Cultural Arts Subcommittee unveils potential changes to Measure P, including putting a cap on fiscal sponsorships
By Doug Hoagland
Measure P could be in for a makeover as the City begins overseeing arts grants following the embezzlement scandal at the Fresno Arts Council.
Pictured above: Ome Lopez speaks to the Cultural Arts Subcommittee on Wednesday, April 15. Photo: Doug Hoagland / The Munro Review
Changes for the 2026-27 funding cycle – when nearly $6.5 million will be available for grants – might include:
• Paying people who evaluate and score grant applications an amount still to be determined. They have previously volunteered their time, but some critics of the grants program have advocated for compensation.
The saga of Measure P: See past coverage in The Munro Review’s comprehensive archive
• Awarding successful applicants 100% of the money they seek from Measure P. In the 2025-26 funding cycle, successful applicants received 30%, 60% or 90%, but some said such a tiered system left them financially short.
• Putting a cap on fiscal sponsorship that benefits fledgling arts groups and individual artists. This proposal already is getting pushback from some in the arts community.
These and other possible changes to the 2026-27 grant guidelines rolled out on April 15 during a meeting of the Cultural Arts Subcommittee. The Subcommittee is part of the Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission, which oversees Measure P. At the meeting, officials also announced a tentative timeline for awarding the next grants, with the process ending in late 2026.
A public meeting of the Subcommittee was news in itself. With one exception, the Subcommittee in previous grant cycles met behind closed doors. But critics advocated for greater transparency, and the Subcommittee now functions under the rules of the state’s open meeting Brown Act.
The makeover proposals are far from final – they must be approved by both the Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission and then the Fresno City Council. Before that, the city’s parks department – taking over administration of the grants from the Arts Council – will hold three “community listening sessions.” They are scheduled in central, southeast and southwest Fresno, and the public also can submit comments online. (See details below.)
Shelby MacNab, assistant parks director, repeatedly said at the Subcommittee meeting that comments from the public are important and welcome. Perhaps setting a tone of openness, MacNab introduced herself with professional and personal footnotes. She said she had secured millions of dollars in grants in her two-decade career and that she has two children and an “ancient Chihuahua.”
MacNab spent about 90 minutes meticulously going through a 19-page draft of proposed guidelines. Other new ideas for how Measure P funds could be spent in 2026-27 include:
• Allowing construction expenses to update existing facilities.
• Allowing expenses for food and non-alcoholic beverages.
• Allowing projects in schools during school hours.
MacNab paused to allow Commissioners Kimberly McCoy and Vincent Trillo to ask questions. McCoy and Trillo, along with absent Commissioner Laura Ward, make up the Subcommittee. McCoy asked about the appropriateness of addressing 2026-27 guidelines while questions remain about whether all 2025-26 grantees have received their Measure P funds.
As of Feb. 6, 33 awards totaling $970,467 were unpaid, according to a document on the City’s website. In response to McCoy, MacNab said she couldn’t speak about that subject and gave no reason but added that the Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission will get an update. The Commission next meets at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, April 20, at Fresno City Hall.
Several people who addressed the Subcommittee objected to the idea of a cap on fiscal sponsorships. Measure P limits the arts grants to nonprofit organizations, but arts groups and individual artists that don’t have nonprofit status can seek Measure P money with sponsorship from eligible nonprofits.
The draft guidelines don’t specify the number of sponsorships a nonprofit could undertake before hitting the cap. Limiting the number might encourage grant applicants without nonprofit status to work toward that standing as well as learn about marketing, self-promotion and alternate funding sources, according to the draft guidelines.
But a cap would aggravate a current situation where many nonprofits already don’t have the will or capacity to act as fiscal sponsors, said Amy Kitchener, executive director of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts, which is based in Fresno.
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Kitchener’s point was accentuated when Ome Lopez, co-founder of Dulce UpFront, told the subcommittee that Dulce was “pretty close” to not acting as a fiscal sponsor in 2026-27. That would be a major development because Dulce fiscally sponsored dozens of applicants in 2025-26.
Lopez told The Munro Review that acting as a fiscal sponsor diverts a nonprofit from its original vision and causes “mission drift.” Fiscal sponsors take on fiduciary responsibility and assume certain administrative duties in that role. “It creates a strain on the organization,” Lopez said. “It creates a lot of risk and exposure for potentially losing their [nonprofit status].”
She’s calling for a “complete redesign” of Measure P’s funding structure so groups or individuals wouldn’t need nonprofit status to apply for grants. “There should be a separate funding source for artists and culture bearers. There should be a pot of money for them to work directly with the City as a vendor,” Lopez said in an interview. That “pot” would come from Measure P, with nonprofit arts organizations competing for another portion of the measure’s monies.
In the first two funding cycles, Lopez was a leading voice challenging how the Fresno Arts Council administered the grants program. Asked how she felt after the parks department’s presentation, she said, “I’m hopeful. What the Fresno Arts Council was doing was a shit show. I’m hopeful.”
Community Listening Sessions:
• April 22 (Wednesday), 5:30-7:30 p.m. – Ted C Wills Community Center
• April 25 (Saturday), 1-3 p.m. – Maxie L. Parks Community Center
• April 28 (Tuesday), 5:30-7:30 p.m. – Mosqueda Community Center
Online comments can be submitted from April 16 to April 30. Here is a link to the online form.
