Costa Mesa Awards $175,000 in Grants to Arts Groups

The City Council awarded $175,000 in grants to local arts groups Monday night, the same amount awarded last year, but with the conditions that the groups obey state laws on obscenity and not use the money for religious or political purposes.

The conditions--which do not actually establish new ground rules so much as reaffirm existing ones--were announced after recent controversies. One involved the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse, which offered a play that some residents thought ridiculed Catholicism, and another involved South Coast Repertory, which angered some officials by distributing flyers supporting the embattled National Endowment for the Arts. The playhouse will receive $14,800 this year, and SCR will receive $28,400.

A total of 17 groups received grants, including South Coast Symphony ($22,100), Opera Pacific ($17,800) and the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the annual Arts on the Green ($26,400 now; the council received a recommendation from its Cultural Arts Committee that another $13,600 be awarded later).

None of the arts groups objected to the conditions. But Lori Houghton, chairwoman of the Cultural Arts Committee, said she is concerned that the conditions indicate a reluctance by the council to fund anything that is bold and therefore might be considered offensive.

The application process for grants was made more complicated this year. Among other things, arts groups were required to defend their requests before the council.

Alice Leggett of the Cultural Arts Committee said she thinks those changes improved communication between artists and council members. “At the end, everyone from the council to the arts groups and back understood each other better,” Leggett said.