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May 21, 2012

Blogs / Talk About Arts / Annual 2010 / Good riddance to the “partnership” that never was

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Good riddance to the “partnership” that never was

It’s business as usual in the world of cultural funding. After a last-minute deal where the Oishei Foundation promised to contribute 400k to arts and other groups left out of the County Exec’s short-sighted and mean-spirited “Big Ten” plan (provided the county gave 100k), Oishei has decided to withdraw and give out money to arts groups without the legislature’s miniscule financial contribution and (probable) maximum political meddling.

And that is how it should be. The Oishei is fulfilling its mission by using its own resources and criteria to distribute funding. How it shouldn’t be is what our county government has done—essentially dismantled a cultural funding process that was working fine for decades and turned the broken pieces into a disgraceful game of political chicken. They did not deserve to be bailed out by Oishei, and I am glad the foundation has wisely decided they can help arts groups much more effectively without the county’s participation.

That does not mean the county has no responsibility toward WNY’s arts and cultural community. The main reason the funding has been in jeopardy over the last few years is not because of the tiny proportion of the budget it requires; it is because we have a County Executive who was able to convince a largely misinformed electorate that “running the county like a business” meant handing it over to a wealthy businessman who is completely disengaged from the real needs of the people he is supposed to be serving; be it libraries, theaters, or day care programs—safely insulated behind a bastion of “I got mine” values—our County Exec simply does not care about providing a good quality of life to all the people of Western New York. I don’t even think he knows what that means.

Happy holidays and all that.