President Trump’s Budget Axe Could Chop Local Arts
By: Taylor Nimmo
Posted on:
New Budget Plans
If President Donald Trump’s proposed budget is approved by Congress, local programs, funded through the National Endowment of the Arts, will likely suffer. The Dairy Barn Center in Athens could lose as much as $30,000 each year.
Effects Hit Home
Jane Forrest Redfern, executive director for the Dairy Barn Arts Center, said that funding from the National Endowment of the Arts is crucial for Athens and other cities of its size.
“Especially in rural areas, we don’t have foundations or corporations like big cities do,” she said. “When our $30,000 gets cut, it is $30,000 we have to go out and find in a very low-income community.”
Athens, Ohio: Rich Culture and Beauty
Losing the funding will also affect jobs as well as summer programs for children. Athens resident Ann Windsor said that eliminating these activities and local arts programs would hit Athens both economically and culturally.
She said it is also concerning because art and creativity are often therapeutic.
“My son is very much into art and expressive. He has more of an engineering brain, but he’s now taking more notice of things in our environment than he did as a child,” She said. “This summer he will be doing something where art is involved.”
Windsor said it would be unfortunate to lose the rich history and culture that can be found at both the Ridges and the Dairy Barn.
“To lose something that so many people have invested in by volunteering, getting their children involved in, older residents getting involved in, and just seeing the diversity of what people can create, it would be a huge loss,” she said.