Stem the Tide as Papers Stop Publishing – You CAN Make a Difference!

Yesterday I logged into my Facebook page and learned that my hometown newspaper has closed – no warnings, just a note in the last issue. The website is no longer active. It had gone from a six-day-a-week paper to three days a week sometime back. It caught most of the residents in my hometown by surprise.

I thought about subscribing as I knew all papers – community newspapers, national juggernauts, and online arts journals like CVNC.org – barely meet their budgets at best. But I didn't subscribe to that paper as I checked only the obits – I'm now at that age! Do you subscribe to your local newspaper?

This leads me to the finances of Classical Voice of North Carolina. Arts grants and ad sales cover less than half of our budget. Donations should make up the other half, but they haven't in the last few years. Most of that budget pays our writers and editors. With less income we must publish fewer reviews.

For years we have said, "We're all in this together," meaning that our work supports artists and arts presenters across North Carolina. We rely on presenters and their patrons to provide some of the support for our work. But now it seems that "We're all in this together" also applies to news media of all types – small-town newspapers, mega-papers with national followings, and nonprofit online arts journals like CVNC.org.

Have you lost your local paper yet? You have it in your power – in your wallet or billfold – to keep commercial papers and non-profit publications operating.

Subscribe where you can; donate to CVNC. Don't lose the sources – the resources – you expect to see every day.

Carolyn Kohring, Executive Director

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