OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Arts organizations in the Omaha and Council Bluffs area recently received letters that they won't receive promised federal grant money. In the case of Film Streams and WhyArts — the grant money was supposed to fund educational experiences for local school kids.
- KMTV asked the executive directors of both WhyArts and Film Stream why they believed tax payer dollars should go toward arts funding. Both responded that the arts contribute to the economy, employing people and paying taxes.
- "Arts is what keeps a community vibrant," said Mary Gibilisco, executive director of WhyArts.
- Film Streams Executive Director Maggie Wood said it will lose roughly $55,000 in the next few years for Screen to School, a media literacy program.
WATCH KATRINA'S STORY BELOW
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
If you saw a play on a school field trip or attended a special program at your local library, there's a good chance that experience was funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). But now, a lot of those programs are losing funding.
I'm your neighborhood reporter Katrina Markel in central Omaha.
The National Endowment for the Arts costs about 60 cents for every American citizen per year, significantly less than 1% (.0003%) of the federal budget.
"Arts is what keeps a community vibrant," said Mary Gibilisco, executive director of WhyArts.
She heads one of the arts organizations in Nebraska and Iowa that received letters saying grant money promised by the federal government won't be coming.
Katrina Markel: "How did you feel when you got that letter?"
Mary Gibilisco: "First of all, we received an award letter, and with that award letter, it borders on elation because an NEA grant is a gold standard of receiving a grant and it's national. And then to receive an email at 9:30 at night on a Friday night ... it felt like a betrayal."
Her group, called WhyArts, provides creative experiences for people of all abilities and ages. One loss for them: funding for a dance program in Omaha-area schools.
"Sometimes it's learning dance, appreciating art, but it's also so much more; it's problem solving as well. And, you know, that feeling of accomplishment," Gilbilisco said.
Film Streams Executive Director Maggie Wood told me it will lose roughly $55,000 in the next few years for Screen to School, a media literacy program.
"It really helps take students outside of the classroom to support the work that they're doing within the classroom," said Wood.
Critical thinking and emotional intelligence are emphasized.
"We have a better opportunity of building empathy towards people who might be clear across the globe, let alone somebody we might be sitting next to or might be a neighbor in our community," Wood said.
Arts programming also extends beyond cities. Everyone I spoke to said rural areas are likely to feel the biggest impact from the loss of these grants.
