In 2010, nine Augusta-area programs were to receive more than $140,000 in grants from the Georgia Council for the Arts.

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• Arts council avoids ax in Senate plan

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Now they are wondering whether they'll see anything at all.

Funding for the council, the state's official arts organization, has been placed in doubt. A recent version of the Georgia House budget called for the organization's elimination. A Senate bill would keep it intact, but with significant cuts. Augusta arts organizations are hoping for the best and fearing the worst.

"When you hear news like this, it feels like a real hit," said Sandra Self, the executive director of Symphony Orchestra Augusta. "It tells us where priorities are. I mean, to even consider cutting out an entire agency? Is that fair? Is it equitable?"

Brenda Durant, the executive director of the Greater Augusta Arts Council and president of the Georgia Assembly of Community Arts Agencies, said the elimination of the state arts council would be problematic for two reasons. The first is fiscal -- the state council distributes grants from the state and matching funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. The second is the picture it paints of Georgia.

"If that goes away, it would mean Georgia is the only state without an arts council," Durant said.

Both the Augusta arts council and the orchestra have a vested interest in seeing the state council remain intact and fully funded. In 2010, the Augusta council is scheduled to receive more than $6,000 in grant money and the symphony is in line for more than $20,000. Self noted that while the grant represents only a fraction of the symphony's funding, the diversified nature of any arts organization's annual budget makes any loss difficult to overcome.

"It's all important," she said. "And I've told the board I'm not sure what we will do -- what we can do."

She said a slow economy over the past several years has taught the symphony the importance of doing more with less, but she fears the day when artistic sacrifices might become necessary.

"Our focus will have to be on the orchestra concerts and pops," she said. "Where it will hurt is things like school concerts."

The Augusta council is also the administering organization for the state's Grassroots Arts Program in 12 counties. The program, established in 1993, provides arts programming in underserved communities. Funding for GAP is administered through the state arts council.

Durant said she's worried about what the state council's uncertain fate might mean for GAP.

""It would mean money gone, positions eliminated, and it takes the arts out of these rural counties," she said. "Goodbye, just like that."

Self and Durant contend that there's a certain shortsightedness to the state council cuts, pointing to revenue produced by the arts. Durant said the arts represent more than merely an entertaining evening out -- they are an important business.

"It's all about the money that will disappear from the community," she said. "Art is not something purchased. It's invested in."