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“Our budgets are shrinking,” said Dionne Thornton, director of teen programs and community engagement for ArtsConnection. “You add increasing student numbers with shrinking budgets, and then the increase in the cost of everything from food to tickets. We are put between a rock and a very hard place in terms of servicing our students to the best of our ability.”
“They need to know that their identity is being expressed creatively around the city and in various ways,” said Thornton. “Providing that opportunity for them to say ‘Okay, I see myself here’ speaks as well to bringing equity inclusion into the conversation, into our curricula, our structure, and whom we hire.
The lack of government support is forcing ArtsConnection to seek funding elsewhere. Thornton said the organization has been combining budgets across departments and asking for favors from community partners.where we’re not paying base rental fees that we would otherwise have to pay. That frees up some amount of money,” said Thornton. “There’s a lot of sacrifice across organizations to try to continue to do this work.” “That’s how I make my money,” said Kim Grier-Martinez.