Countering the governor’s proposal to remove all state funding for the arts, Hoboken Mayor David Roberts, the City Council, local artist activists and Hoboken Historical Museum officials are asking Gov. James E. McGreevey to reconsider eliminating $31.7 million in arts and cultural funding in the next state budget, due in June.
The governor’s proposed slashing of arts funding is a belt-tightening measure to help close a reported $5 billion spending gap. If the budget does pass as proposed, Hudson County and Hoboken’s artist communities will be hit particularly hard. The proposed budget would eliminate approximately $18 million from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, as well as $3.7 million from the New Jersey Historical Commission and the $10 million budgeted for the New Jersey Cultural Trust, a public-private partnership meant to stabilize struggling cultural groups.
Directly affected here in Hoboken, if the cuts do occur, would be the Hoboken Historical Museum, which, according to Director Bob Foster, would lose over 30 percent of its total funding.
According to Foster, the museum, located at 1301 Hudson St., has relied on money from both the Council on the Arts and from the Historical Commission. Since the fiscal year 2000, the Historical Commission’s grant program has disbursed funds to over 500 organizations statewide.
In Hoboken, those funds were provided to conduct original research and to produce exhibits, publications, and oral history projects. The money is also used to support internships and assist with the general operating expenses at the museum.
"Right now we’re still reeling with the possibility of what might happen," said Foster at a press conference Wednesday. "It’s reasonable to expect cuts giving the current economic climate, but complete de-funding is not a reasonable option. This is a really bad thing for us and many others."
Foster added that without the support of the Historical Commission, the museum will inevitably have to change how it programs its exhibits, publications, lectures and tours. There might not be as many tours, exhibits, and informational publications, and longer periods between new exhibits.
"Our doors will stay open, but things will be different," he said.
As a show of support to the arts community, Roberts presented a resolution to the City Council Wednesday night that urged the McGreevey administration to restore at least some funding to art and cultural institutions. The resolution passed unanimously.
"We stand in unison in recommending that [McGreevey] reconsider the extreme nature of the state’s cuts to art and cultural organizations," said Roberts. "We understand that the state is in the midst of a dire fiscal crisis, and a measured cut should be expected, but I do not believe that cutting all funding for the arts is the solution."
Roberts added that the arts are an important quality-of-life issue for all Hoboken residents and deserve to be supported. "Our museums, cultural organizations, artists, writers, poets, dancers, sculptors, playwrights, historians and every member of the art and cultural community all provide and contribute significantly to the quality of life of our state, county and municipal residents," said Roberts.
Bill LaRosa, Hudson County’s director of cultural affairs, praised Roberts and the City Council for being the first municipality to pass a resolution asking McGreevey to reconsider. At a Hudson County Freeholders’ meeting Feb. 13, several prominent arts representatives voiced their concerns about the governor’s proposal, which is scheduled for approval by the state legislature in late June. But according to LaRosa, Hoboken is the only county municipality to go forward with such a resolution.
"It’s going to take a lot more pressure to stop the state from eliminating its art and cultural funding," said LaRosa. "I hope other municipalities follow suit with Hoboken. It’s like cutting off your nose to spite your face. It will have long-term repercussions."
Clair Lucas, a member of the museum’s Board of Trustees, said Wednesday that it’s essential that the governor reconsiders.
"This could be a crushing blow for a museum that opened just over a year ago," said Lucas. "This is a quality-of-life issue for all Hoboken residents. One of the reasons that Hoboken has become revitalized and rejuvenated is that artists have come here and given the city a distinct and attractive cultural identity."
John Carey, another board member, said that it would be a real shame for a museum that has showed constant growth since opening in 2001 to lose funding. "Right now we have over 40 events, exhibits, lectures and tours that are all very well-attended," he said. "We have a long-term plan that would ensure wonderful programs well into the future, so the last thing that we would want is to become stagnant, and we definitely don’t want to start to go backwards."
Mind on the money
Flipping through the guest book at the museum, one thing immediately jumps out – there are a lot of out-of-towners who make the trip to the mile-square city to see the exhibits.
"I would guess about 40 percent of visitors aren’t from Hoboken," said Foster. He added that strong arts and culture in a city can be an economic engine.
"The arts entice people to visit the city," said museum board member and City Council candidate Beth Mason. "And with them, they bring their tourist dollars." She said that if these people no longer come into town it is going affect local merchants.
Mason added that having museums, festivals and cultural outlets creates an identity for a city. "Each town has its own history, and if you lose the museums and events that support that history, you lose the cultural identity of that town," she said.
Roberts agreed that the economic benefits of the arts can’t be overlooked. "The preservation and availability of arts and historic-related projects and presentations has been part of the reason for [Hoboken’s] economic resurgence, and community revitalization," said Roberts.
Trickle-down effect
While the museum might be the group hit hardest by the governor’s proposed cuts, according to the city Director of Cultural Affairs Geri Fallo, there will be an unavoidable ripple effect that will affect everyone in the art community.
Under Fallo’s watch, the city sponsors popular events such as the spring and fall Art and Music Festivals, Movies in the Park, Artist Studio Tours, and the Summer Concert Series, among other events.
According to Fallo, these events are primarily sponsored and paid for by the city and local private sponsors, with little in the way of state funding. But what does happen is that the corporations and businesses that support the arts only have so much money to spend on sponsorships. She said that if state funding dries up, then the companies that support the arts might choose to support the larger organizations that lost their funding. That will leave some of the smaller art and culture-based organizations out in the cold.
"There’s going to be a trickle-down effect," she said. "There is only so much sponsorship money to go around. If the big organizations all of the sudden need extra sponsorship, smaller groups are going to be out of luck."
Fallo added that another effect of the cuts in funding will be lost jobs. "There are going to be people that are going to lose their jobs," she said. "So the state can either pay for these people to keep their jobs, or else they’re eventually going to have to dish out unemployment checks."