Governor DeSantis has used his veto power to cut nearly $6 million from the state budget for Florida’s public radio and TV stations. Each of the state’s radio stations will lose about $100,000 and each TV station will lose about $370,000.
Miami-Dade county mayor Daniella Levine Cava has proposed cutting $12.8 million from the county cultural arts funding. If approved, this cut would reduce arts funding by more than half. Also proposed are merging the Department of Cultural Affairs with the Miami-Dade Public Library system and eliminating the Director of the Department of Cultural Affairs. The arts in Miami -Dade support 32,000 jobs and $2.1 billion in economic activity and produce $443 million in public revenue, and a cut this size would be devastating to the arts community.
Kansas Governor Mike Kehoe has vetoed 208 items, cutting nearly $300 million from the state budget. Cuts include arts organizations, including the Kansas City Lyric Opera, which will lose $500,000, and Arts as Mentorship, which will lose $198,000.
The U.S. House Appropriations Committee has proposed 35 percent cuts to the National Endowment of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. They also proposed at 17 percent cut to the Kennedy Center budget. If approved, the NEA allocation would drop by $72 million from the current year allocation, to its lowest allocation since 2007. The proposed allocation would also prohibit use of funds to support diversity, equity, and inclusion or to promote critical race theory.
recording
Warner Music will cut $170 million by laying off staff. They will also reduce administration and real estate costs by another $130 million. The $300 million in cuts are meant to “future-proof” the company.
Warner Music and Bain Capital are launching a $1.2 billion bid to buy “legendary” music catalogues such as that of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Warner and Bain would invest equally, with half of the funding in cash and half in financing.
According to Nielsen, broadcast TV viewing has fallen below 20 percent viewership for the first time. Streaming viewing accounted for 46 percent of viewers, with Netflix alone accounting for 8.3 percent of viewers.
symphonic
Milwaukee Symphony musicians have ratified a new three-year contract. Wages will rise three percent in each of the first two years and by 3.5 percent in the final year. The orchestra will also make best efforts to increase the size of the orchestra by two musicians, to 72.
Milwaukee Ballet announced that it will use recorded tracks for its Nutcracker performances, due to budgetary concerns. Luckily, an anonymous donor stepped in and provided funding to return the orchestra to the pit.