.BREAKING NEWS: Oakland’s Arts Face Deep Cuts

Facing a $30 million budget shortfall for the upcoming fiscal year, the Oakland City Council will likely make some tough choices next week during its midcycle budget review process. One of the most severe is a proposed 50 percent reduction to the city’s Cultural Funding Program.

The Cultural Funding Program provides about $1 million in grants annually to arts organizations and artists, funding individual art projects, organizations’ operations, and arts education in the schools. Some of the city’s biggest arts and cultural institutions receive grants through the program, which is funded by the general fund.

And if the proposed 50 percent cuts are approved, it will undoubtedly put a strain on an already-strained arts community. “I don’t know what they’re thinking,” said Margo Dunlap, chair and co-founder of the Oakland Cultural Trust, an association of Oakland art organizations and artists, and executive director of Pro Arts, which receives funding through the program. “This is a time for trimming the budget, not for eliminating infrastructure. A 50-percent cut is one stroke from eliminating the entire program.”

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