Last week, The State Media Co., publisher of The State newspaper, announced the layoff of 38 employees, or roughly 11 percent of its workforce, including three vice presidents and nine members of the newsroom. The layoffs are part of wider cost-cutting measures enacted by The State’s parent company, The McClatchy Co., in the face of a recent dramatic downturn in advertising revenue.

While The State did not release the names of most of those laid off or specifically mention how the move will affect coverage of local news and events, word has spread and Free Times has verified that arts and entertainment editor Mark Layman, veteran arts writer Jeffrey Day and features writer Natasha Derrick are among the victims of the cuts, creating great concern in all sectors of Columbia’s arts community that the press it relies on to flourish might be substantially diminished in the near future.

Many in the arts community have long felt that coverage in The State was already relatively scarce given the city’s position as the arts hub of the state, but that this shortcoming was at least somewhat offset by the paper having an experienced team specifically designated to the fine arts.

“We have to assume [now] that they won’t have a full-time arts writer at The State, raising issues of quality of coverage,” says Wim Roefs, owner of Columbia’s if ART Gallery. “Will it be consistent? Will the level of expertise be there?”

He goes on to note that while arts features might be assigned to reporters in other departments or contracted out to freelancers, “it is one thing for a reporter to cover a new building or organization, but quite another to cover an exhibition and have any relevant insight, to know what is going on or to even ask the right questions in an interview.”

Similar concerns are haunting local theaters, which are generally unable to advertise heavily and count on both preview articles and performance reviews to bring attention to their offerings. Already adjusting to a substantial cutback in reviews beginning last year when The State released some freelance writers, theaters now fear that without qualified personnel on staff this important coverage will disappear completely.

Jim Thigpen, artistic director of Trustus Theatre, is thankful to have not yet felt those cuts at his theater, but acknowledges that reviews do have an impact on the box office. If The State were to eliminate reviews, he says, “We will obviously have to make some adjustments in how we get the word out about our shows.”

William Starrett, director of the Columbia City Ballet, goes further, pointing out the importance of preview features to the very cultural vocabulary of the local citizenry.

“I understand that in tough times we must endure cuts,” Starrett says. “My concern with this is in regard to educating the adult public, giving those that seek more than just the basics a place to find this information. Sound bites on the news are welcomed, but the newspaper can provide much greater detail about what we’re doing here.”

Starrett is also concerned because he believes ballet in particular shares a connection with readers of The State: “The type of person who still uses the newspaper — the older, educated person who wakes up and enjoys the ritual of having coffee and flipping through the pages to see what’s going on — this is the very type of person who tends to patronize the ballet.”

While the news of the layoffs is certainly disconcerting to a community that thrives on publicity, by necessity many are taking a wait and see attitude regarding the practical ramifications.

Though much remains unknown about future arts coverage at The State, it seems safe to assume that the elimination of the paper’s core arts team will likely lead to a drop in the volume, if not the quality of coverage. Given the amount of buzz on the matter floating around town, the aforementioned wait could be a very anxious one.