Lilia Gonzáles Chávez, longtime executive director, is out at the Fresno Arts Council
By Doug Hoagland
Fallout from the alleged embezzlement at the Fresno Arts Council continues with a change in top leadership at the beleaguered organization.
Lilia Gonzáles Chávez is out. One of her staffers, Andrea Mele, is the new interim executive director, according to a statement on Friday, March 20, from the Arts Council’s board of directors.
The saga of Measure P: See past coverage in The Munro Review’s comprehensive archive
Fresnoland reported that Gonzáles Chávez said she retired earlier this month. She did not immediately respond to a text from The Munro Review seeking comment.
The Arts Council’s board of directors has remained mostly silent since the news broke in early February that a former employee had allegedly embezzled $1.5 million in Measure P funds. In its statement on Friday, the board praised Mele as a “passionate” and “steadfast” veteran member of the Arts Council’s staff and also said it’s beginning a search for a new permanent executive director.
In addition, the board of directors thanked people who have reached out with “heartfelt concern” and also offered thanks for people’s “hard questions.”
Questions continue about what kind of financial oversight the board of directors provided the Arts Council’s staff, when all 2025-26 grant recipients will receive their Measure P money and why law enforcement authorities have not yet made an arrest
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Kathryn Funk
Wow. Not easy to hear. It’s kinda personal to me and I’m sure many others.
I was part of a small group of individuals (artists, students, professors, etc ) that felt the need for the arts to be recognized as an economic force. The arts serve as a catalyst for creative energy that is the life blood of a community. By such it should receive financial support in turn from the city (community) for all the vibrancy the arts add to its fabric.
The Arts Council was established to foster community creativity. Shame to whomever is responsible for this breech of public trust. The artists, performers, musicians, poets, dancers, all deserve so much more from this community.