Funding for the fine arts has always suffered at the hands of inconsistency.  When budget cuts or a troubled economy hits, arts funding is usually the first to be afflicted. Deemed an unnecessary extravagance in hard times, public support usually falters, putting arts on the backburner for the time being.  And in an industry dependent upon the generous donations of private donors to stay afloat, arts funding rests on a perilous precipice, which battles continuous struggles to meet its financial constraints. While the arts shouldn’t have to come with a price tag attached, the obvious shortcomings of funding are making it clear that creative solutions must be made to dig the arts out of its funding rut.

Within the Pacific Northwest, public appreciation for the arts has never gone unnoticed. In the metropolitan areas, such as Portland, Oregon, there are a wide array of art galleries, dance companies, theater and symphonic productions and more. The Oregon Ballet Theater (OBT) has gained nationwide recognition and the contemporary art scene has garnered rave reviews and attracted national attention. However, public appreciation in the form of large-scale donations has always been a trickier problem to deal with. This past summer, the OBT was a prime example of the dire funding situations dance and theater companies are now facing. Holding a massive gala fundraiser last summer to raise enough money to secure another season, the OBT was able to pull together about $900,000 from almost 1,000 donors to continue operations.  Their public plea for donations was a big step forward in admitting that funding is tight and sometimes drastic cost-cutting measures just aren’t enough.

Within Eugene, the Eugene Ballet Company and the University of Oregon’s School of Music and Dance are facing similar dilemmas. Lack of funding has let to budget constraints for the Eugene Ballet Company; so much so the dancers had to pitch in money with a fundraising initiative last spring when faced with a $130,000 budget shortfall. And within the University of Oregon, it’s glaringly obvious how underfunded the dance programs are. Especially in comparison to athletics funding, dance remains without much-needed equipment, facilities or funding for an expansion of dance programs.

In addition to dance, with the theater community, the funding situation isn’t much better off. One of the bigger setbacks to theater has been the budget cuts to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) in 2008; causing restrictions on production choices and scaling back on costs. It faced a $750,000 shortfall in 2008 with an additional $650,000 cut after lagging ticket sales. For 2009, $1 million was cut from its annual budget. However, through vigorous marketing initiatives, 2009 brought in record attendance and revenue; showing a display of true Oregonian support for their local theater communities after a dismal year in which support slowed to a halt. But Robert Hackett, the festival’s marketing manager, is proceeding ahead slowly with future donation projections. Not wanting a repeat of 2008, he acknowledged that donations and public support can always waver in a tough economic climate and that setting up modest budget proposals is better than being overconfident in expected revenue. These wide-ranging fluctuations in theater funding prove the difficulties of long-term funding for the arts.

In addition, within the realm of music, the economic recession has hit funding hard. Ticket sales alone aren’t enough to keep classical music afloat in concert halls; again, generous donations are what keep music productions alive. The Oregon Symphony, which receives the majority of its funding from audience members’ ticket sales and donations, is currently dealing with budget cutbacks. In this case, musicians’ salaries were cut (a 7.5 percent decrease to their paychecks) and a more than 50 percent reduction in musicians’ pension and health insurance. While the quality of music may not have suffered, its staff is bearing the burden of budget cuts; most likely discouraging music professionals from entering the field. If financial opportunities in the Pacific Northwest are scare, the less likely new artists are to come to Oregonian hubs of culture. After all, if there exists no fiscal infrastructure to support them, what’s the point of living where success is a near-impossible thing to attain?

Within the University of Oregon, the School of Music and Dance has had its share of hardships when it comes to inadequate funding. Unless affiliated with the school’s marching band, the School of Music and Dance is left with insufficient funds to upgrade equipment or facilities; ultimately leaving students in the dust. In addition, the University’s a capella group “Mind the Gap” , which depends on ASUO funding for most of its operations, is beginning to suffer too as the ASUO  denied their appeal to request for more funding from the ASUO surplus fund. This means they’ve had to forego production of their new CD; an unfortunate consequence of decreasing support for music programs everywhere.

The arts have always been the first to be affected by budget cuts and underfunding during times of economic distress. When money becomes tight, priorities are rearranged so that the arts are considered an expendable luxury. However, it’s becoming more and more paramount to community and culture to support the arts in these hard times. Finding a creative way to hold steady a continuous flow of charitable donations seems to be the key. Instead of relying upon sporadic donations and endowments from various organizations (whose money runs dry during economic downturns), communities must rally together to form relationships with arts organizations to prevent their downfalls.

The lack of support for the arts has never dwindled. Rather, monetary support for the arts has remained a constantly tricky dilemma. While buying art out of its rut may seem a materialistic viewpoint, appreciation for the arts alone has proven insufficient. Keeping the arts alive requires financial strategies. Making long-term monetary investments in the arts will help guarantee its lasting survival. And ensuring a future of artistic development? There’s no act better than that. It might be best for all to do their part and help fund art.

Sources:

• The Oregonian: “The Oregon Ballet Theater lives to dance another day”

   http://blog.oregonlive.com/portlandarts/2009/06/oregon_ballet_theatre_lives_to.html

• Wilamette Weekly Portland: Oregon Ballet Theater: $750,000 or bust.

http://blogs.wweek.com/news/2009/05/28/oregon-ballet-theatre-750000-or-bust/

• The Register Guard:  Dancers pitch in to help ballet company make ends meet http://special.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/cityregion/1058207-41/story.csp

• The Oregonian: From deep budget cuts a year ago, Oregon Shakespeare Festival rallies to post revenue record

http://www.oregonlive.com/performance/index.ssf/2009/11/from_deep_budget_cuts_a_year_a.html

• The Oregonian: Oregon Shakespeare Festival announces budget shortfall, cuts

http://www.oregonlive.com/performance/index.ssf/2008/10/oregon_shakespeare_festival_an.html

• The Oregonian: Oregon Shakespeare Festival turns slump into record year

http://www.oregonlive.com/O/index.ssf/2009/11/oregon_shakespeare_festival_tu.html

• The Portland Tribune: The money’s out there, but very little of it goes to art

http://www.portlandtribune.com/rethinking/story.php?story_id=119049785087891700

•  The Oregonian:  Oregon Symphony urges city commissioners to support the arts

http://www.oregonlive.com/performance/index.ssf/2009/04/the_city_council_is_apparently.html

• The Oregon Daily Emerald: ASUO should support the arts with more funding

http://www.dailyemerald.com/2.2378/asuo-should-support-the-arts-with-more-funding-1.198910

• The Oregonian: Work for Art: A lot give a little

http://blog.oregonlive.com/portlandarts/2009/09/work_for_art_a_lot_give_a_litt.html

• The Oregonian:  Well yes, Oregon IS for dreamers

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/07/in_need_of_the_arts_now_more_t.html

• The Oregonian: In need of the arts now, more than ever

http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/06/well_yes_oregon_is_for_dreamer.html

This is a public service announcement to advocate for arts funding at the University of Oregon.

An interview montage created to inform viewers on the University of Oregon’s current state of art funding.

This term our group decided to tackle the issues regarding funding for public and college arts programs. In order to better understand the issue and bring ourselves up to speed on the current state of this topic, we began by researching arts funding. We found many campaigns that provided us with ideas and insight into how others were addressing the diminishing support and funding and we decided to focus on four main areas of art: Drama, Visual Art, Music, and Dance. It was this central theme that we revolved our blog around. We directed our media pieces and blog towards college students and potential donors with plans to inspire and educate them on our main issue; arts funding and programs are disappearing on a national level and need support and better funding.

Next we brainstormed ideas for media projects and decided to create an informational interview montage and a public service announcement. The idea of the montage was to educate about our current state of arts funding at the university. We contacted and video interviewed three staff members: Brad Foley, the dean of the School of Music and Dance, Cecilia LaFayette, the coordinator of finance and operations, and Dawn Urista, a graduate student dance instructor. Scheduling interview appointments and working with malfunctioning equipment were problems we faced but worked through.

The theme of the PSA was that without funding, the arts would be dull and void of color but with support we can breathe life back into the arts. To do this we obtained video footage of students at the university in their arts classes and used an effect to remove the color. As the piece progressed, the color slowly returns to the footage to foster our theme. The idea of the PSA was to inspire students and potential donors about art and to encourage their support and donations.

For our two-dimensional piece we generated a logo that encompassed our themes so far and became our campaign motto. Inside a circle of art related images sits our slogan “Get Smart. Fund Art.” We chose this slogan because it is catchy, short, memorable and the word “art” can be derived from the word “smart,” which we used in our creative design, one of our strong points. Also, the logo is black and white with the only color being in the word “art” to reiterate our metaphor of art as color. Finally, we placed the logo in both of our media pieces and on our blog to tie our campaign together.

One of the most important elements of our term-long campaign was our group’s undeniable passion for the issue we were working with. Each of us truly enjoyed what we were researching and standing for which made it easy to agree on angles to take and projects to make. It makes work so much harder if you lack fervor for the cause you support, and because of this mutual energy for the topic, our group had a great time working together and produced some high-quality work that we are all very proud of.

Last time I posted on this blog I showed a dim glimpse of the future of the music industry.  Because of the recession, live music and album sales were plummeting. But since then, I am happy to report that there is a really bright-fucking-light at the end of this tunnel. Rejoice ye fellow rockers, hip hoppers, country fans (I will acknowledge that you exist, but I still don’t support your music taste), punks, hardcore kids, jazz fans, classical lovers, ravers, and indie popers, because the sales are up and the music is a-boomin’.

Let’s start with New Zealand. Why? Because it’s an awesome place and because I found an article about it that I want to share with you.  Chartfest is an annual music expo held in Christchurch (that’s a town not a building) and this year they have more music than ever.  Flip Grater, a local singer/songwriter from Christchurch says “There are just so many wonderful musicians coming through and great songwriters coming through all the time,” this creates huge opportunities for musicians around New Zealand and the expo should generate a good deal of money for these artists as well.

Now let’s go to Seattle. According to The Seattle Times, people there are not worried about pinching their pennies when it comes to buying concert tickets. “Phish sold out two shows at the Gorge Amphitheatre in record time — less than half an hour. Coldplay’s Gorge date sold out in a day. And both the Billy Joel-Elton John show at KeyArena in November and July’s Death Cab for Cutie show at Marymoor Park sold out their first shows and had to add a second.” Take that! You recession bastard!

All around music is beginning to thrive again. Itunes sold more than 1.7 billion songs in 2009, DJ schools like DubSpot in New York are exploding, and, as always, the Portland indie music scene is HUGE. I am so happy to report that nothing can hold music down.

Sources:

• An article about New Zealand’s music expo

http://www.3news.co.nz/NZ-music-thriving-amidst-recession/tabid/418/articleID/106602/Default.aspx

• The Seattle Times article on their thriving music scene

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/musicnightlife/2009252492_summertickets24.html

• Article on Itunes making but-loads of money

http://www.hitsville.org/2008/03/24/does-apple-make-money-on-the-itunes-store/

• Article on DJ schools

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1902852,00.html

• IndieMusicPortland.com

http://www.indiemusicportland.com/page/4/

by Emily Wilson

University of Oregon junior Lisa Garvey knew she wanted a school with a dance program. A dancer since she was three years old, Garvey wanted to continue studying ballet at the University level after years of intensive ballet training. After taking a campus tour her senior year of high school and seeing the sizable sunlit dance studios and the variety of dance classes offered, she decided upon the University of Oregon. However, it wasn’t until she was enrolled in several ballet classes that she began to see the shortcomings of the University’s dance program.

“I’ve always loved dance,” says Garvey. “I wouldn’t have come here [to the University of Oregon] had it not had a dance program. But it wasn’t until I started dancing here that I began to notice the neglect to the dance program.”

Is the lack of funding to blame?

“Definitely,” says Garvey. “We not only need more funding for a better ballet program, but more overall support for dance at this school.”

From better equipment to upgraded facilities, Garvey pointed out that more funding would help encourage more dancers to apply to the dance program; drawing more community support.

Dance programs have taken a hard hit in an economy dependent upon the generosity of private donors to stay afloat. As this past summer proved, even major metropolitan ballet companies such as the Oregon Ballet Theater (OBT), are struggling with a shortcome of funds. When the OBT held an emergency fundraising gala this past summer, it became clear that public funding for the arts just isn’t enough. Even though a surprising break through of $900,000 came through, questions remain as to how to end the repeated cycle of money problems. This past fall, tensions were enough so that a letter written by OBT staffers called for OBT Executive Director Jon Ulsh’s expulsions after the summer’s financial fiasco.

While the professional dance scene in the Pacific Northwest remains as vibrant as ever, the lack of financial resources is discouraging for dancers and their supporters to invest in. No amount of ticket sales or critics praise can help dig dance out of its funding rut; but building relationships with charitable donors can help. Dance organizations must creatively reach out to donors to build communal support for dance.

“Dance has always been affected by budget cuts and underfunding,” says Garvey. “Hopefully, we see a change in that.”

Sources:

• University of Oregon’s Strategic Diversity Action Plan for the School of Music and Dance
  http://oied.uoregon.edu/files/oied/oied/uploads/SOMD.pdf

• Willamette Week Portland: “Oregon Ballet Theatre: $750,000 or bust”
  http://blogs.wweek.com/news/2009/05/28/oregon-ballet-theatre-750000-or-bust/

• Art Scatter Blog: “Oregon Ballet Theatre: Showdown at the No-K Corral”
  http://www.artscatter.com/general/oregon-ballet-theatre-showdown-at-the-no-k-corral/

• The Portland Tribune: “The money’s out there, but very little of it goes to art”
  http://www.portlandtribune.com/rethinking/story.php?story_id=119049785087891700

• The Oregonian: “Well yes, Oregon IS for dreamers”
  http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/06/well_yes_oregon_is_for_dreamer.html

How do you measure talent? Is it by how fast you can run 100 meters? How far you can throw a football? By the number of batters you can strike out? How many goals or baskets you can score? Or is it measured by how high or low you can sing? How well you can perform on stage? How creative you can be with a blank canvas and paint?  How graceful you can move to rhythm? Can you even measure talent?

Here at the University of Oregon, like many college campuses nationwide, there exists a silent controversy brewing over whose talent is most valuable/merited. It is the athletes (namely football players in this scenario), versus the artists, the underappreciated creative geniuses. It is quite obvious, if not obnoxious, whose talent is most rewarded.

Being an athlete and the U of O has is perks, to say the least. Phil Knight, co-founder and chairman of Nike, Inc., and an Oregon Duck himself has donated $100 million to the athletic department alone. Phil Knight sure loves his Ducks, as we can see, but if he loves them so much, why donate so much to the athletic department instead of spreading it to other departments that are in need? The University of Oregon contains a plethora of talent across the spectrum, and if he wants to see more webbed feet in the Nike, Inc. offices, he should consider donating somewhere else, maybe to the Arts Departments?! It is clear what priorities Phil Knight has in mind for our school, but should we be listening to someone who donated against Measures 66 and 67, which are actually beneficial to the University?

There are numerous studies that show students involved in some kind of arts program, for example music, reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs), score considerably higher on the SATs in math and verbal sections of the test, overall contributes to students’ intellectual development and creativity.

Meanwhile, these athletes who are the only students on campus with access to the newest building on the UO campus, the John E. Jaqua Academic Center, are busy stealing, assaulting, strangling and largely embarrassing our school. Why are they being rewarded for their behavior?

You cannot measure talent, and therefore you cannot value one kind of talent over the other. The kind of talent that is being valued does not deserve to be. Food for thought: When these athletes hit 40 years old, they will probably lost almost 100% of their talent; when an artist turns 80, it is most likely they will be able to use their talent just as well as ever did. Action needs to be taken to recognize the underappreciated talent of artists, the dancers, painters, actors, and musicians on campus.

Sources:

• Benefits of Music Education
  http://www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/advocacy/benefits.html

• Rob Beard Assault
  http://espn.go.com/blog/pac10/post/_/id/7992/oregon-kicker-charged-with-misdemeanor-assault

• Masoli/Embry Steal
  http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindducksbeat/2010/01/jeremiah_masoli_garrett_embry.html

• LaMichael James Strangle/Assault
  http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/02/17/crimesider/entry6217266.shtml

• Phil Knight Against Measures 66 and 67
  http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2010/01/measures_66_and_67_phil_knight.html

• Phil Knight Donate
  http://www.dailyemerald.com/2.2358/phil-knight-donates-100-million-to-oregon-athletics-1.197677

by Kayla Albrecht

Who doesn’t love to see their favorite Broadway musical when it comes to town? Flawless voices and uncanny characterization. Or how about cinema? Drooling over award-winning megastars living the lives we all wish we had.  The common factor between these two extremely popular pastimes: Actors. Without actors, these entertainment conglomerates would cease to exist. But good actors don’t receive their talents over night. Acting is a learned craft and a widely enjoyed art form dating back for thousands of years.

From elementary schools to colleges and every level in between, the art of drama is taught nation wide and is a great way for children and young adults to express themselves through storytelling and the opportunity to become somebody else. But because of the massive budget cuts to public school art programs, the disappearance of drama programs is not out of the question. By increasing funding for public school and university arts programs, we preserve a way of expression that is not only popular, but important to our culture.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is one of the oldest and largest non-profit theaters in the country and a major piece of Oregon’s culture and history. Not only does OSF put on over ten plays in eight months, they also offer an extensive theater education program to help develop young actors and other aspiring theater artists.  Along with private donations, this non-profit theater receives a large amount of funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). But federal funding isn’t enough to keep this incredible organization alive. In 2008 the OSF announced a budget shortfall that would devastate the income of the actors working with the company and became “one of its greatest financial challenges in its history” (The Oregonian). The most interesting aspect of this budget fall is that it wasn’t caused by lack of attendance. 2008 was a good year for the OSF in number of theatergoers. It was caused by the failing economy and endowment drops. Fortunately the OSF was able to make it through, but that’s more than many small local theater companies and drama education programs can say.

Without proper funding, public and non-profit theater programs will disappear from curriculum and cease to exist. Not dramatic enough? If these programs continue to die out, the art of drama could perish forever. And that’s no act.

Sources:

• History of Drama from Emory University in Atlanta

http://www.english.emory.edu/DRAMA/HistDrama1.html

• Blog post from Take Part

http://www.takepart.com/news/2009/06/15/public-education%E2%80%99s-dying-arts

• About the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF)

http://www.osfashland.org/about/

• The National Endowment for the Art’s Grants for Theater

http://www.nea.gov/Grants/apply/Theater.html

• Article from The Oregonian

http://www.oregonlive.com/performance/index.ssf/2008/10/oregon_shakespeare_festival_an.html

Play your heart out students of America.  Play it loud, play it fast, and play it now because the music won’t last forever.  Sure, you can keep your instrument after you’ve graduated.  Maybe you can even keep playing it as a hobby, in between feeding your cats and working your desk job in your tiny cubicle next to Todd (Todd is a perfect mix of Brad Pitt and a sewer rat, if the sewer rat had a lazy eye and always smelled like goat cheese) but if the recession breaks down the music industry, that is all that will be left for you… goat cheese Todd.

This recession is harsh and evil, and it makes no exceptions.  Like a huge pissed off maid in an uptown pent house, it‘s vacuuming up everything in its path.  All the small businessmen trapped in the carpet, the auto industry hiding under a couch cushion, and now the music industry in the corner of the kitchen, all being sucked into the maid’s wicked machine.  According to Daniel J. Wakin of The New York Times “the economic crisis has hit classical music, a particularly fragile corner of the nonprofit world that depends as much on donations as on ticket sales.”  New York may soon experience a sudden rise in violin players in the subway system.

The UK is also having the same problem.  According to music.co.uk this recession might be “The Killer of Music.”  Even the Wall Street Journal is skeptical of music surviving, reporting that “Domestic album sales, including digital downloads, fell to 373.9 million units, a decline of 13% from 2008.”  So what will happen to music?  Will people stop playing it because no one can afford to buy tickets?

Tim Sweeney from getsigned.com is one of the few that has hope for the tunes.  According to Mr. Sweeney if bands and other music events want to draw a bigger crowd they need to get creative with promoting.  In Sweeney’s mind it’s not the recession’s fault, it’s the musicians, for not intriguing the listeners enough.  Maybe he is right.  In June of last year Minnesota had a huge boom in live music sales after the city opened eight new music venues.  People were lined up around the corner of to see major and local acts.  Minnesota Public Radio quoted a local saying “You know you think about it, if you’re going out, most cover charges for local bands is $5 or $6,” he said. “That’s cheaper than going to see a movie and arguably more fun, at least in my book.”

In April of 2008, six of the biggest music schools in the country spent tens to hundreds of millions on new facilities.  Funding may not be ideal here at the University of Oregon, but it seems music schools as a whole are getting ready for an explosion of music just like during the Great Depression.  Hopefully that music bomb drops because I don’t want to live in a world where no one has any money and there is no music to cheer people up.  That is my definition of hell.

Sources:

• http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/arts/music/28clas.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=%22classical+music%22&st=nyt

• http://www.music.co.uk/features/recession-killer-music.html

• http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882804574642764293968586.html

• http://www.getsigned.com/reality53.html

• http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/06/08/livemusic/

• http://doublebassblog.org/2008/04/influx-in-music-school-funding.html

In response to the decline in public funding for the arts, a Seattle artist and art educator questions Senator Edwards about the future of young artists in The United States. Edwards responds by stating the current condition and then expresses his support for arts funding and asks leaders in the art community to step forward. He encourages public support; however, he doesn’t address how this will come to be.

VIEW VIDEO

by Emily Wilson

Graduate student Dawn Urista, a professional ballet dancer from Oakland, California, is used to the difficulties that accompany dance. Dealing with injuries, hectic performance and rehearsal schedules and trying to make a living dancing are just a few of those difficulties. However, her newest hardship now comes in the form of inadequate funding for dance programs.

“We had terrific funding for the dance companies in the San Francisco Bay Area,” says Urista. “So it was a difficult transition from Oakland to Eugene in terms of financial support of the arts. Coming up to Eugene only to discover the lack of community support for dance programs was kind of a jolt.”

Although Eugene has a professional ballet company (Eugene Ballet Company) and the University of Oregon has a dance department, there still exists a lack of outward public support for the arts. In Oregon overall, companies have had to overcome the obstacles of much needed funding  after funding for the fine arts took a dive; especially when the Oregon Ballet Theater (OBT) had to hold a massive gala fundraiser and performance to raise enough money to guarantee its survival for at least another season.

The setback in donations from individual donors has meant that many dance companies are subsisting on the bare necessities. The persistent funding dilemma for the arts is only more drastically outline during times of economic distress and the quality of performances can’t be helped by continued cut expenses. Although creative solutions have been reached, such as the gala organized by the OBT in the summer, a lack of funding persists and a solution is still left unfound.

And at the University level, inadequate funding means students in the dance department are left with shortcomings.

“Not a lot of money gets allocated to the dance department,” says Urista. “We don’t have sprung floors; which leads to injuries. We then don’t have personal athletic trainers to treat those injuries. Plus, we don’t have showers or locker rooms or facilities like the Student Athlete Center.”

Because of the lack in funding and public support, dance programs are facing drastic cost-cutting measures to continue operations; which wouldn’t happen if greater community appreciation for the fine arts existed. Beyond financial support, collective responsibility to preserve the fine arts should be a top priority for any University or city. Otherwise, Oregonians and students will lose out on a future of vibrant community culture and life.

Sources:

• Register Guard: “Dancers Pitch in to Help Ballet Company Make Ends Meet”

http://special.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/cityregion/10582075-41/story.csp

• The Oregonian: “Oregon Ballet Theater Lives to Dance Another Day”

http://blog.oregonlive.com/portlandarts/2009/06/oregon_ballet_theatre_lives_to.html

• The Oregonian Editorial: “In Need of the Arts Now More than Ever”

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/07/in_need_of_the_arts_now_more_t.html

• The Oregonian Editorial: “Why Big Art Matters in Bad Times”

http://blog.oregonlive.com/portlandarts/2009/04/why_big_art_matters_in_bad_tim.html

• The Daily Emerald Letter to the Editor: “ASUO Should Support the Arts with More Funding”

http://www.dailyemerald.com/2.2378/asuo-should-support-the-arts-with-more-funding-1.198910