City Awards Grants to Arts Projects
The City Council has formally awarded $150,000 to a nascent foundation that plans to build arts venues downtown.
The grant to the nonprofit San Buenaventura Foundation for the Arts, headed by Ventura resident Jordan Laby, will help the organization buy and remodel a downtown building to house several visual and performing arts groups.
It will be the first phase of the foundation’s plans to open several arts venues, officials said. Total cost to renovate the building will be about $1.3 million and should take from one to three years.
The grant, to which the council gave final approval Monday, was part of a $1-million fund the city hopes will turn Ventura’s downtown into a magnet for cultural events. Other recipients include the Laurel Theatre, which also received $150,000, and the Ventura County Museum of History and Art, which was awarded $400,000. The city plans to use about $15,000 of the remaining money for signs and marketing, and about $104,000 for administration, fund-raising and economic studies.
City officials announced the winners last July, after months of reviewing applications from a range of Ventura-based arts organizations.
About $150,000 remains for additional projects.
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