On 9 Feb. 95, Lisa Falk did a great thing and provided us with a copy of the
above ref. report.
 
Thanks Lisa!
 
I'm going to print your post (with CQ permission) and recommend it as
important reading for the cultural community in my neck-of-the-woods.  The
report describes the issue of federal funding in great detail.  It does a
pretty fair job of giving us both sides of the debate.  And, I believe, it
also serves as a road map for all of us, individually and collectively, to
use in working up a strategy in response the various facets of the federal
funding issue.
 
One approach would be to take the CQ report and address it one paragraph at
a time.  In doing so, we'd find the flaws in both sides of the argument and
also arrive at possible solutions.  We'd also learn more about our
institutional strengths/weaknesses and risks/opportunities.
 
The only way to deal with the federal funding matter is to be proactive and
to create a give and take atmosphere.  And rather than load up our
Congresspeople with bits of information, lets do a gestalt thing and give
everyone a well thought out, concise and comprehensive response to questions
being raised about our use/misuse/need/want of federal funding.
 
Because of their more-or-less neutral (neither fish nor fowl) position, I'd
suggest that the IMS and ASTC take on the responsibility of formulating our
strategic response.  And because we're talking $$$, I'd also suggest that
every development person add every ounce of good thinking they can to the
task at hand. It is within the realm of development that the full weight of
these trying times will fall.
 
If Lisa got a ball rolling with her post, let me give it a little shove by
offering the first paragraph for us to tackle:
 
>     Critics of the federal subsidies complain that rather than  flowing
> out to rural and neglected areas, the dollars have been  concentrated in
> the cities already rich in the arts. Republican  Rep. Philip M. Crane of
> Illinois  pointed to the John F. Kennedy  Center for the Performing Arts
> in Washington, D.C., which  received $10.3 million in fiscal 1995, as an
> example of how the  entire nation is forced to subsidize cultural events
> attended  only by people in the capital.
 
 
 
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Rich Jones                              Governing Board For:
Development Director                    Carter House Natural Science Museum
Shasta Natural Science Association      Redding Arboretum By The River
[log in to unmask]              SNSA Environmental Resources Center