South Coast Rep Gets Flak Over Pro-NEA Flyers : Arts: Costa Mesa puts the theater’s grants on hold while investigating whether city money was used.

The artistic director of South Coast Repertory Theatre said Saturday he is shocked that city officials would object to the troupe distributing flyers asking patrons to support the National Endowment for the Arts.

The City Council last week delayed distribution of $175,000 in cultural arts grants, including $30,000 for SCR, after a resident complained about the group’s support for the NEA, which is mired in controversy for underwriting works of art deemed obscene by some critics.

“I’m totally flummoxed and dumbfounded by this,” said Martin Benson, SCR artistic director. “Nothing requires those (attending SCR) to adopt our views, but my views are pro-NEA, and as a citizen I have a right to express those views.”

Mayor Peter F. Buffa, who proposed that the arts grants be held up, said Saturday that he is concerned that SCR may have used city money to print the flyers, putting the city in the position of endorsing a political activity.

“We have no control over their everyday business operations or politicking, if they choose to do that, but we do expect them to ensure that no public monies are going to support purely political actions,” Buffa said.

SCR recently distributed a leaflet at performances that urged patrons to contact their legislators in support of the NEA. In addition, SCR directors have on occasion personally addressed audiences before shows urging the same action.

Buffa said the city is not seeking to comment on the content of SCR productions, nor is he opposed to the group’s public support of the NEA.

“In this case, the fact that it is an arts group is beside the point,” he said. “If any group came in and said, ‘We are a political action committee or a partisan group,’ we would immediately say, ‘This is public money.’ We can’t support a group that is politicking.”

Buffa said he would like to meet with SCR officials and be assured that city money was not used for the flyers.

Benson said, however, that having to prove “that city grant money is not being used politically is ludicrous. I really don’t see the tie between the city of Costa Mesa and the NEA.”

Benson noted that several other Orange County arts groups, including the Newport Harbor Art Museum and the Laguna Art Museum, have taken public stances in support of the NEA and against bids to disband the endowment or severely restrict its funding guidelines.

The City Council is scheduled to reconsider funding for a dozen cultural arts groups July 2.