Almost all of the seats in Madison’s city Council’s chambers were filled with concerned community members ready to petition for more funding from Mayor Paul Soglin and city officials on the proposed 2013 executive operating budget.
Soglin’s proposed $1 million cut to the Overture Center for the Arts prompted many speakers to urge the city Council to increase funding to the community arts center for 2013.
Although Soglin dedicated $1.85 million to Overture in 2012, he proposed granting $850,000 to the performing arts center for 2013, even though the Overture Center Foundation requested $2 million.
Overture President Ted DeDee said the arts center is a major asset to the city, benefiting downtown business, tourism and local community members.
The $1 million cut could potentially decrease or cut free and low-cost programs the Overture is currently able to provide to the city, according to DeDee.
Additionally, Overture Center Board of Directors Chair Tom Basting said the city’s unwillingness to grant more funding to Overture is a deterrent for its private donors.
“If the city doesn’t have skin in the game and not willing to support Overture, why should they?” Basting said.
The Overture fundraised over $2 million during its transition year, and Basting said the private sector’s support of Overture is essential to its survival.
Community members also urged Soglin and the city Council to include $75,000 in the operating budget for a winter day shelter in Madison.
Tenant Resource Center Executive Director Brenda Konkel said this amount of funding would benefit the city in addition to giving the homeless a place to take shelter during the winter.
“A day center could really help people regroup,” Konkel said. “If [the homeless] are exhausted and tired, I don’t know how they’re supposed to function.”
