Fayetteville Arts Council weighs options, goals for grant program

File photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID GOTTSCHALK Matt Miller on Feb. 15, 2018, paints a portion of the 300-foot long mural on a retaining wall on College Avenue between Cleburn and Prospect streets in Fayetteville. The city's Arts Council, which commissioned the mural, is going over its role and founding ordinance.
File photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID GOTTSCHALK Matt Miller on Feb. 15, 2018, paints a portion of the 300-foot long mural on a retaining wall on College Avenue between Cleburn and Prospect streets in Fayetteville. The city's Arts Council, which commissioned the mural, is going over its role and founding ordinance.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Money could go to an arts grant program next year, so the city's Arts Council on Wednesday discussed developing a plan on how best to handle it.

The council is a panel of residents either arts professionals or have close ties to the arts community. It formed in 2007.

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For more information about the Fayetteville Arts Council, go to:

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Mayor Lioneld Jordan's office asked the council to come up with criteria for an arts grant program in next year's budget, said Sarah Marsh, the City Council representative on the Arts Council.

The city has historically given the Walton Arts Center $250,000 every year from its parking fund. That money has subsidized learning programs for children, ticket costs for low-income residents and rent agencies such as the Community Creative Center and Symphony of Northwest Arkansas pay to the center.

During its budget discussion for this year, the City Council discussed sharing that money with other arts organizations and projects in the form of a grant program. It agreed to continue its contract with the Walton Arts Center for this year and the first half of next year.

After that, the money would get bid out in the form of a grant program. The Arts Council needs to develop the criteria for grant eligibility over the next two months to have their recommendations ready for the city's budgeting process, said Dede Peters, the city's community outreach coordinator.

Marsh said there are other artists or organizations that could use the money, but that doesn't mean the Walton Arts Center wouldn't get any of it. Other sources of revenue also will be explored, in case there isn't enough money in the parking fund for the arts, she said.

The Arts Council reviewed similar grant programs in other cities and what types of projects they paid for. The members also took a look at what some other cities spend on arts in general, relative to their budgets.

Albuquerque, N.M., for instance, dedicates more than 2% of its city budget to the arts, Marsh said. By comparison, Fayetteville spends a small fraction of that, she said.

Chairman Bob Stafford said the common link among cities the council has reviewed is a budget allotment and staff dedicated to the arts.

The council also is working on revising the language of its founding ordinance. It formed a plan to look at the city's past economic plans and find the arts initiatives included in them that haven't so far been carried out. Exploring revenue sources and creating a wish list of arts programs also made the council's radar Wednesday. The council will form subcommittees to hash out the different topics.

The City Council's budget session typically takes place in November.

NW News on 06/20/2019

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