Updated: Measure P grant recommendations approved by Fresno city commission

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One major loser could be the Downtown Fresno Partnership, a nonprofit organization working to promote the economic well-being of downtown. It submitted six grant applications, but five apparently were not considered because of a dispute with the Fresno Arts Council over grant guidelines. The city contracted with the Arts Council to run the grants program.

That dispute highlights the bumpy process of rolling out the long-anticipated Measure P arts grants, considered vital to boosting the city’s arts and culture scene. Fresno voters in 2018 approved Measure P, a 30-year sales tax increase to benefit parks and arts, but legal and bureaucratic battles followed and caused delays.

The recommendations are apparently based on how volunteer evaluators scored the grant applications. For most organizations and individuals that applied, their recommended grant amounts are 90%, 80% or 70% of what they asked for and appear to be directly tied to the scores.

At the May 20 meeting, the Commission’s cultural subcommittee is scheduled to present the list of recommended grants for “review and acceptance,” according to the Commission’s agenda. The nine Commissioners are mayoral appointees.

It’s unclear whether the Commission will take an up or down single vote on the recommendations or whether Commissioners will single out individual recommendations for discussion and separate votes. Commission Chair Kimberly McCoy did not return May 2 and May 11 texts seeking clarification, and Commission Member Jose Leon Barazza did not return a May 17 text seeking clarification.

It also isn’t clear how much information Commissioners will have about each project before the May 20 meeting. Lilia Gonzáles Chávez, executive director of the Fresno Arts Council, did not return a text on Sunday, May 19, seeking clarification. The city contracted with the Arts Council to run the grants program.

The recommendations made public on May 17 do not provide details on how each applicant would use the Measure P money. But The Munro Review can report those details because of information it obtained through a Public Records Act request to the City Attorney’s Office. The Munro Review received the information on May 16.

Here are some details:

• The Fresno Philharmonic, Fresno Art Museum and Community Media Access Collaborative (CMAC), a public service media organization, could receive the single biggest grants: $270,000 each, in general operating support. Operating support grants can be used to cover salaries, utilities and other expenses. All three organizations requested $300,000 but that amount was reduced in the scoring process.

The Philharmonic stated it would use the general operating money to help pay musician personnel expenses in the 2024-25 concert season. The Art Museum said the grant would, among other things, allow it to be open six days a week, rather than the current four, and enable it to offer free admission every Sunday. CMAC said the grant would help cover wages and benefits for program staff.

• CMAC could receive the largest amount of grant money because it’s also recommended to receive a project specific grant of $158,395. CMAC proposes to start Fresno Art Beat, in which CMAC staff would train and provide a stipend to people who would record and document arts and culture events in Fresno. CMAC’s total would be $428,395 with its operating support grant and project specific grant. Applicants could apply for both types of grants.

• The Fresno Philharmonic and Fresno Art Museum also are recommended to receive project specific grants. The Philharmonic would receive $40,500 (it asked for $45,000) to finance a video recording for free distribution of a commissioned symphony work inspired by the life and writings of local author and organic peach farmer David “Mas” Masumoto. The Philharmonic will debut that symphony in February 2025. That project specific grant would bring the Philharmonic’s Measure P total to $310,500.

The Art Museum’s recommended project specific grant would be $72,264 (it asked for $90,330). The grant would provide financial support for an exhibition entitled “The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African American Art: Works on Paper,” scheduled at the museum in 2025. That project specific grant would bring the Art Museum’s Measure P total to $342,264.

• Four other organizations could emerge as big winners because they are also recommended to receive both general operating support and project specific grants. They are Arte Américas, a Latino cultural arts center ($389,629), Youth Orchestras of Fresno ($336,600), Warnors Center for the Performing Arts ($302,100) and Armenian Museum of Fresno ($300,000).

Other organizations recommended for grants are less well known and have missions that don’t necessarily fit into the definition of traditional arts. Two of them are:

• Chicanismo in Color, described in its application as “a vibrant and culturally enriching Chicano Lowriding Art project aimed at celebrating the rich heritage of Chicano culture and its influence on lowriding as an art form.” Chicanismo in Color is recommended to receive $45,000 of the $50,000 it requested.

Its application lays out three ways to spend the money: complete a Chicano cultural arts training center where students could take free workshops; join with Arte Américas for a family movie night to promote Mexican-American exhibits and community unity; and sponsor a free downtown Fresno street festival in April 2025 where students’ workshop art would be displayed.

• Neighborhood Woodshop, which teaches hand-tool woodworking to teenagers in the Jackson neighborhood of south Fresno. It is recommended to receive $13,114 of the requested $16,393. Neighborhood Workshop proposes to use 56% of the grant to pay the instructor, 27% to purchase tools to supplement those already purchased and restored, 7% to pay for lunches for the beginner-level courses for three students plus the instructor, and the remaining 10% to buy materials for each student project.

Also of interest: The Munro Review is recommended to receive $26,220, which publisher Donald Munro proposes to use for paying freelance writers for coverage of Measure P as well as local theater and arts, pay for a website redesign, and hire an intern. Munro also said in his application that he would use the grant for costs associated with his talk show on the Community Media Access Collaborative, including $4,950 to defray the costs of CMAC personnel and $4,950 to compensate himself for writing and hosting duties.

Recent Measure P stories: AS SELECTION PROCESS FOR MEASURE P GRANTS BEGINS, THE MUNRO REVIEW ASKS FOR OPENNESS
And: WITH AN OCEAN OF TAXPAYER MONEY AVAILABLE, MEASURE P ARTS FUNDING IS SURE TO RAISE COMPETITION AND QUESTIONS
And: GROWING PAINS: IS FRESNO CITY COUNCIL MICROMANAGING MEASURE P ARTS FUNDING?

Meanwhile, Elliott Balch, president and chief executive officer of the Downtown Fresno Partnership, expressed frustration that five of his organization’s six project grant applications were apparently not considered. In one of its rejected applications, the Downtown Fresno Partnership was seeking money for a holiday ice skating rink downtown. In another of the five, it sought a grant to expand a downtown event celebrating the independence of eight Latin American nations..

He said Gonzáles Chávez at the Fresno Arts Council told him that each applicant could only file one project grant application. All six of the applications were for projects to benefit downtown. Balch said he sees nothing in grant guidelines approved by the Fresno City Council that would impose that limit. “I asked [her] where in the guidelines that was, and I never got a response other than ‘the guidelines are clear,’ ” Balch told The Munro Review on May 18.

Nevertheless, Balch tried to pivot after Gonzáles Chávez suggested that he resubmit with different names on each application. So, he said, he found other people to serve as proxy applicants, but at a point, Gonzáles Chávez told him it was too late.

An attorney for the Downtown Fresno Partnership subsequently sent a letter to the City Attorney outlining Balch’s position, Balch said. He added: “I’m putting this in the City Council’s court to decide if it’s OK with something being that inconsistent with what the Council adopted.” In response, Gonzáles Chávez on May 19 told The Munro Review: “All eligible applications reviewed by panelists were forwarded and considered for funding. Any other questions will be addressed by the PRAC [Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission].”

On the list of recommended applicants made public on May 17, the Downtown Fresno Partnership is listed once: for $76,487 to finance a mural project on a downtown parking structure. That list also includes the names of applicants who are recommended to receive no money.

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That list – plus other information made public on May 17 – is more detailed than what one Measure P official said in April was advisable. Laura Ward, the official, took that position when The Munro Review asked for the names of organizations and individuals who submitted grant applications as well as the names of the volunteers who would play key roles in evaluating and scoring the applications. Ward, a member of the arts subcommittee of the Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission, turned down The Munro Review’s request for the information.

In doing so, she said the City Attorney’s Office had confirmed to her that the city doesn’t “typically” release information on grant applicants. That suggested the public would eventually know only the names of the successful applicants, but not all applicants. Ward also said withholding the names of the volunteer evaluators was necessary to keep them from possibly being pressured while evaluating and scoring grant applications. An attorney with the First Amendment Coalition told The Munro Review that withholding the information sought by the website was improper.

The Munro Review filed its Public Records Act request on April 17. On May 16, the city gave The Munro Review the names of all applicants and the names of the people who volunteered to score the grant applications. Then on May 17, the city released the names of all applicants and the names of 46 people who volunteered to score the grant applications, contrary to what Ward declined to do in April.

The city broke the 46 volunteers into two groups: 25 who moved forward to score grant applications, and 21 who had a conflict or who did not attend training, dropped out, had a scheduling conflict or were not selected.

The 25 were Sharron Alexander, Chandelle Arambula, Lynn Baldwin, Robert Boro, Mariah Bosch, Linda Coleman, Maggie Courtis, Caleb Duarte, Dante Erlang, Maymanah Farhat, Paul Garcia, Diana Gaspar-Peña, Stephen Gamboa, Corrinne Hales, Amy Lawrence, Elizabeth Looney, Danielle Mayer, Lorena Moreno, Juan Karlo Muro, Nwachukwu Oputa, Judith Peracchi, Sally Ramage, Jesus Sepulveda, Laura Silberman and Ruth Soderlund.

The other 21 were Stephanie Bradshaw, Julia Copeland, Matt Cunningham, Julie Dana, Varoujan Der Simonian, Candace Eros Díaz, Kristin Goehring, Scout Jaech, Amy Kitchener, Tom Laury, Loan Le, Jeanie McKelvey, Alan Pierrot, Linda Ravenswood, Joseph Rios, Joachim Schirmacher, Pedro Urena, Yer Vang, Cristina Velazquez, Song Vue and Ana Zarco.

Doug Hoagland is a freelance writer in Fresno. He spent 40 years working at Valley papers, including 30 years at The Fresno Bee. The first play he saw was a 1968 production of “Show Boat” at McLane High School.