With sweeping cuts to federal funding across the nation, many arts programs have been affected. While some Morehead arts officials said they remain unaffected, they said these losses can be detrimental for smaller communities.
Waylan Coffey, Arts and Cultural Director for Morehead Rowan County Tourism, said sometimes small arts programs rely heavily or completely on government funding.
“It is kind of a make-or-break situation for a lot of these arts organizations, you know they rely heavily on the funding from state or city or local government entities. And when that funding gets slashed, it often means people get laid off, or programing gets cut, or in some cases that funding is so important it comes down to operational costs,” said Coffey.
Coffey said thankfully, the Rowan County Arts Center, which he oversees, is a subsection of Morehead Rowan County Tourism. He said this protects them from relying on grants and other governmental funding measures. This means they have not been impacted by any cuts so far, but he recognizes that most small art centers are not as lucky.
He said many of them already have limited arts programing, so any loss at all can be harmful.
“In many of these communities, there’s only one space that offers art. So, it’s like, when that gets cut, there’s nowhere for people to go to do arts. And this affects adults and children, so it’s detrimental to the art community when funding like this gets cut,” said Coffey.
Coffey said it’s important to encourage arts across all age groups and skill levels. He said having places for people to be creative and make art is vital to having healthy communities, and without those outlets people can feel stifled.