Budget woes put beloved Artways program on chopping block

SALT LAKE CITY — At the Central City Recreation Center, a half-dozen kids laugh and bob their heads to the Beatles as they rummage through piles of the colorful glass tiles that soon will be part of the children's latest masterpieces: a series of mosaics for the new Children's Miracle Network headquarters.

This is a Tuesday evening for one of the many classes provided by YouthCity Artways, a city-funded mix of after-school paint, music and dance offered on the cheap.

"If I wasn't here, I'd be home alone and bored," says Sammy, a four-year Artways student who hopes to become an art teacher herself one day.

A few blocks from here, the City Council is grappling with the worst revenue shortfall it has seen in recent history — a funding gap of $18.8 million that has Mayor Ralph Becker proposing sweeping budget cuts, including the beloved Artways program.

"It seems like art is always the first thing to go because people say it's not important," said Lenka Konopasek, a visual artist who has taught in the program for the better part of a decade. "But when they want something to show off, the first thing they look for is kids' art."

Dropping the Artways program would mean about $364,000 in annual savings. Three full-time positions and a dozen or so part-time teaching jobs would be cut.

"We have a difficult budget," said Rick Graham, the city's public services director. "It was hard to make this decision, as it was to make every one of these decisions. … Salt Lake has placed a great deal of significance on youth programs. The fact that we've had to include this is an indication that things really are bad."

With the savings, Becker proposes using $75,000 for grants for other nonprofit arts organizations. But teachers and parents wonder if Artways' accessibility and efficiency could be duplicated by another organization.

"It really reaches into sectors of the community that normally don't get arts education within their normal schooling," said Roger Whiting, who teaches art in the program for about eight hours a month. "I can see from an immediate fiscal standpoint how it makes sense.

"But if you're talking about making Salt Lake a destination, a cultural destination within the country, in the long run, not fostering the arts will hurt."

Parents, teachers and students made their pleas to council members Tuesday evening, asking for their program to be taken off the chopping block.

Some suggested raising the fees or giving Artways administrators another year to make the program self-sustaining. But a year after raising fees for youth programs citywide, Graham said another bump was "not a solution to this large-scale budget problem."

Still, some said cutting the program would be shortsighted.

"The city really needs to take the long view," said Elaine Harding, who created the Artways program in 1997.

e-mail: afalk@desnews.com