A CHANCE TO ADVANCE CITY ARTS PLAN

When Maureen O’Connor takes office next week as the city’s 31st mayor, she will have an opportunity to resolve a dilemma and help put into effect the city’s first arts plan. It’s a plan that is long overdue.

The arts have grown and blossomed in San Diego, but city government has not matched that growth with a sophisticated program of support.

The city pumped an estimated $3 million to $3.5 million into various arts projects for fiscal year 1986 (which ended Monday), including $500,000 for Symphony Hall and $252,000 for the Lyceum Theatre complex, a redevelopment project. The year before, the city spent $7.5 million on the Lyceum Theatre.

City spending included support for arts projects through an annual contribution of $811,943 to COMBO, the private arts-funding agency. About $1 million went to the Balboa Park museums that are not COMBO members. Special grants were also made to the Old Globe Theatre for its rebuilt outdoor stage and the La Jolla Playhouse, which is not a COMBO member.

Other arts programs are funded at more than 40 recreation centers in various communities. Additionally, the city provides buildings and maintenance at nominal rent to some arts organizations.

It is difficult to determine how much money the city spends on the arts because, as one city official said, it comes from different pots. There is no overall plan for city arts projects, although one is on the drawing board.

The result has been that, over the years, major arts institutions, such as the symphony, opera and museums, have used their clout to gain sizable amounts of city funds. Smaller groups and individual artists generally have been left out.

Although its public-private funding agreement for the $8-million Lyceum Theatre broke new ground, San Diego is not known among major cities for its support of the arts. It has never been cited by the U.S. Conference of Mayors for arts leadership. Each year the conference recognizes special city programs that use the arts as part of economic development projects or to improve the quality of life.

San Diego hasn’t lacked for forceful leaders in recent years, but the arts have not been a priority for most elected officials. Through strong leadership and advocacy, O’Connor can change that.

A detailed plan along with a budget is scheduled to come before the City Council in August. It includes many things, such as support for individual artists and a municipal art gallery, that will raise the public awareness of the arts.

However, COMBO will pose a dilemma and unless O’Connor can deal with it, any arts plan will be ineffective.

COMBO was established in 1964 to raise funds for the Old Globe, the symphony, the opera and the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art. It now raises money for those groups and 23 other members. About half of the money comes from city hotel and motel taxes, and half from contributions it solicits from businesses and individuals.

COMBO’s operating and fund-raising costs are paid from the proceeds of auctions and other events.

The Old Globe, symphony and opera received more than $200,000 each from COMBO in 1985. That’s money they do not have to raise internally, so they tend to be wary of any proposed change in the city’s arts funding system.

COMBO distributed $954,000 in 1985 to its top five members, which include Starlight and the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art. That was 70% of the $1.31 million that COMBO distributed to all 27 members.

Even COMBO executives admit that the amount it raises from businesses is far below what it should be. Based on COMBO’s history of slow annual growth--much slower than the growth of its member organizations--there is no reason to expect that amount to increase radically.

What the city needs is a single, powerful organization that will oversee all municipal arts programs and consolidate funding. Two years ago a watered-down ordinance created the Public Arts Advisory Board, a panel with little power and no control over spending.

COMBO has more political clout than the advisory board. COMBO could be designated the city’s arts council, except that it is a private organization, not a city entity.

For the arts to grow in San Diego, there must be strong support from the city government. A powerful arts panel could do much to increase corporate and private support for the arts.

There is no easy answer to the control of arts funding in San Diego. But if the arts programs are to advance, the matter must be resolved. If O’Connor can cut this Gordian knot, she will set the stage for an even greater flowering of the arts in San Diego.