SEQUESTRATION

by Spot LA


​Well, its inevitable.  Sequestration will affect the arts..  How am I not surprised!!  Here's an informative article in the Washington Post about the impact of Sequestration and the arts. 

Cultural institutions preparing for federal budget cuts

By Katherine Boyle and Lonnae O’Neal Parker,February 28, 2013

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Patrons walk through the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Friday,… (Alex Brandon/ASSOCIATED…)

Federally funded cultural institutions are preparing for the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts known as the sequester that are scheduled to take effect Friday. Most institutions have anticipated the cuts and will meet budget constraints through delaying maintenance and repairs to their facilities. Others, including the Library of Congress andthe National Gallery of Art, are preparing for furlough days in the coming months, and the staff reductions would force the gallery to close for up to seven additional days.

The gallery’s furloughs would begin in June and take place on up to seven Mondays, spokeswoman Deborah Ziska said Thursday. The furloughs would force the gallery, which is open every day except Christmas and New Year’s Day, to close its doors to the public for those days. The gallery is likely to have over $5.7 million cut from its $128.4 million budget for the fiscal year.

At a House appropriations subcommittee hearing Wednesday, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington testified that the library’s budget will be reduced by 5.3 percent, or more than $31 million. Seventeen percent of that reduction would come from four furlough days through the end of the year. Other library cuts include reductions in bookbinding and book preservation and a reduction in acquisition amounting to more than 400,000 collection items. There will be delays for information requests from the Congressional Research Service, an increase in the backlog of claims to the U.S. Copyright Office and cutbacks in basic operational services such as security, cleaning and food service, according to Billington. There will also be a reduction in the availability of reading material provided to the blind and physically disabled.