts Funding - DAF - seems to be all but reality for Louisiana's world of dance, drama, visual arts, etc etc

SRAC grants panel, Shreveport
Originally uploaded by trudeau

A message to artists from Irene Vandever, Executive Director of the
Arts and Humanities Council of SWLA:

Not surprisingly, the funding for DAF and Statewide Arts Funding was vetoed by the Governor today. I say “not surprisingly” since the Senate had tied this funding to tapping the Rainy Day monies and Governor Jindal had already promised exactly this action.

We may hope against hope, we can email, fax, text and call, but in the end, it is not the elected officials who will pay the price for this decision – it is us, the residents of Southwest Louisiana and all across the state.

The Arts and Humanities Council of SW La has just spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to prepare for the DAF round to fund area non-profits and presenters, festivals and arts organizations for 2010 (eds's note: so has SRAC; see the DAF panel in action above). Now, we are going to have 15% of the already over-burdened DAF amount to distribute to our constituents.

Make no mistake, this catastrophic cut will be a fatal wound for some of our region’s groups and events. The focus for the Council now is to find every way possible to off-set the devastation of the loss of this funding. Look for more in the coming weeks.

The Council, our Board and I are charged with supporting and growing the valuable cultural programming throughout Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron and Jefferson Davis parishes. As long as we are able, we will strive to fulfill that mission. Email or call our offices to find out how you can help.

Irene Vandever, 809 Kirby Street, Suite 202
Lake Charles, Louisiana 70601-5372
(337) 439-2787, director@artsandhumanitiesswla.org

Thanks to Susan Breeland for forwarding this early announcement of the bad news.