Through the doors of the MSU Museum, passers-by can see towering dinosaurs and gaze at the collection of about a million artifacts.
The artworks seem to be in healthy shape - but officials see signs of trouble looming.
Arts in the MSU community are endangered after Gov. Jennifer Granholm proposed slicing state art grants by 50 percent in her 2004 budget outline last week. The cuts would reduce art grants to $11.8 million from last year's level of $23.6 million.
The reduction would be used to help overcome a projected $1.7-billion shortfall in the state's budget. The proposal now must gain approval from the Legislature before it takes effect.
MSU Museum officials fear its $324,300 share of state grants could be in jeopardy. If lawmakers elect to remove the funding, MSU Museum information officer Lora Helou said the museum could be forced to discuss increasing prices for some programs and events.
"We have to challenge ourselves to think creatively," she said. "It's too early to know what we are going to do. But it's a pretty significant decrease and if we lose funding it would have an impact."
But the distribution of the money will now be left up to the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, said Sarah Lepshan, spokeswoman for the state Department of History, Arts and Libraries. The 15-member council will meet in September to make decisions.
"We are going to try to preserve as many core programs as possible," she said.
But with half the money possibly missing, organizations will have to adjust.
The three-day Great Lakes Folk Festival, which attracts about 100,000 people and $2 million to the East Lansing economy each August, faces cutbacks up to $365,100 in state funding - more than 30 percent of its $900,000 budget.
The Kresge Art Museum might have to begin charging for lectures and scale back by cutting at least one exhibit, director Susan Bandes said.
At risk is $23,700 which helps fund programs, including a present exhibit featuring art from St. Petersburg, Russia.
The East Lansing Film Festival, which hits town Thursday as the largest, most diverse film festival in the state, may also suffer, director Susan Woods said. She is concerned about the $31,800 the festival receives in state funding.
"It's just going to make life very difficult," she said. "We'll have to be more creative in finding ways of funding."
One idea is to offer more events, and although it would be more work, it would bring more money from different places, she said.
Woods said while she understands the condition of the budget, she is discouraged at the lack of federal funding given to the arts.
"When you think the entire (arts council) budget is equivalent to one wing on a jet you can see the imbalance," she said.
But Granholm has made sure she has left an apologetic note echoing in the arts community as she has apologized for the cut, state budget spokesman Greg Bird said.
"Gov. Granholm knows arts are very important, especially to her as a mother and governor," he said. "It was very hard to make those cuts. But it's between what is important and what's vital."
While losing vital money hurts many local organizations, most people understand the budget situation, said Leslie Donaldson, director of the East Lansing Art Festival.
"I'm very comfortable Gov. Granholm fought hard to keep the cuts at 50 percent," she said.
Donaldson said she attended the arts advocacy meeting with Granholm.
"I felt it was a nice way to come together to talk with other arts groups to see what they're doing to come up with ways to resolve this in a positive way," she said. "We're all aware we have some challenging times ahead, along with many other institutions."
The two-day art festival, which attracts 60-70,000 people and $1 million into the local economy, invites more than 250 artists and includes music and arts activities. But the event also risks losing $12,000 in grants, 10 percent of the total festival budget.
