Staff Editorial: Fine mess for fine arts

Already one of the most costly courses of study at the University, fine arts is becoming an even bigger drain on the wallets of students and their supporters, thanks to budget cuts in the Graduate School of Fine Arts.

Last night, senior fine arts majors ran a party and art show to raise funds for their senior thesis catalog -- the commemorative book published for the annual exhibition. Majors were told that they were on their own this year, since GSFA is slashing budgets for all publications.

But that is not the entire extent of cutbacks in the school; graduate students, too, are facing tightening bugets. They have been forced to raise funds not only to publish the catalog for their thesis exhibition, but to rent the space for the exhibit itself.

Exhibition space and the publication of a catalog are some of the most basic needs of fine arts students. The few thousand dollars needed to support a catalog seems like pocket change, especially after the $5 million renovations of the fine arts facilities last year.

And forcing graduate students to find their own Center City exhibit space seems absurd -- especially since other schools fund such projects without much reserve and the Institute of Contemporary Art exists only a few blocks away.

Cutting funds for this year's exhibitions and catalogs seem to be a quick fix for cash flow issues in GSFA, but it also seems to be a short-sighted action that avoids a long term solution. Will the school ask students to fund their own shows year after year? The answer many faculty and administrators have given -- that some generous donor will come forward -- seems like a huge gamble.

Fine arts faculty members are backing student efforts through emotional support and donations of their own works to a graduate student silent auction fundraiser taking place tonight.

But this is not enough. Support needs to come directly from the administration as well. Financial support for student exhibition sends the message that the success of art students is important, regardless of how much cash the department garners in alumni donations.

The art students should, however, be congratulated for their entrepreneurship and ambition. Through this adversity, they have unified as a community and a team. And perhaps they will find the business education they are receiving during their fine arts studies will be useful later on.

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