Arts budget strapped

TURLOCK -- Bad budget times will mean steeper prices for high-demand arts programs for children this fall, coupled with a greater reliance on business sponsors or private donors to keep city art exhibitions running.

Arts supporters say parents soon will pay additional fees to send their children to arts camp, such as the sold-out program at Walnut Elementary Education Center this week -- a $40, four-day program of sculpting, drawing and painting.

The City Council earlier this month voted to cut $23,000 in arts funding from the city manager's budget recommendation. That leaves the arts with about $87,000 from the city's general fund, less than the cost of salary and benefits for the Arts Commission's one full-time staffer. Arts Commission Chairwoman Claudia Silva-Doo said money from fund-raisers and program fees must first go to cover the remaining salary and benefits of the employee -- about $12,000 worth -- before it reaches arts education programs.

"That was the thing that was the most disturbing to us," Silva-Doo said. "Does that mean eventually we could be fund raising for a police officer's position?"

Last year, fees and fund raising for city arts programs brought $45,000 back into the arts budget. Arts facilitator Lisa McDermott, the commission's full-time staffer, said she also worries about finding business sponsors to underwrite the cost of exhibitions that take place throughout the year in City Hall.

"I haven't steeled myself to the idea of leaving the wall blank for two months," McDermott said.

The City Council approved a $34 million city budget this month that includes six new firefighters and the second year of an aggressive police plan. The increase in public safety dollars makes up most of the $1.2 million deficit and required cuts in other departments.

Councilman Ted Howze said bad economic times mean Turlock must focus on filling its residents' basic needs, such as police and fire services. "We really have to get back to providing just the core services," he said. "We don't have a lot of money left outside that."

Department took huge hit

If the budget year is worse than expected, Howze said, the Arts Commission would be one of the first departments to be "completely defunded."

Silva-Doo said the benefits of city arts programs are hard to measure but are essential, especially for residents in the city's low-income neighborhoods.

"We feel this is something a lot of people can't provide for themselves, especially on the west side," she said.

Some arts officials believe they took a larger hit than any other city department, with 20 percent slashed from the city manager's recommended budget.

City officials peg the loss at 13 percent when taking into account the dollars brought back into the arts budget by fund raising and program fees. Sheila Cumberland, who oversees Turlock's Finance Department, said each city department was asked to make at least 10 percent in cuts.

"The smaller the budget, the more it hurts," Cumberland acknowledged. "This is a small budget where these people have to do a lot of fund raising. That amount of money meant a lot to them."

The need to fund a full-time employee is even greater, Silva-Doo said, as the Arts Commission leads the rebuilding of the Carnegie Arts Center on Broadway Avenue.

The City Council last year approved a $9.3 million renovation plan that morphs the ruins of the burned building into a modern, 18,360-square-foot building, including a visual arts gallery, classrooms, an outdoor plaza, a catering kitchen, a retail shop, staff offices and two large multifunction rooms.

The Arts Commission expects art shows, theater groups, lecturers, fund-raisers, classes, business meetings, weddings and other social gatherings at the Carnegie.

"We are at the point where we are definitely going to need at least one person to get this open and running," Silva-Doo said. "It's becoming a philosophical disagreement. I don't think we've ever asked for too much. We've never felt we've been extravagant."

Bee staff writer Merrill Balassone can be reached at mbalassone@modbee.com or 578-2337.