Much Ado About…Something.

There has been a veritable firestorm of commentary recently regarding Erie County Executive Collins' slashing of the Arts from the new budget. All the heavyweights have weighed in, including Artvoice and the Buffalo News; there have been blog posts and Facebook groups and even an extremely ill-informed "Everybody's Column" from a gentleman in Hamburg who, among other things, on his Facebook page commented on the proposed Irish debt bailout by the EU by saying, "If this will prevent another wave of Irish immigration to the U.S. then I'm all for it. We don't have enough ghettos for any more Irish."

There is one voice in this hue and cry that I have not yet heard, however: that of the local community theatres. They have been around as long as, if not (much) longer than the Irish Classicals, Alleyways and Shakespeares in the Park and share the same vision: to provide quality live entertainment to the people of their communities. They, however, have not received on red cent from the county budget. Ever. And yet they continue to survive in a world made less theatre-friendly by TV, movies, the internet and Red Box.

I'm not implying that the Arts should not be publicly funded; just the opposite, in fact. The Arts need to be aggressively funded by our tax dollars. Study after study has proven that exposure to the Arts starting at an early age and continuing throughout life leads to better cognitive development, better language skills, and greater success in later life. Why should we not fund the Arts which, by the way, bring millions of dollars into the area? Why should we fund sports stadiums for perpetually losing teams when our culture is dying of thirst? If I had my choice, a much larger chunk of my tax dollars would go directly to supporting the Arts in WNY.

I guess what I am saying is this: in a world of harsh realities it is entirely possible that these county funds are gone; if not for good, then at least for the foreseeable future. Live with it, Irish Classical. Live with it, Alleyway. Live with it, Shakespeare in the Park. Western NY's community theatres do, and always have.