Public Didn’t Pay for NEA Flyer, SCR Says

A top official at South Coast Repertory theater said Monday that he has assured the mayor of Costa Mesa that no city funds were used to pay for a leaflet that urged playgoers to voice support for the National Endowment for the Arts and that he is confident the company will receive a city grant that has been held up over the issue.

“I have been able to give (Mayor Peter F. Buffa) assurances that no city monies were used in the preparation of our flyer,” said David Emmes, SCR co-founder and producing artistic director. “I have no reason to believe we won’t receive our grant.”

Last week the City Council delayed distribution of $175,000 in arts grants, including $30,000 for SCR.

Buffa was not available for comment. But Emmes said he also told the mayor that city grants have been spent only on what they were requested for: the theater’s community service programs, which bring educational productions to area schools.

The delay, announced during the same meeting at which the council approved spending $400,000 to support an upcoming “Festival of Britain” retail promotion based at South Coast Plaza and a countywide arts festival, came after a resident complained about SCR’s support of the NEA. The federal arts agency is under fire for funding a handful of allegedly obscene and sacrilegious artworks.

Buffa was concerned that SCR had used city money to print the flyer, which he felt would be putting the city in the position of subsidizing political activities.

At recent performances, SCR inserted into programs a flyer urging patrons to write their legislators in support of the NEA, whose critics want either to restrict the content of NEA-funded artworks or severly reduce the agency’s budget.

“The National Endowment for the Arts has been a crucial partner in South Coast Repertory’s growth and development over the past decade, as well as an important contributor to the richness and vitality of American culture for the past 25 years,” the one-page flyer said in part. “Please join us in expressing your beliefs in the importance of the arts in America and your support for the work of the National Endowment for the Arts by contacting your congressman and senator today.”

Emmes added that the flyers were paid for with money from ticket sales and that he also told the mayor that SCR has “long understood that public monies cannot be used for (political) advocacy efforts.”

Emmes also discussed with Buffa the possibility that the city might begin requiring arts groups to document that grant money is spent only on projects the money was requested for.

Unlike NEA grant recipients, arts groups are not now required to supply that information to the city of Costa Mesa, Emmes said.

Meanwhile, other Orange County arts groups said Monday that they too have spent no city money on anything other than what they sought the funds for.

Private contributions paid for a flyer similar to SCR’s issued by the Laguna Art Museum and a mailer sent to members of the Newport Harbor Art Museum, spokesmen at each institution said Monday.

The Orange County Philharmonic Society, based in Irvine, has not distributed either a flyer or mailers, but executive director Erich A. Vollmer said he finds the whole situation “remarkable, to say the least.” The Philharmonic Society, which receives grants from several cities whose citizens it serves, is also waiting to hear about its Costa Mesa subsidy.

“I think it’s somewhat amazing that the city would take this action on the basis of what I assume was only one complaint from one citizen,” Vollmer said.