L.A. Arts Turmoil

Shrinking public budgets create tension—and often chaos—in the nonprofit sector as the traditional stability of government funding for nonprofits disappears, and political favorites find a more welcoming audience; all of which may or may not be good for the nonprofit and arts community, as reported in this story from the Los Angeles Times.

An excerpt.

“L.A. arts advocates are girding for two more battles at City Hall.

“One is fighting Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to take away $415,000 in arts grants from groups that qualified under the standard competitive application process, in favor of four that he chose.

“The other is preserving rent-free use of city buildings by nonprofit organizations, including leases on 245,000 square feet devoted to the arts. The city council's budget and finance committee voted last week to require nonprofits to pay at least half the market rate in rent, plus utilities and maintenance — potentially costing arts tenants several hundred thousand dollars a year.

“The controversies spring from the city's most tumultuous budget season in memory — a season in which L.A.'s arts community already has had to defend its turf repeatedly. In February, arts advocates filled the city council's hearing room and e-mail in-boxes, successfully fighting off a plan to eliminate the Department of Cultural Affairs' main revenue source, a guaranteed share of hotel taxes. In March, the issue was funding for neighborhood arts centers.

“Now comes Villaraigosa's plan to divert money to his four handpicked programs — part of a budget proposal that calls for a 24.8% reduction in arts spending. It has some wondering whether being well-connected at City Hall could become key to getting a city arts grant. And a the plan to end free use of city facilities by nonprofits — including at least 19 arts groups — has raised concerns that the added cost could put some out of business.

“In light of these continuing struggles, which she calls the "five firestorms," Danielle Brazell, head of the Arts for L.A. advocacy group, wonders whether elected leaders have lost sight of the social and economic benefits that underlie having a municipal arts policy.

"Are city leaders looking five feet in front of them, or are they looking to the horizon? Are we trying to build a greater Los Angeles, or are we trying to get through the day? Based on the behavior I'm seeing, it's the latter," Brazell said Monday. She wonders why, out of nearly $7 billion in city spending, arts items pegged at $10.9 million in the mayor's budget proposal — down from $14.5 million — are coming in for such scrutiny. "It doesn't make sense to me."

“The plan to tighten the city's policy on the 900,000 square feet it leases to nonprofit groups has been in the works for several years and is not driven by the budget crisis, said councilman Bernard Parks, chair of the budget and finance committee. The point, he says, is to make sure such leases go only to groups that are effective and on sound financial footing. They could receive a 50% discount from fair-market rents, but only if council members agreed to cover the cost of rent breaks out of their district's discretionary spending account.”