The biggest show in town this pre-season is the showdown between the arts community and Miami-Dade officials forced to slash $427 million from the county budget in the face of falling property tax revenues.

With more than $11 million out of the $14.8 million annual arts budget on the chopping block, arts advocates are taking their act to the county commission.

Nearly 300 folks showed up for a town meeting at the Miami Museum of Science on Monday to express a collective fear that, as expressed by the Herald : “Without a fight for funding, the end of Miami art is nigh.”

The Miami New Times had a slightly less apocalyptic take on the cuts: “Pick any cultural event you’ve been to in the past year, and chances are it might have been the last time you went there.”

Arts supporters point to the high return on public investment in the arts, both economic ($1 billion a year!)  and social (“Would you rather see a kid with an AK-47 or a kid with a paintbrush?”).

On Tuesday, a Herald opinion piece called for arts programs to “tighten their belts” and depend more on private fundraising. On Wednesday, arts leaders fought back with a letter to the editor on the impact of the arts on our community’s “quality of life.”

The debate over public funding of the arts reminds me of “Confessions of a Cultural Freeloader,” a piece about funding our performing arts center that I wrote a couple of years ago. The reasons why we should all pitch in to fund the arts remain true today.  Check it out and let me know if you would be willing to ante up a few more tax dollars a year to keep the arts a part of our shared cultural life.