Measure P update: Grants again delayed as Barraza questions equity of funding decisions
By Doug Hoagland
A split Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission decided at a July 1 special meeting to continue for two weeks reconsideration of the Measure P arts grants that the Commission approved in May. The vote was 4-3, with two absences.
The Commission will take up the issue again at its July 15 regular meeting.
It’s unclear whether the reconsideration will involve changing grant amounts to more than 70 nonprofit arts organizations and individual artists with eligible fiscal sponsors. On May 20, the Commission approved $8.7 million in Measure P grants to organizations and artists.
Much of the discussion at the July 1 meeting focused on southeast, southwest and south central Fresno receiving equitable funding from the Measure P arts grants.
Commissioner Jose Leon Barraza reported that applicants in City Council District 5 – which encompasses southeast Fresno – are slated to receive only $260,000 of the $8.7 million. Lilia Gonzáles Chávez, executive director of the Fresno Arts Council, said only four applicants from District 5 sought Measure P funding.
This story will be updated.
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Steph
Trying to please all the people all the time. What a horrible boondoggle this has been.
Hand out the money and fix whatever you want next year, or the next. This ain’t a onetime only thing.
Bill Reeve
First, hats off to the people of Fresno who voted to support the arts in our city. I spent many hours reading provided materials, attending a grant workshop, and emailing questions to understand the process and to improve my chances of being successful in writing grant proposals for this cycle. It was basically my first time applying for grants above the $300 level. Has the process to get to where we are been sometimes awkward and sometimes confusing? Yes. Where there many opportunities to attend events, email questions, call people to better understand the grant requirements and the process? Yes. Did the dialog during the May 20th PRAC meeting discussion to approve the Fresno Arts Council recommendations for funding for this years grant indicate that some voting members were woefully unprepared with knowledge of and confused by the grant process? Yes. Now that they have kicked the can down the road twice, funding is delayed and now uncertain. Grant applicants that were recommended for funding are left in limbo. Plans that were developed to hit the ground running with funding scheduled to be issued by July 1 are now up in the air at best and at worst some plans and organizations have incurred costs and must scramble to carry on or cancel events. Not a good look for the PRAC. This is a 30 year funding opportunity. The first years’ process has exposed that we need to find ways to encourage more applications for certain areas within the city. Perhaps an outreach program to help develop non profits and programing ideas in those districts would help future grant cycles to impact those areas more fully. Perhaps a mentoring program where successful applicants from this year might be encouraged to mentor others with grant proposals that help meet the overall goals of Measure P and the Fresno Arts Council in their commitment to expand arts programing and access. I suggest that these and other ideas to improve the process be evaluated for implementation for next years grant cycle. Approve the FAC recommendations for this year and let the programs begin. There are sure to be other lessons we will learn along the way that can help us improve the process and outcomes going forward. This shouldn’t be political. Get it done.