and we are back

so i have been ignoring this blog, but i am back . . . . .

LAYOFFS!

READ THIS NOW!

How is this possible? Really? That many people? It is so disturbing how museums are being forced to just get rid of their employees. I know these are tough times, but this is just a little too much for me. Then you see the reality of the situation when you read this:

"An omnibus bill for the current fiscal year introduced on Monday by the House Appropriations Committee includes $10 million each for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, which would bring each of their annual budgets to $155 million. The allocations, which have not been acted on by the House and Senate, follow the approval on Feb. 13 of $50 million in additional funds for the National Endowment for the Arts in Congress’s economic stimulus bill. In the previous fiscal year, the endowment’s budget rose to $144.7 million from $124.4 million."

So out of the billions upon billions of dollars being bumped out by the stimulus package they could only find a meager $20million combined for America's federal arts and humanities programs? Really? This drives me crazy. During the Depression Roosevelt made sure that the arts were appropriately funded - WPA - and because of that America produced an unprecedented amount of art. The WPA also contributed to America's central role in the art world in the early/mid 20th century.