After Republicans on a House panel advanced a proposal to eliminate the state’s art division this week, some top Republicans are now signaling their opposition to the budget cuts.
Republican Governor Kelly A. Ayotte is among them.
“My budget had my priorities in it, and I funded the arts in my budget,” she said at a press conference Wednesday. “I did not make those reductions in my budget, so I don’t agree with them.”
The cuts would save the state $1.7 million over the next two years, according to the Republican proposal to slash the New Hampshire Council for the Arts, which provides funding for arts programs around the state.
But Executive Councilor Janet Stevens, a Rye Republican, said cutting arts funding is shortsighted, as the arts are an economic driver in the state. In the greater Portsmouth area alone, arts and culture generated $70 million in 2022, according to a study by the national research and advocacy group, Americans for the Arts. Stevens said the state grants can be the difference between a small theater staying in business or shutting down.
“If that was gone — huge loss for the community,” she said.“I hope folks will reconsider it and look at the economic impact,” she said.
Amid a difficult budget year given underperforming state revenues, Republicans have advanced a range of controversial proposals in recent days, including eliminating a watchdog child welfare agency, the Office of the Child Advocate, and defunding a program to allow pregnant and nursing mothers to purchase local food at farmers’ markets.
Ayotte said she hopes to see the child advocate position retained “because it provides value in terms of ideas about what more we could be doing to protect children.”
The proposals go before the full House Finance Committee before the House has an opportunity to vote on them as part of the state’s budget.
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Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.
