The Miami University Bicentennial Celebration budget may be cut, but the party is not over.
The budget, originally set at $350,000, has almost been cut in half according to Claire Wagner, associate director of university communications.
Wagner said the largest donation made was a $200,000 gift designated for the Bicentennial Budget; the committee's current budget was brought down to exactly that amount.
"Last fall, we already knew we needed to look into scaling back," Wagner said.
She said this move was made in order to be aware of the current financial situation Miami and the rest of the nation is experiencing.
Steve Snyder, executive assistant to President David Hodge, has been planning the budget for several years and said he was made aware of budget cuts approximately two years ago.
Snyder said organizations had to apply for bicentennial funding in order to keep the budget fiscally aware.
"We evaluated on the criteria of how much that organization's own money was put into their budget and if the organization would achieve one of the five goals of the bicentennial," Snyder said.
According to Snyder, organizations had to meet one of these bicentennial goals - honor the past, look to the future, try to get all alumni to campus, recognize the Love and Honor campaign and lastly, have fun.
Wagner said Charter Day Ball was an event that was "cognizant" of Miami's fiscal standing.
"The Charter Day Ball was a student-organized event totaling $990, it was still grand and elegant, but students paid for their tickets," Wagner said.
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Wagner also said no one thing was cut from the bicentennial budget, rather the committee worked to adjust the scale of all events.
The bicentennial budget failed to leave anyone out, despite a decrease in spending.
The Miami Art Museum was able to bring in a large Miami Indian Tribe Exhibition in the fall according to Lena Vigna, curator of exhibitions.
Vigna said the museum saw a high influx of traffic in the fall for this exhibition. The Art Museum has continued their bicentennial celebration with an ongoing exhibition of current and former faculty artwork.
"They're people that have contributed in a significant way, it was a nice way to look back a little bit and look ahead," Vigna said of the current faculty Bicentennial exhibition.
With bicentennial funding, the Art Museum was also able to print a color catalogue showcasing all 62 artists currently featured.
Miami can look forward to incoming revenue from some of the high-priced Bicentennial activities and events, Wagner said. The $78,000 bicentennial book edited by Curt Ellison is still seeing sales. The book included illustrations and writings by local scholars.
"It's an appropriate thing to mark a bicentennial with a collection of the history that people can have as a keepsake," Wagner said.
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