Bad News for the Arts in Athens

Dear Editor,

I hope each of you read the front page of this morning's Athens Banner-Herald.  Once again Athens has been listed among the top mid-sized cities in America for ART.  This is the 11th consecutive time we have received this honor.  The Leisure Service master plan you paid $150,000 for mentioned honors like this before you allowed the county manager to begin dismantling the department.

The slow dissembling of one of the departments that has made Athens a great place to live continues as the proposed budget shows.  The , which has never been funded at the level approved by your predecessors, .  Its staff, who already work on their own time and money to bring honors like the one just bestowed by American Style Magazine, are being told once again that what they do is not important.

Have any of you ever taken time to reflect on the economic impact of the arts?  Do any of you realize that for 39 years the Lyndon House has been a center for the arts in Athens-Clarke County? 

Do you know how many tens of thousands of children & adults from every part of our community - including The University of Georgia - have learned to understand and love the arts there? 

Do you know how open the center once was to children from the neighborhoods that surround Lyndon House, children who could walk in an learn to appreciate beauty while acquiring new skills?  Do you realize how many people from Georgia, the Southeastern United States, and from across the country visit Athens because of the Lyndon House and publicity like that provided by American Style Magazine?

People chose to move to towns like Athens because they offer a broad range of health, education, recreation, and cultural opportunities.  The Lyndon House is one of the engines that drive the arts, and thus the economy, in Clarke and surrounding counties.  Why is its fuel being constantly rationed?

I hope each of you will take the time to reflect on the importance of the Lyndon House to the citizens of Athens-Clarke County and to our local economy and decide to increase rather than decrease its budget.

Daniel Hope III, Ed.D.
"We train in hopes of being of some use,
however small our role may be,
in the task of bringing peace to mankind around the world."
  -Morihei Ueshiba-