Ventura’s Arts Cuts Gut “The New Art City”

Urgent City Council Monday March 23 Meeting 6:00p.m.

Like many communities across the country, the City of Ventura (aka Ventucky my home town) is reeling financially and struggling to find some balance in a woefully unbalanced world.

About 20 years ago, artists were outpriced in Santa Barbara and many of them headed south to Ventura and set up shop at Art City. Art City’s sculpture studios, galleries, events, and general cutting edge and outrageous activities put Ventura on the artistic map which drew even more artists to the community, particularly to the westside. The community capitalized on this and eventually the city branded itself as the “new art city.”

Now, City cuts threaten to gut that “new art city.” What will be left? Tonight, Ventura’s City Council meets to go over these and other changes. Many people in the community are more concerned about threats to police and fire services; in this conservative town, many people don’t recognize or understand the relationship between the arts and other kinds of spending in our community that makes it the place it is, a place worth visiting and living in.

In the letter below, one of the most influential people in terms of City affairs,  Elena Brokow, explains what to expect from the “New Art City.” You can also read Kevin Clerici’s Ventura Star article here.

To Ventura Arts Constituents:

I would like to take this opportunity to inform you, as the community members who bring our artistic and cultural efforts to life, of budgetary reductions that will be recommended to City Council. These specific reductions are all housed in the City of Ventura’s Cultural Affairs Division, and some of them may have a direct impact on you.

As you all know, the City has been faced with a significant projected shortfall in general fund revenues for the 2009/10 fiscal year. If the City were to continue to expend on supplies, services, and personnel at its current rate, it would result in a $12 million ongoing deficit. To fill that gap, every city department was tasked with recommending 15% reductions in their budgets for the next year. The departmental reductions will be presented to Council in the Strategic Vision categories, and each budget recommendation was based on a Budgeting for Outcomes process in which staff members and community stakeholders worked together to prioritize and redesign existing services.

The entire Cultural Affairs Division program is housed in the “Creative and Vibrant Community” section of the budget. The reductions in the Cultural Affairs Division are significant, in part due to the fact that the Manager position is currently vacant. I have recommended to City Council that they eliminate that position – obviously a hard recommendation for me to make, since I used to hold that post, but one which made the most ethical sense (ie, holding an open position, which would result in even more eliminations of filled positions, was not a decision that I felt was good for the organization or the city).

The elimination of the leadership position for the division, which for the last decade has consisted of eight positions (one manager, three supervisors, and four coordinators) is obviously going to demand significant reorganization of our staffing and program delivery structure, not only in the Cultural Division but throughout the Community Services Department. We will be conducting organizational workshops with internal staff at least through the end of April.

Other reductions are programmatic in nature, and can be summarized thus:

Special Events
* The City will only present one Street Festival annually.
* Starlight Cinema, the free family movie series, will be eliminated.
* ArtWalk may be eliminated or greatly re-structured unless community partnerships commit to co-producing the event.

Cultural Grants · The grants program will be reduced by 47%. Grants to local arts organizations will be reduced; grants to local artists and county organizations will likely be eliminated. The Cultural Affairs Commission will consider how to restructure the grants program at its March 26 meeting.

Historic programs
* The Albinger Museum will be closed to the public. We are exploring ways to keep the facility open as much as possible for specific educational outreach programs.

Technical Assistance
* The program will be eliminated.

Implementation of the 2005 Cultural Plan
* Staff changes and a reduction in resources will necessitate a change in the way we put into effect the action plan outlined in the Cultural Plan. The actual implementation will be dependent on reorganization discussions, as described above.

Public Art
* Although not part of the general fund, the Council has also asked staff to review projects in the annual Public Art Work Plan, and consider exempting specific projects for public art.

As I said at the beginning, I wanted to inform you, our core constituents and partners in Ventura’s cultural community, of these changes at the earliest possible time.

Thank you for all you do, and please do not hesitate to e-mail me with questions or comments.

Elena Brokaw Director, Community Services Department

Speak out. You can and here’s how..

If you have participated in or enjoyed anything related to culture in Ventura, please email : council@ci.ventura.ca.us; culturalaffairs@ci.ventura.ca.us, and attend Mondays City Council Meeting (Fill out a comment card, or stand up and speak).

Your ideas , concerns, experiences, words of thanks, and encouragement are needed at this time when the officials that you have elected are making budgetary decisions that affect the future and preservation of our community where you live, work and or create …

Urgent:
City Council Meeting
Monday March 23
6:00p.m.