Already stretched arts groups in Lexington could take another blow if the urban county council agrees to a recommended 10-percent cut to LexArts.

A committee of the Lexington Fayette Urban County Council has recommended LexArts take a 10-percent reduction in the government's contribution to its annual Campaign for the Arts.

In Mayor Jim Newberry's proposed budget, LexArts would receive a $450,000 contribution, the same as it received last year. A three-person subcommittee, however, recommended that LexArts take a cut to $405,000, keeping it in line with the reduction of other special project contributions to groups such as the Lexington Sports Authority and the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration.

The full council will decide budget issues later this month.

"Our rationale is the consistency of cuts across the board," said Councilman Tom Blues, who headed the committee recommending the cut. "It's not that we consider the arts subsidiary to anything else, it's just being consistent."

In a statement, Newberry defended funding of LexArts at the full amount saying, "in light of the enormous progress our community has made supporting the arts in the last two years, I hate to see the arts suffer as a council subcommittee has proposed. I hope the council as a whole will leave in place the arts funding I proposed."

If LexArts is cut, it would hardly be alone.

Nationwide, arts groups have suffered triple and quadruple whammies of declining box office, shrinking endowments and lower or vanishing private and public contributions.

The situation is bad enough that Time magazine wrote about it in its current issue with a cover headline: "Curtains: Can the Arts Survive the Recession?"

In the Bluegrass State, the Kentucky Arts Council has endured several funding cuts, and in January the Louisville city government cut in half funds it had already allocated to city arts groups.

Lexington has fared a little better, with no major groups closing and a few reductions in service, such as Actors Guild of Lexington trimming its schedule and changing one scheduled show to reduce costs.

But LexArts CEO Jim Clark said if the budget is cut groups that benefit from donations from the LexArts campaign, such as the Lexington Philharmonic and Lexington Art League, will feel the pinch.

"That would compound a situation where we had already reduced our campaign by close to $200,000 from last year," Clark said.

Last year's campaign raised $1,153,522, exceeding the stated goal of $1,125,000. With the economy in mind, LexArts had already reduced its expectations to $1 million for the 2009 Campaign for the Arts.

Clark said that if LexArts gets the full $450,000 it would make its goal. But if it's cut, Clark said he doubts they could make up the shortfall, considering the campaign is almost over.

"It's important now that our groups are out there making council members aware of the relationship between LexArts and the community," Clark said. "An active and thriving arts community is essential in attracting and retaining creative professionals. If we are interested in attracting some of the largest corporations and businesses, we have to show a return on the investment."

Clark also said that the arts are being looked to as a major part of the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

"We need to be prepared with healthy arts groups that reflect our creativity and culture," Clark said. "That would be tough if the groups were cut a year ahead and diminished their capacity to prepare."