Measure P grant recommendations should be known by Sept. 15. There isn’t as much money this time around.

---

Second, the $6.2 million (or a slightly adjusted amount) available for grants in 2025 compares to $9.4 million handed out in 2024. That’s less money divided among more applicants.

Third – and this is big – almost all applicants got some money in 2024. If that created an expectation for a repeat in 2025, a reality check could be coming. It seems likely that more applicants will get no money.

(Full disclosure: The Munro Review got $26,200 in 2024, and it’s one of the 197 in the running this year.)

• If an Aug. 18 meeting of the Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission is any indication, there could be a dust-up when the grant recommendations go public. That’s because the Fresno Arts Council – contracted to run the grant program for the city – already is taking some lumps about transparency and bias in the 2025 grants process.

• About transparency: In 2025, the Arts Council decided to allow grant applicants to attend to observe the meetings of volunteers who scored the grant applications. Those scores will be one factor in determining winners and losers. So they’re a big deal. (In 2024, the process took place behind closed doors.)

But there were restrictions. Grant applicants couldn’t speak or electronically record what was said at the meetings. Lilia González Chávez, executive director of the Fresno Arts Council, said recordings weren’t allowed because “some degree of anonymity” was needed to ensure “an honest discussion.”

Johannus Reijnders attended to observe, and he told the Commission on Aug. 18 that it was helpful to see how applications are evaluated so applicants can improve their projects in future funding rounds. But, he also said, the Fresno Arts Council fell short.

One of Reijnders’ complaints was that the Arts Council didn’t allow the public – and perhaps future grant applicants – to attend the review panel meetings. “I was under the impression the people of Fresno were welcome to attend and observe and learn and get excited,” he told Commissioners.

González Chávez didn’t directly respond to the complaint when contacted by The Munro Review. (She wasn’t at the Aug. 18 meeting.)

In an email response, she said the Arts Council allowed grant applicants to observe the panel sessions to learn and improve their applications in the future. She also said – when asked by The Munro Review why the media couldn’t attend – that anyone “off the streets” could come in if the meetings were more widely open.

• About bias. Also at the Aug. 18 meeting, grant applicant Kiel Lopez-Schmidt told Commissioners that he observed González Chávez be “very negative” about grant applications that “you could very much see she was not in favor of.”

Lopez-Schmidt is executive director of South Tower Community Land Trust, a nonprofit applying for $113,000 in Measure P funds to install a large mural at Broadway Parque in a Tower District neighborhood.

Lopez-Schmidt said he watched a panel member praise South Tower’s budget for the mural only to have González Chávez interrupt to say the budget was inflated.

Lopez-Schmidt said González Chávez “did the math wrong about the square footage of our mural,” which led to her statement about the “inflated” budget. He emailed her the next day, noting: “She did not apologize for being in error at all. Just [said] that it didn’t affect the scoring.” Lopez-Schmidt said he doesn’t currently know whether that’s accurate.

When asked by The Munro Review about the points raised by Lopez-Schmidt, González Chávez did not respond directly in her email. She said, “We can’t control how people interpret what is said during the sessions. It is an evaluative process, which to be fair, does not only include positive comments. Applicants were invited to observe only, so I understand why someone may come away frustrated.”

• The scores that applications receive won’t be the only determining factor in recommended funding, according to Commission Vice Chair Ward.. Location, location, location also will come into play.

That’s because information on who’s being served by a Measure P project or funded organization – and where those people live in the city – will be a factor in funding recommendations, Ward said at the Aug. 18 meeting. Another factor will be where those projects will be taking place. “Ultimately, what we are hoping to see is that all parts of the city will be served,” she said.

In 2024, Commissioner Jose Leon-Barraza criticized the process because, he said, southeast, southwest and south central Fresno didn’t get a fair share of Measure P funding. In response, a new policy was added in 2025 stating that consideration be given to ensuring that all parts of the city are served.

Leon-Barraza said he wants to make sure that happens. “We want all folks in our city to benefit, and not just the folks in the north,” he said, adding: “I’m sorry I had to say that.”

• Here’s a list of the people – provided by the Arts Council – who volunteered to score the 2025 grant applications along with excerpts of how they described their artistic backgrounds. Some panelists listed their professional affiliations.

It’s worth nothing that some panelists submitted grant applications, but they did not score their own applications, González Chávez said.

The list:

Desiree Aranjo – Fresno American Indian Health Project; wellness programs, traditional arts, dance and storytelling.

Grisanti Avedaño – Central Valley Health Collective; poet.

Marc’ Bady – Fresno Housing/Beyond Housing Foundation; classical voice training, music theory and opera production.

Michelle Bellaver – Fresno State; theater and film artist.

Dallas Blanchard – San Joaquin Valley Free Medical Clinic and Needle Exchange; photo journalism, life drawing model, managed art collective venue.

Nichole Castech – enjoys interior decorating, attends Art Hop and had a mural painted on her office building.

Monica Cerda-Madrigal – built corporate displays, dancer and musician.

Roberto Cobain – graphic art, music, songwriting, fashion, clothing production.

Jean Coffelt Brletic – pencil drawing, collage and painting.

Dayana Jiselle Contreras – Radio, media, marketing and storytelling.

Maggie Courtis – Scarab Creative Arts; developed large-scale Halloween attraction, teaches ikebana, stained glass and special effects makeup.

Marjorie Dau – Kepler Neighborhood School; museum intern.

Veronica Delgado – vocalist, visual performer, theater, marching band, color guard and choir.

Dante Erlang – writer (poetry emphasis) and breakdancing.

William Freeney – Community Media Access Collaborative (CMAC); writer (creative nonfiction), “nascent” video producer, director, editor and photographer.

Naomi Guzman – Fresno Mural Program; muralist (50-60 murals) and children’s art teacher.

Courtney Hill – performance art, mixed media, indigenous beading and regalia work, poetry and published writing.

Nasreen Johnson – commercial visual artist, photographer, enjoys drawing, painting, video and mixed media.

Ivette Ledesma – technological art creation, including digital art and 3D sculptures.

Domenica Lopez – modern jazz and Aztec dancing and puppetry.

Sally March – retired art teacher and painter.

Danielle Mayer – Fresno Ideaworks; woodworking, stained glass, jewelry casting, ceramics, photography, printmaking and sculpting.

Derrick McElroy – On Aug. 20, Fresno news website GV Wire reported his death from undisclosed reasons. GV Wire described McElroy as a member of underground hip-hop supergroup Living Legends.

Ashley Mireles-Guerrero – Judging by the Cover: A Bookstore, Familius Publishing, Independent Book Publishers Association; literary arts, children’s literature and bilingual storytelling.

Jamie Moore – creative writing, editor for literary magazines and co-founder of literary collective.

Lorena Moreno – Center for Cultural Innovation; visual artist.

Shannon Mulhall – fiber arts, creative writing, spoken word performance and pen and ink drawing.

Jennifer Nuñez – Clark Bonsai Museum; storytelling and creativity in community spaces.

Yennefer Qiao-Erlang – poet and creative writer.

Anthony Radford – Fresno State; vocal technique, opera, opera history, secular and sacred music.

Rachel Reyes – musician (voice and drumming).

Maria Rodriguez – seamstress, bead work, work with crystals.

Ruth Soderlund – painter.

Jessica Sosa – no formal art background.

Christina Soto – folklorico and painting/drawing. (Soto is a former member of the Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission.)

Michael Torres – storytelling, poetry and writing.

Thao Xiong – program coordination, equitable funding processes and community engagement.

Stuart Weiser – violist and arts administrator.