The International Festival of Arts and Ideas has become an economic engine for New Haven, bringing in hundreds of thousands of visitors and generating millions of dollars for local businesses.
Like many cultural organizations across the state, the festival is having its funding from the state slashed in the most recent round of budget cuts announced by Gov. Dannel Malloy.
“We’re trying to keep pace, to keep our commitments,” said International Festival of Arts and Ideas Executive Director Mary Lou Aleskie.
In recent years, Aleskie said she has seen financial support from the state drastically drop.
“We’ve gone from a million to under 6 hundred thousand,” she said.
The governor plans to reduce that number by another $33 thousand.
“This funding is critical to our ability to continue the kind of work that generates the economic activity that we do in the summer for festivals to come,” Aleskie said.
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The governor’s latest proposed cuts are part of his plans to shrink the growing budget hole of about $250 million.
“We’re not going to raise taxes, so hard decisions have to be made,” Gov. Malloy said Thursday.
Aleskie said she is worried about difficult decisions she might need to make down the road, possibly reducing the number of small businesses her organization contracts to put on the festival.
“At some point in time if the money is not there,” she said, “just like at the state, you can’t fulfill those contracts, that becomes very concerning.”
This year’s festival will go on as planned from June 10-25 on the New Haven Green. NBC Connecticut is a media sponsor.
