The Kentucky Arts Council has warned arts organizations that receive Kentucky Arts Partnership grants to expect substantial cuts in financial support.
According to WFPL, a cut of $475,000 from the Kentucky Arts Council budget has decreased the partnership grant pool by 25 percent. Margaret Prim, Executive Director of the Pennyroyal Arts Council in Christian County, is already preparing to deal with diminished funds.
“Our hopes are to try to make up any deficient funds that we get. It’s always a struggle when your funds are cut from a state or local level. But again, we do, we provide a great service in our community. Our community has been very supportive of the arts and arts educational programs that we’ve developed and we’re responsible for. So we hope that we can continue, you know, gain some additional support from our community.”
Frank Bennett, Chief Executive Officer of the Quilt Museum in Paducah, says he will know how to factor the funding cuts into the museum’s budget within the next thirty days. Arts organizations in Trigg, Marshall, Graves, Henderson, and Calloway also receive Kentucky Arts Partnership grants and may expect to see a diminished budget in the following year.
The arts organizations in these counties, together with McCracken and Christian, received a total of $174,150 for the 2014 fiscal year.