Unrestricted Grants Make Arts History

For the first time ever, the California Arts Council has awarded fellowships to artists working independently of ballet companies, symphony orchestras, theater troupes or other organizations.

The 12-year-old state arts agency also made history at a regular meeting here Thursday and Friday by announcing first-time winners of its new Traditional Folk Arts master-apprentice grants and California Challenge Program grants.

Traditionally, the council has indirectly supported artists through grants to organizations for which they work. In 1976, a few grants were given directly to artists, but only for specific projects. The new, unrestricted $5,000 fellowships may be used for anything from video cameras to dental bills.

“Funding individual artists without making them go through a nonprofit institution and think up a project just to get a grant is a very positive development for the council,” said Aaron Paley, director of the 1987 Los Angeles-area Fringe Festival of the arts, on Thursday.

Noted Los Angeles-based performance artist Rachel Rosenthal was one of 40 artists, 18 from Southern California, to win a fellowship. The awards were given to screenwriters, film and video makers and artists working in “new genre,” such as performance art.

While council members greeted the first fellowship awards with cheer, Paley was one of several panel members (arts professionals who recommended fellowship recipients for council vote) to complain about a lack of funds in the program. Nearly 550 artists applied for 40 fellowships.

Council vice chairwoman Joyce Pollock, sitting in for chairman Harvey Stearn, said in an interview that the problem extends to all council grant categories.

“We’re going to have to advocate and lobby for more money for all our programs,” Pollock said. Gov. George Deukmejian has proposed a $1.1 million increase to the council’s $14.5-million budget for fiscal 1988-89. The council is backing a $4-million Senate subcommittee increase recommendation.

The council’s new California Challenge Program must still be approved by the governor as part of its overall 1988-89 budget. But the council on Friday recommended 34 arts organizations, 11 in Southern California, for $930,000 in challenge grants ranging from $5,000 to $75,000.

The program, a pet project of Gov. Deukmejian, is radically different from other council programs because its grants must be matched by new private dollars, not the usual mix of private and public money. Among the council’s suggested winners were Los Angeles’ Mark Taper Forum and the Venice-based Social and Public Arts Resource Center.

Council peer panels also recommended that the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Music Center Opera Assn. receive challenge grants. But both organizations were turned down due to a lack of funds, said council staff member Gloria Woodlock.

The council also awarded 19 folk artists, six in Southern California, $41,000 in new Traditional Folk Art master-apprentice grants Friday. These awards, ranging from $720 to $2,500, will support the preservation of folk arts by helping seasoned folk artists to teach their arts to novices.