City Releases Grant to SCR

The Costa Mesa City Council on Monday released a $30,000 grant to South Coast Repertory that was withheld two weeks ago because of a complaint about a flyer the Tony Award-winning company distributed voicing its support of the National Endowment for the Arts.

But in doing so, the council said it will now require all arts groups receiving city money to provide strict accounting showing that no city money is used for political activities, and that new limits will be placed on the types of arts activities recipients may present or produce.

Acting on a complaint from Costa Mesa resident John Feeney, who said SCR’s pro-NEA flyer amounted to “an endorsement of religious bigotry,” the council will recommend to the city attorney Feeney’s proposed language that arts-grant recipients henceforth agree not to “visually nor verbally, deliberately denigrate anyone’s race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical handicap, marital status, sex or age.”

The phrasing is strikingly similar to legislation unsuccessfully proposed by leading NEA opponent Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), but which nonetheless resulted in controversial restrictions on NEA grant recipients.

Costa Mesa City Attorney Thomas Kathe said Monday that it was too soon to tell whether Feeney’s proposed language would be adopted. He added that the new limits “will probably focus on what (grant recipients) can do rather than what they can’t do” and could be drafted in time to apply to this year’s recipients.

David Emmes, SCR producing artistic director, said there was “no need for the city to have restrictive language” and he believes the city is being “used” by Feeney in his personal attack on the NEA.

“One would hope the city is not being dragged into the NEA issue on the basis of one individual,” Emmes said.

The restriction was suggested to the council in a July 2 letter from Feeney, whose initial complaint about SCR prompted the council in mid-June to delay distribution of $175,000 in arts grants.

Costa Mesa Mayor Peter F. Buffa said Monday that the city attorney, who will determine the exact language for the new limits on the use of city grants, has been given a copy of Feeney’s letter to help him formulate the language.