Who Got the Money This Year?

On Monday night, the Common Council Arts, Entertainment & Tourism Committee divvied up $20,000 among twelve events that take place in Hudson. In the past, the $20,000 had been made up of $15,000 that was written into the city budget and $5,000 provided by the Hudson Development Corporation (HDC). This year, HDC did not contribute $5,000, so, at the mayor's request, $5,000 was taken from the general fund to make a total of $20,000.

Last year, thirteen events received funding from the City of Hudson. This year, three were missing from the pack of grant seekers--the Hudson Music Festival, Taste of Hudson, and the New Year's Eve Ball Drop--and two new ones were added--the Hudson Halloween Parade and the Lincoln Funeral Train commemoration.

A few years ago, the AET Committee developed a scoring system to help them evaluate events seeking funding. Events were scored from 1 to 5 on Local Purpose, Economic Impact, Other Funding, and Size of Audience. That system wasn't used this year. Instead, the committee seemed to make its decisions based primarily on what had been awarded in the previous year. Here is the list in alphabetical order:

• ArtsWalk requested $1,350 and will receive $1,000 (total budget: $4,900)
• Bangladeshi Festival requested $2,000 and will receive $1,700 (total budget: $6,000)
• Black Arts requested $3,000 and will receive $3,300 (total budget: $9,630)
• Chili, Cheese & Cider Fest (formerly the Chili Fest) did not request a specific amount; will receive $400 (total budget: $13,450)
• Community Block Party (presented by Promise Neighborhood) requested $1,000 and will receive $1,000 (total budget: $6,000)
• Flag Day Parade did not request a specific amount; will receive $3,300 (total budget: $45,000)
• Hudson Halloween Parade did not request a specific amount; will receive $500 (total budget: $1,640)
• Hudson River Exchange did not request a specific amount; will receive $1,100 (total budget: $12,300)
• Hudson Pride Weekend did not request a specific amount; will receive $3,400 (total budget: $40,000)
• Lincoln Funeral Train received $500
• Summer Cirkus (presented by the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus) requested $800 and will receive $500 (total budget: $6,500)
• Winter Walk requested $2,500 and will receive $3,300 (total budget: $52,182)

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