Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has proposed a 10 percent ($3.5 million) cut in funding for the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) budget that is used to provide grants to arts groups statewide. This is in addition to the proposed 10 percent decrease in funding for NYSCA's administrative budget. In 2008 NYSCA had a staff of 51; today it has a staff of 29. The Arts NYS Coalition asks state residents to petition their legislators, asking them to restore $2.8 million of the funding for statewide arts grants. This would reduce the cut to NYSCA from 10 to 2 percent. To send a message to your legislators, click here.