Film Festival
The Upper Catskill Community Council of the Arts was invited by the New York State Council on the Arts to reapply for funding this past year, in support of UCCCA FilmFest. The invitation represented an opportunity for the arts council to increase its support and expand film programming. We submitted our grant request and the panel and staff at NYSCA recommended funding.
Unfortunately, that is where our good fortune stopped.
As the economy began to fail, Governor Patterson and the state legislature had to identify opportunities to reduce expenses. NYSCA was asked to delay their approval of grant funding for 573 cultural organizations in New York State that had submitted requests in October and December. This included our request for UCCCA FilmFest. Ultimately, the Governor decided to permanently pull the remaining funding of almost $7 million and hundreds of organizations across the state were forced to make contingency plans.
We are saddened that our film festival must be put on hiatus until further word from NYSCA. However, we understand that given the current economic crisis, everyone will have to delay certain programs and find ways to minimize expenses. We sympathize with the many other institutions who suffered far deeper cuts.
UCCCA's FilmFest will return! We have resubmitted our request for this upcoming year. We have received every indication that the arts council will be awarded a certain portion of funding. Of course, it doesn't hurt to keep our fingers crossed, too.
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