California Arts Council Names 1988-89 Funding Recipients

The California Arts Council awarded the largest single grant in its 12-year history at its August meeting, but overall arts organizations got fewer dollars than last year.

The August meeting is the one at which the agency annually hands out its biggest bundle of grants. This year, 555 arts organizations statewide garnered $6.4 million, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic won a record $341,200.

However, because Gov. George Deukmejian blue-penciled any increase to the council’s $14.5-million budget for fiscal 1988-89, the same number of dollars had to be shared by about 66 more arts groups this year than last.

“Many organizations are receiving less money this year because their grant request was the same, but the council’s ability to fund” did not increase, said Juan Carrillo, council deputy director of programs, after Thursday’s meeting in Sacramento.

The San Francisco Symphony received the second-largest grant--$304,771. Among other top 10 winners were the San Francisco Opera ($252,120), the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco ($160,661), Los Angeles County Museum of Art ($156,662), the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art ($129,200), the San Francisco Ballet ($124,880), the South Coast Repertory Theatre ($106,400) and the Center Theatre Group Mark Taper Forum ($105,280).

These organizations, all with operating budgets of $1 million or more, received Support to Prominent Organizations grants, the council’s largest. In all, 34 groups won $3 million in this category.

A total of 521 organizations with budgets under $1 million won $3.5 million in Artistic and Administrative Development grants. Among top winners in this division were the Bella Lewitzky Dance Company ($27,200), Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions ($26,860), the American Film Institute ($23,800) and the Orange County Philharmonic Society ($20,400).

When Gov. Deukmejian signed the new state budget in July, he vetoed a $1.1-million increase that the council had requested, giving the agency no new funds at all. Most of that money had been promised by the council to 42 arts groups statewide in California Challenge Program Grants, to be matched exclusively with new private dollars.

Some arts groups had to cancel projects or dip into their budgets to replace money spent on projects, and officials are hoping that the Legislature and the governor will restore the challenge grants. So far, however, the Senate and Assembly have not agreed upon a proposal to restore the funds, said council director Robert H. Reid, observing that having the money restored would be “a miracle.”

In another key action Thursday, the council, nine of whose 11 members were appointed by Deukmejian, voted to request $17.8 million for the council’s 1989-90 budget. That figure, which includes $1 million to resurrect the challenge program, is “depressingly” low, said Susan Hoffman, director of the California Confederation of the Arts, the state’s arts advocacy organization. (The confederation wants a $21.5-million council budget for 1989-90.)

Reid, also a Deukmejian appointee, disagreed. “The confederation’s job is to advocate for more money for the arts. Our job is to do the best we can to present a budget that is prudent and yet meets the needs of the field. This ($17.8 million) is something we think is do-able.”