Acid rain

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

This economy is kicking a lot of asses. I’ve been stuck discussing journalismy journalism changes lately, but I’m also very concerned with what’s going on in the community with primarily donation-funded groups. I guess in many families’ budgets, things like museum memberships or art purchases come under the heading “luxuries.” I don’t have any trouble understanding that point of view.

But get ready for things to turn downward pretty quickly. I went to Sierra Art’s primary fundraiser Saturday, the BrewHaHa, and while I had a great time—$3 a Coke for the designated driver, me—I was disheartened to see that there were many fewer people there than last year. Couple that with Nevada Opera’s decision to pull a mid-season show, the Nevada Museum of Art’s layoffs and one-more-day-a-week closure, Nevada Arts Council’s evisceration in Gibbons’ budget—those are off the top of my head—and I can tell you, a hard rain is going to fall. Many arts organizations have their membership drives in the spring—we’ll begin to see real effects 90 days later, come July 1.

But there’s one thing I do know. Those NadaDada folks, whose show will happen June 18-21, are not primarily funded by donations but by the blood, skinned knuckles and self-motivations that move artists from the “starving” column to the “established” column. More information about this group can be found at www.nadadadadingdong.com.

And finally, am I the only person who notices a peculiar corpulence to some of the buds on the trees hereabouts? The weekend brought us at least a little closer to normal temperatures, but my inner gatherer tells me I should be worried—many fruit trees require a certain number of freeze days, and we haven’t seen them yet. Other bad news is that we can expect a bumper insect crop this year. The good news was with the rain, at least I didn’t have to pull out my hose again to water the shrubs and grasses I planted in the fall.