Los Angeles' nonprofit cultural organizations have received unaccustomed cause for optimism about government funding from a county decision to more than double arts grants in the coming fiscal year, from $2.2 million to $4.5 million.
In addition to that increase, the county Board of Supervisors on Monday gave cultural institutions $20 million of a $400-million surplus that built up during the expiring 2005-06 budget year, as state revenue-sharing and interest income exceeded expectations.
The Music Center, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the fledgling La Plaza de Cultura y Artes will each get a one-time infusion of $5 million.
"During tough budget years, arts programs are oftentimes the first to endure cuts. Given that we are in the midst of much rosier fiscal circumstances, it is entirely appropriate that we augment our arts program," Supervisor Gloria Molina said in a statement issued after the supervisors unanimously approved a $20-billion budget for fiscal 2006-07 that includes $62.9 million for arts and culture.
The increase in the county's arts grants program "is a step down an important road," said Laura Zucker, executive director of the county Arts Commission.
She added, however, that "we're not yet where we need to be" in matching leaders such as New York City and San Francisco in per capita government support for the arts.
The doubling of arts grants is especially significant, Zucker said, because it establishes a new baseline for the program: $4.5 million rather than $2.2 million will be the annual starting point for discussion, and the grant totals are likely to be maintained or enlarged in future years unless harsher fiscal realities intrude.
In 2005-06, the county made 199 grants to arts organizations, ranging from $2,000 for the smallest to $97,000 for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The Arts Commission is proposing 228 grants for 2006-07.
Zucker declined to specify the dollar range until they come before the Board of Supervisors for approval next month.
The biggest chunks of the entire $62.9-million arts and culture appropriations will go to three large county-owned but privately operated nonprofit institutions. They receive some government funding to cover maintenance, security and some other costs but also rely on ticket sales and private donations to make their annual budgets.
