Pennsylvania’s governor Ed Rendell has decided not to ask for cuts in his state’s arts spending. “Why, then, did Rendell stay committed to arts funding as he sought to make up a $2.4 billion shortfall? Arts supporters across Pennsylvania say it’s because he saw how Philadelphia arts initiatives benefited that city when he was mayor. Arts leaders also suggest the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts was spared because whittling its budget would not add much to the cuts Rendell needed to make. Its $14 million budget represents 0.07 percent of Pennsylvania’s general fund.”