Ujima Theater on Buffalo’s West Side is receiving a $49,000 allocation from the $2.3 million pool of New York State Council on the Arts funds.
The funds went to 49 local and community arts and cultural groups with the money secured by the efforts of State Sen. Sean Ryan and Assemblyman Jonathan Rivera.
Brian Brown, Ujima Co. Inc. managing director, is point blank about what the state funding means to his theater group.
It is a critical piece of funding gap financing that Ujima needs to survive.
“We would close honestly without it, we provide for so many artists. I mean, it pays my salary, but it allows us to continue to have free programming for our youth. It allows us to have four shows a year where we have as many as 12 people on stage,” Brown said. “Last year, when we presented The Color Purple, we had 20 artists on stage and the people behind them making sure that the show went forward. So, losing this funding means closing the doors to our community.”
Remember, Arts and culture are big business.
A report issued last year found that arts and cultural organizations are an annual $382 million industry that employs more than 8,000 people and produces $120 million in state tax revenues.
Sean Ryan says “It is critical to keep the doors of these organizations open.”
“It's one of the things that distinguishes us from other cities of similar size, and we all know about the big culturals, places like the art museum, the history museum, the Botanical Gardens, and they set the standard for arts in Buffalo,” Ryan said. “But there are a lot of smaller organizations that really contribute to the ecosystem, and they often don't get the fanfare, but they're just as important.”
The funds cover both operating expenses and grants for the organizations.