The annual round of “Did we get any money from the city?” this year left a lot of small arts organizations shocked - rather than getting less - because the pie is smaller - they got nothing. Zip. Nada. Zilch. The Fund for the Arts, which just posted a one million dollar increase from its fundraising, will pocket an additional $280,000. The Louisville Orchestra, which draws so many to its shows, scores $180,000. The Partnership for a Creative Economy - whatever that is - gets $120,000. Actors’ Theatre of Louisville pockets $59,400 and Kentucky Public Radio and Kentucky Public Radio (Public Radio Partnership) ended up with $75,000. Other organizations picked up smaller amounts.

Off the list entirely was Kentucky Homefront, the WFPK-broadcast radio show, headed by musician John Gage. As a result, Gage has joined forces with Nancy Johnson Barker, producer of the Kentucky Music Weekend show at Iroquois, to stage a joint fundraising event on July 25 and 26, which will feature a paid concert each night. Friday night features Bardstown fingerpicking champion Pat Kirtley; Saturday will feature Tom Chapin, brother of the late Harry Chapin and folksinger of note in his own right. There will be other performers but as of this writing, the lineup is not set. Tickets will be $10 a night.

Whatever your favorite local performing group is that might have been defunded, step up and toss some dollars their way. It’s part of what keeps Louisville weird, even if the Metro government can claim that adjective all to itself. Alternately, put some pressure on your Metro council member to restore some of that funding.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 at 4:27 pm and is filed under Americana, LMNEditor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.