San Fernando : Arts Panel Members Give Stipends to Cause

Members of San Fernando’s new Cultural Arts Commission have given up their monthly $35 stipends to establish a first-year budget to fund cultural events in the city.

The San Fernando City Council voted this week to approve the commission’s action, in effect creating a $1,820 starter budget for the commission, which was formed earlier this year to plan and promote cultural events and activities in San Fernando.

“We decided to do it because the stipend, individually, isn’t astronomical, but when you put them all together, they add up,” said Christina Bradley, a San Fernando Chamber of Commerce member who was appointed to the commission by Councilman Doude Wysbeek.

The commission was created at the suggestion of Councilman Raul Godinez after he was elected.

The commissioners’ offer “shows they are extremely committed” to promoting the city’s culture, Godinez said.

Each council member appointed one person to the commission, and the group began meeting monthly in January. The commission’s budget will be used in part to publish a calendar of cultural events and develop a directory of local artists, musicians and performers, said Veronica Sevilla, who was appointed to the commission by Godinez.

The commission also hopes to sponsor a cultural event, possibly a concert or music festival, sometime in the fall.

“These people will be defining the San Fernando experience for people who come here in the future,” Godinez said. “If we start creating more annual events, like the Cesar Chavez holiday [held in honor of the late labor leader’s birthday], those kinds of things define the culture of a city. Our history and culture is very special, and we’ve got to make sure we preserve and promote that.”