The Situation:
As you may or may not have heard, recent cuts in school funding by the state have left Matawan looking for ways to trim one million dollars from this year’s budget. Though nothing is certain yet, the arts are in a position to be extremely hard hit as the district struggles to find a way to deal with this loss in aid. Already the theater and arts programs are feeling the squeeze and may not be able to cover their costs for the year.
What MTAA is doing:
MTAA is rushing to the aid of the arts program by trying to help fill gaps in the budget and acting as an advocate for all of the programs. We are working with several other groups in and out of the district to maximize our effectiveness. No art exists in a vacuum and we must work together to stay strong through this struggle. We have set up an emergency fund raising campaign on our website and have added a new section about becoming an arts advocate.
What YOU can do:
Check out the newest section of our website – Give Back – for information on our emergency fund raising campaign and to find out how to become an advocate for arts education. The pages of this new portion will be changing constantly over the next few days & weeks, so please – keep checking it for new information! There are already three things listed there that you can do right now to help the theater, and all the arts, in Matawan:
1. Donate – use our Paypal button, or play with our new sponsorship catalog to choose something to donate to the theater.
2. Come to the Board of Education meeting at 8pm Monday February 22 in the high school cafeteria and hear how they plan to deal with these cuts.
3. Participate in our letter writing campaign as we collect letters from throughout the community to show the support the arts have in Matawan.
There will be difficult times ahead as the schools deal with the loss in aid, and the additional projected cuts for next year. With your help we can make sure that the theater and the arts in Matawan are not forced to shoulder more than their fair share of this terrible burden.
If you have any questions at all about what is happening, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. We look forward to working with you to keep the arts alive in Matawan.
