Exclusive: As the Measure P funding limits turn: City Council to consider up to $350,000 for large organizations

Councilmembers Miguel Arias, Tyler Maxwell and Brandon Vang comprised the ad hoc committee, which was intended to exist for only two weeks. Arias did not respond to a text message seeking comment. Maxwell and Vang did not respond to emails sent to their City Hall offices on Saturday, June 13.

Tracking the change

On May 18, the Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission – its nine members appointed by the Mayor to oversee Measure P – held a five-hour meeting to review guidelines for the grants process in 2026-27. In that fiscal year, nearly $6.5 million in Measure P money will be awarded to nonprofit arts organizations and individual artists with eligible fiscal sponsors.

The recommended guidelines call for the $6.5 million to be evenly split between general operating grants and project grants. Operating grants can cover such expenses as rent, utilities and staff salaries. Applicants will apply for either project or operating grants, but not both.

The major conflict at the May 18 meeting was the proposed $150,000 cap on what arts organizations with revenue of $1 million or more could apply for in operating grants.

Some leaders of established arts organizations spoke in opposition to the $150,000 cap. Their argument: Language in Measure P that says funding is designed to provide institutional stability. Such support is needed as organizations recover financially from the Covid 19 pandemic and, in some cases, endure current reductions from funding sources, leaders said.

But some in the grassroots community supported the $150,000 cap. They pointed to language in Measure P that says funding priorities are diverse public engagement, youth engagement and equity. Those advocates contend that grassroots arts organizations best fulfill that mandate and accordingly deserve an equitable share of Measure P. Two of the most visible advocates, Ome Lopez and Johannus Reijnders, did not immediately respond when The Munro Review asked for comment about the cap’s increase to $350,000.

The City’s parks department proposed the original $150,000 cap. Parks staff took over administration of the arts grants from the Fresno Arts Council in February 2026 after a former Arts Council employee embezzled $1.8 million in taxpayer money.

PDF version: Scroll through the proposed grant guidelines

The recommended $150,000 cap was a significant decrease from the 2025-26 funding cycle when large, established arts organizations could each apply for $400,000. In 2025-26, the Fresno Philharmonic, Arte Américas, Fresno Art Museum, Fresno City & County Historical Society, and Valley Public Television each applied for $400,000, They each received $240,000, indicative of the fact that all applicants typically receive less money than they ask for.

In the end, the Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission voted on May 18 to recommend guidelines to the City Council that included the $150,000 cap. But, the Commission’s recommendations were advisory, meaning the City Council is not bound to follow them.

Then at the City Council’s June 4 meeting, City Manager Georgeanne White proposed the ad hoc committee with three Council Members to review the recommendations. That seemed “the quickest and best way to get as much involvement by Council” prior to the June 18 vote, she said. It also would be a way to “see what you all may want to see changed,” White told Council Members.

The City Council voted unanimously to form the committee. A week later, when the City published the agenda for the Council’s June 18 meeting, the $150,000 cap was gone from the recommended guidelines, replaced by the $350,000 cap with an important caveat.

Not all equal

That caveat leaves Fresno’s large arts organizations with different caps of what they can apply for in Measure P funds, though all the new caps would be greater than the $150,000 recommended by the Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission.

The reason for the different caps is new language that states organizations with $1 million or more in revenue in fiscal year 2025 can apply for $350,000, or an amount not to exceed 20% of the organization’s annual revenue, whichever is less.

For example, in the case of the Fresno Philharmonic, the lesser figure is $350,000. By contrast, in the case of the Fresno Art Museum, the lesser figure is the 20% – $302,000 to be exact, based on the latest tax information on the Art Museum published in ProPublica.

Leaders of large organizations are predictably satisfied with the turnaround. “I’m pleased that the cap in the proposed guidelines has been raised to $350,000, which is consistent with the Measure P goal of providing stability for Fresno’s arts organizations,” said Stephen Wilson, president and chief executive officer of the Fresno Philharmonic.

Michele Ellis Pracy, executive director and chief curator of the Art Museum, said the $150,000 cap would not have provided either stabilizing income or budget relief. “I can work with the cap of 20%. Even if it’s less than $350,000, it’s not that much less.”

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