The Colorado legislature has passed the state budget for next year (HB10-1339), but is now considering the final numbers for the arts and film in what is being called the "Long Bill." In the 2009 fiscal year, funding for the Colorado Council on the Arts (CCA) was cut by 25%, and funding for the Office of Film, Television and Media (OFTM) was cut 10.7%. However, in the Joint Budget Committee's budget proposal for next year, funding for the CCA is scheduled to take an additional budget cut of 2%, bringing it to a level of $1,178,071. The OFTM budget will stand at $428,556. While additional cuts are unfortunate, these modest reductions do reflect the current difficult economic period we all have to manage, and the cuts would have been worse without the work of Arts for Colorado and its advocates at the Capitol. Thus, at this time, please contact your representatives in the House and Senate to ask them to support the Joint Budget Committee's budget proposal.
The time is NOW to support the arts in Colorado!