For the sixth year in a row, TheMuseum is asking the city for $120,000 in funding.
It’s become a typical request – and one which prompted its share of questions when councillors debated it this week.
One difference in this year’s request is that TheMuseum – as well as other arts and culture organizations like the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery – asked for the funding a few months early than typical.
“Our request was to receive our ongoing funding early,” said David Marskell, CEO of TheMuseum.
That request was made to offset what Marskell described as a “tight” cash-flow situation during the winter months.
Coun. Dave Schnider, one of two new councillors elected last October, says he wants councillors to consider reducing TheMuseum’s funding and allocating it elsewhere.
“There are a lot of requests. I love what TheMuseum does – but as an arts entity, they have the ability to raise their own funds,” he said in an interview.
Marskell says he hopes to retain the current funding levels.
“If they reduce this sustainable fund … it’s not a good thing,” he said.
“It means that we would have to cut back on our program offering and what we do. For us to bring a 3,000-year-old mummy to downtown Kitchener … costs money.”
Mayor Berry Vrbanovic told CTV News he expected the $120,000 to be approved when the issue returns to council chambers next week.
“I think it’s important that we get our questions answered, but at the same time move forward in a way that helps them get to sustainability,” he said.
“I’m confident that TheMuseum will get the support of council.”
