State Panel Sends Some O.C. Groups Off With Nothing

The Historical and Cultural Foundation of Orange County and the Garden Grove Symphony, each considered for 1989-90 state grants for their organizations, were awarded nothing last week when the California Arts Council spiked a proposal to support more arts groups than usual. The changes were made after the council learned that the proportional funding formula for small and mid-size groups statewide specified a smaller percentage this year.

The council action, taken at a two-day meeting in Sacramento last week, also resulted in lower-than-expected grants to Relampago del Cielo, the Laguna Poets and Orange Coast College Community Services. These organizations each received $1,000 instead of $1,500 as suggested under the rejected proposal.

Council grants are determined by formulas based on the budgets of the groups submitting proposals and by evaluations of their artistic merit, managerial competence and efforts to reach the community. A ranking system for groups with budgets of less than $1 million assigns each group a rating from 1, the lowest, to 4.

Historically, only groups rated 3-minus and above have been given council grants. But because the council had $1million more in its budget this year, for a total of $16.6 million, its members suggested giving $1,000 grants to groups rated 2-plus, which would have included the Historical and Cultural Foundation and the Garden Grove Symphony, and a minimum of $1,500 to smaller groups scoring higher (Relampago del Cielo, the Laguna Poets and Orange Coast College Community Services).

A study to consider the impact of this grant-expansion proposal showed that statewide, both the number of eligible applicants and their quality ratings increased this year. As a result, under previous funding formulas--even with the extra $1 million--560 small and medium-size groups eligible for grants would receive proportionately less than they would have with the same ratings last year, said Tere Romo, the council’s organizational grants program manager.

Top ranked groups--those receiving 4s--would receive 65% of the funding they qualified for, rather than the 68% they got in 1988-89, according to Romo. Giving money to a greater number of groups, she said, would have meant decreasing the sizes of all grants awarded another 0.5%.

As a result, the council voted last week to stick with its previous grant-awarding methods.

The proportional decrease caused concern among many attending the council meeting. Last year, proportional funding fell by 10% for all groups of every size statewide. (The council was funding its top-ranked applicants at 100% a few years ago, but it has since changed its methods out of a desire to give money to a greater number of groups.)

“I can’t tell you how debilitating it is to get a phone call from the (California Arts Council) telling you that your rank has gone up and your funding has gone down,” said Thomas R. Hall, managing director of the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.

A total of 15 Orange County arts groups were awarded $321,950 in organizational grants this year.