Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs Lays Off 29

According to WBEZ, Chicago's Daley Administration has been in the process of downsizing the Department of Cultural Affairs. As of Friday, twenty employees were laid off, which brings the grand total to 29 people who have lost their jobs since October.  The losses in the department keep people guessing about whether such staples as the World Music Festival, SummerDance, and Downtown Sound/New Music Mondays will be able to continue.

Spokesperson Peter Scales said, "Over the years Department of Cultural Affairs and Chicago Tourism Fund employees have worked together to accomplish the many important goals the city has related to cultural affairs and tourism-promoting celebration of the arts, serving the people and institutions that create and sustain them, and marketing the city's cultural resources to a worldwide audience," Scales wrote in an email late Thursday night.

"However, it is important for the city to ensure that there is a separation between the two entities, as one is a city department and the other is a separate non-profit organization."

"The following functions will be transferred to the Chicago Tourism Fund, effective January 1, 2011: visual/public art; tourism; cultural programs and grants; events, production, and retail; and some finance/administration.  Therefore, the 20 city positions that currently perform those functions in the budget have been eliminated, and a commensurate amount of funding is being provided to the CTF so that CTF can hire CTF employees to perform those functions... Because these functions and the commensurate funding are not being eliminated, but rather being transferred to the CTF, there will be no impact on current initiatives, including Downtown Sound, World Music Festival, Summer Dance, etc. In fact, this shifting of personnel should go unnoticed by residents and event participants."

To read the full article, visit: http://www.wbez.org/blog/jim-derogatis/chicagos-department-cultural-affairs-dismantled-29-are-laid