There's been plenty of talk of Shakespeare in the chambers of the Erie County Legislature lately.
On Tuesday, the Legislature expects to put money behind all that talk.
A bipartisan budget deal that came together Friday would give $931,841 to dozens of theaters, galleries and other cultural organizations shut out of the Erie County budget last year.
That's $45,000 more than what the Greater Buffalo Cultural Alliance requested last month when it asked county lawmakers to return to funding amounts allocated in the Legislature's adopted 2010 budget.
Legislators added three organizations -- the Colored Musicians Club, Langston Hughes Institute and the Michigan Street Preservation Corp./ Nash house -- to the list.
Here's the breakdown of what the county's Finance, Management and Budget committee approved on Friday:
- African American Cultural Center $132,411.00
- Alleyway Theatre $7,016.00
- American Legion Band of Tonawandas $4,677.00
- Ballet Artists of WNY (Neglia) $10,523.00
- Big Orbit Gallery $17,142.00
- Buffalo Arts Studio $30,000.00
- Buffalo City Ballet $13,096.00
- Buffalo Naval & Servicemans Park $20,000.00
- Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus $25,000.00
- CEPA $47,140.00
- Colored Musicians Club $15,000.00
- Community Music School of Buffalo $2,432.00
- El Museo Gallery $6,548.00
- Explore & More $23,808.00
- Folkloric Dance $1,871.00
- Hallwalls $51,426.00
- Irish Classical Theatre $73,710.00
- Just Buffalo $51,426.00
- Kavinoky Theatre $10,523.00
- Lancaster Opera House $11,225.00
- Langston Hughes Institute $15,000.00
- Locust St Neighborhood Art Classes $10,523.00
- Michigan Street Preservation Corp/Nash House $15,000.00
- Music Is Art $45,000.00
- Musicalfare Theatre $33,332.00
- New Phoenix Theatre $25,000.00
- Pierce Arrow Museum $4,677.00
- Polish Arts Club of Buffalo Inc $8,000.00
- Road Less Traveled Productions $4,750.00
- Roycroft Campus Corporation $9,677.00
- Shakespeare In the Park $85,710.00
- Springville Center for the Arts $14,031.00
- Squeaky Wheel $13,714.00
- Theatre of Youth $51,695.00
- Ujima Company $30,000.00
- Western New York Artists Group $3,742.00
- Young Audiences of WNY $7,016.00
The full Legislature will vote on the proposal Tuesday. It will then go back to County Executive Chris Collins, who could veto the measure. Legislators on Friday said they did not anticipate a veto.
View all of the Legislature's proposed budget amendments on the table here.
--Denise Jewell Gee
tagged
Cultural Funding | Erie County | Erie County Legislature
