A couple of quick notes for your Tuesday:
- Did anyone see Charlottesville’s own Nick Gorski on Jeopardy! last night?
- Check out this week’s Feedback column in the print edition of your favorite local weekly, where I discuss the decorated Parking Lot Movie and the coming departure of JPJ manager Larry Wilson.
- An update on that front: It was announced this morning that assistant general manager Jason Pedone will replace Wilson at the arena. His duties may include overseeing the Paramount Theater, which, like JPJ, is managed by SMG. He’s got big shoes to fill, as Wilson is credited with putting Charlottesville on the map for some mega-acts like U2 and The Rolling Stones.
The Virginia Commission for the Arts escaped budget cuts in the House of Delegates that would have eliminated it entirely, and will be funded at $1.14 million for 2011 and 2012. They emerged from the battle with $290,000 less than they went in with, which, looking at the numbers, still looks pretty significant.
This from its website:
"As we move forward in the next year, working to restore our funding and making adjustments to new economic realities, we will continue to ask for your support to preserve the programs that help make Virginia such a rich and vibrant place to live."
It was last month that Virginia’s House Appropriations Committee decided they wanted to eliminate half the funding for the Virginia Commission for the Arts, effective in July—and eliminate the office entirely by July 2011. They were up against the Senate Finance Committee, which had its way with the $290,000 cut in July, and no further.
Why does this matter? Consider this from the locally run Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, which also receives direct state appropriations:
“VFH has already experienced deep cuts, in the last two budget years, adversely affecting every VFH program. Additional cuts will undermine such well-known educational programs as the Virginia Festival of the Book, Encyclopedia Virginia, VFH Grants and Fellowships, With Good Reason Radio programs; African American, Virginia Indian, and Virginia Folklife Programs.”
Can you imagine life without those treats?
