Recently, Gov. Luis Fortuño recommended drastic budget cuts for several government departments including eight cultural agencies, which stand to lose over half of their operating budgets. Some of these agencies’ heads have already expressed concern in the local media over the proposed cuts, which they say could translate in layoffs, closings and a severe reduction in cultural activities.

“Considering that the government should look out for educational and cultural institutions of our island, we ask the government to make every effort necessary to guarantee the survival of our educational institution, which is so important for our country’s culture, and avoid its closure,” state students from the Escuela de Artes Plásticas (EAP) via a press release. The EAP is a higher education institution located in Old San Juan and specialized in fine arts.

Should the Legislative Assembly accept Fortuño’s recommended cuts, the EAP will lose 71 percent of its operational budget. According to numbers from the Puerto Rico Management and Budget Office, the school’s budget will drop to $989,000 for the 2009-10 fiscal year, down from the approximately $3.4 million it received this year.

The Puerto Rico Film Corporation, which already receives the smallest budget among the island’s cultural agencies, will lose 65 percent of its budget. The film agency’s budget will shrink from $687,000 this year to a mere $239,000 next year.

“The Film Corporation has two different funds; one is the general fund, which comes from the Management and Budget Office, and that’s our operational budget. The other is the Film Fund. Regarding the Film Fund, which is used to promote and develop the film industry [in Puerto Rico], it won’t be affected in the least [by these cuts],” assures Jean Paul Polo, deputy director of the Puerto Rico Film Commission. “We will be able to continue offering the same kind of financing and sponsorship we have been offering in the past.”

Regarding how the agency would deal with the $448,000 slash from its operational budget, Polo says “obviously we are saddened by the current fiscal situation that the country is going through and we knew that we were going to deal with some sort of budget cut. It’s in the hands of our executive director Mariella Pérez and mine to evaluate how this will affect our office operations, determine which will be the best direction in which to take the film corporation, and take the necessary measures to continue offering our services.”

Other cultural institutions hit by the proposed cuts are the Conservatorio de Música, which will lose 75 percent and the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, which loses75 percent. The Corporación de Artes Musicales’ budget will get the biggest slash, with a whopping 88 percent.

Rep. Iris Miriam Ruiz (NPP), who presides the House of Representatives’ Arts & Culture Commission told a local daily that she is concerned over the proposed cuts but she understands that the country is in a fiscal crisis. However, she points out to the daily, those recommendations can be amended.

Metro San Juan will follow up on this story.

–Valerie López