UA budget cuts affect arts community
By Rachel Godin
Amidst a 60 million dollar deficit accumulated over the span of a decade, the University of Akron made 40 million dollar cuts to fiscal year 2015-2016’s budget.
Included, were the entirety of the University of Akron Press, a publisher of fiction and poetry, and the entire staff of EJ Thomas Music Hall. Both staffs were told they would be laid off on July 28th with just two weeks notice.
Budgets, which are available to the public, do not reflect the dire straits which would result in the mass personnel cuts. The university failed to transparently address the fiscal issues in public.
[pullquote]University officials say the school expects to save more than $2 million a year from the changes at E.J. Thomas Hall[/pullquote]
The current budget approved by the UA Board of Trustees labeled EJ Thomas Hall as a “cautionary” fiscal element in April. The 2014-2015 budget shows EJ Thomas has made no profit since 2012. The budget also stated that EJ was set to receive $1 million in state funding for renovations through 2020.
The budget from 2014-2015 recommended overall budget cuts to EJ Thomas Hall. The budget stated that although grants and endowments would end, general funding of $1.8 million and a fifty cent increase per would adequately cover the year’s $315,000 debt interest cost. In contrast, total expenditures increased by almost four percent.
The revised budget decreased EJ Thomas funding $2,117. When budget cuts were made, EJ Thomas’ fund balance was a mere sixty thousand dollars. Staffing accounted for 31 percent of costs.
Some community members were concerned that the university’s economic issues would significantly impact downtown Akron’s cultural community. In particular, some were worried the upcoming Broadway in Akron performances, which, by the end of July, had attracted 1,200 subscribers to buy tickets to downtown’s economy, would cease to exist.
[pullquote]But as they say, “the show must go on.”[/pullquote]
On September 23rd, Playhouse Square and The Akron Civic announced they would pick up where the last producer left off through a new contract that will last through 2016.
In recent statements, Nathan Mortimer, Vice President for Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer, said: “while the original producer has terminated its relationship with the University, we are fully committed to delivering those shows.” The future of EJ Thomas productions after Broadway in Akron, which ends in May 2016, is tentative.
Two weeks after getting canned, half the staff at UA Press was rehired. The two UA Press employees, Amy Freels and Carol Slatter, were rehired at the same pay rate.
The Akron Series in Poetry will also continue. Wayne Hill, associate vice president for marketing and chief marketing officer, said University Libraries, of which the UA Press now is a part, “is undergoing a strategic planning process that, among other issues, will determine how the experience and expertise of the Press can help direct efforts to better capture and share the scholarly work of the campus with the broader community and the world.”
UA Press Director Thomas Bracher, who was exempt from losing his role, said: [pullquote]“We’ve never gone over budget here. There was no transparency.[/pullquote] Bracher said the university could have found other ways to save money: “Everyone could have shared the pain across the board, but when you’re on the block you’re on the block. We’re just the low-lying fruit to pick… don’t want to work for a university that values beans over brains.”
Students, employees, community members and faculty critiqued the cultural cuts, saying arts are not supported as much as sports. There also is a question of whether the university can maintain its membership in the American Association of University Presses.
UA Provost Dr. W. Michael Sherman noted in an August 11th communication to the UA campus, ”Dr. Miller [Director of UA Press] also will help strengthen opportunities for University of Akron students to publish their scholarly works and to learn about careers in editing and publishing through internships and classroom experiences.” Additionally, he will ensure that highly affecting decisions are data-driven.
During University president Scott Scarborough’s State of the University address on Tuesday, Oct. 20, UA’s current financial challenges were put into historical perspective. Scarborough noted that in most cases, each transition that has led to UA’s current four-year State University status has always been preceded by dire financial straits and the naming of a new president.
The disconnect between business and arts worlds are not entirely new. Early 2014, the GAR Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation analyzed the health of arts organizations in Summit county and found a fractured relationship between communication, finance and collaboration in the Summit County arts scene.The report states, [pullquote]”The [Summit County arts] sector does not seem to have great awareness of its own “big picture.” [/pullquote] The report analyzed the total revenues of various organizations and found that on average, all decreased by 22%.
Four Employees were laid off at university Multicultural Center and the Student Services Department respectively.