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South Bend has measured that desire with a random survey of 400 residents, conducted March 30 through April 1. The city will share the results at this week's meetings.
Thirty-three percent said they supported cutting or eliminating funding for "venues unique to South Bend, such as the Morris Performing Arts Center, Studebaker Museum and East Race Waterway."
Last year, the city spent a combined $1 million, or about 1.5 percent of total spending, on those three facilities.
Becky Bonham, director of the Studebaker National Museum, reacted with disappointment to the survey results.
"I understand that human needs, in times like these, take precedence over cultural things," Bonham said. "But we need to work harder to show our value and benefit to people. I'm not sure what we can do more. We've done everything but stand on our head."
Bonham noted that about half the museum's collection of artifacts belongs to the city, including the carriage that Abraham Lincoln rode in the night he was assassinated. A buyer offered the museum $1 million for the carriage a few years ago, and that was before it was fully restored, she said.
If the city closed down the museum, it would still need to pay someone to maintain the artifacts.
"They're not giving us money out of the goodness of their heart," she said.
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