Mayor Blasts NEA, Awards $3 Million in City Funds : Grants: More than 200 local artists and organizations receive stipends from the city.

By SHAUNA SNOW

July 12, 1990 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Mayor Bradley and City Councilman Joel Wachs on Wednesday announced more than $3 million in 1990-91 grants through the Los Angeles Endowment for the Arts, with $538,214 going to individual artists, $61,600 going to fledgling groups, and more than $2.4 million divided among the city’s established arts organizations. This was the first full-year grant cycle in which traditionally under-funded individual artists were eligible for city grants.

“I’m very proud of these grants,” said Wachs, who in 1988 lead the effort to establish the multimillion-dollar arts fund, which is widely touted as a “windfall” for the city’s artists. “They represent the cultural pluralism . . . and the widest range of viewpoints and beliefs which we originally envisioned in proposing the L.A. Endowment for the Arts. The grants (demonstrate) our recognition that artists have something to offer our city . . . and should be valued and compensated for that.”

After the City Hall press conference, the City Council unanimously and without discussion approved the 203 grants which totaled $3,015,549. They ranged from $125,000 to the L.A. Philharmonic Assn., to $1,000 to the emerging Asian-American Literature organization.

The grants come in the midst of numerous cutbacks imposed citywide to make up a projected $100-million deficit. Although the grants amount to $500,000 less than the amount distributed in 1989-90, Wachs on Wednesday called the amount “very healthy and substantial--and only the beginning (of endowment spending).”

The city’s endowment is basically a trust fund which is operating on $5.8 million from the city’s general fund. An additional $15 million or so is expected to be raised from fees on municipal and private developments.

Both the grantees and the amounts of awards were determined by peer panels of artists and arts administrators from each of the 11 discipline categories. Grants were allocated in each discipline according to the application load and the amounts requested. A total of 1,013 grant applications were received.

While the city’s cultural affairs general manager, Adolfo Nodal, said he had worried that the amounts awarded for the last batch of city grants were too small and would not enable artists to complete their projects, he said he was more comfortable with this list of grantees and did not expect problems.

“The tendency is still to spread the money around and fund more artists,” Nodal said, noting that the peer panels which recommended the grants were required to fund at least one-half of the amount requested by grantees, or deny the grant. “They were told they couldn’t nickel-and-dime them, so I don’t think it will be a big problem. Nobody had a problem completing their project last time, and I was worried then.”

Grantees interviewed Wednesday were pleased by the amounts awarded.

“I’m really relieved,” said performance artist Dan Kwong, who will put his $5,630 grant toward four August performances of his “Secrets of the Samurai Centerfielder” at East-West Players. “I knew that usually people do not get the amount of money they’d requested anyway, and I had thought that (because of city budget cuts) I might have gotten knocked down even more.” Kwong had applied for a little more than $7,000, but said he will be able to scale down his budget to complete his performance.

A big winner in the grant announcement was September’s Los Angeles Festival, which will be directly or indirectly aided by more than 30 of the awards. Included is $75,000 for production of the L.A. Festival proper, an additional $14,000 for production of the connected Open Festival, and several awards to co-presenters of programs included under festival auspices. Festival programs receiving awards included $10,000 for a Chicano art exhibit at UCLA’s Wight Art Gallery, $30,000 toward the restoration of a mural by David Alfaro Siqueiros and $2,500 for an Open Festival production of a multiethnic “Taming of the Shrew” by Will’s Players.

“We’re thrilled,” Festival executive director Judith Luther said of the grants, noting that the festival had counted on receiving only $50,000 for its own grant, one-third of the $150,000 it applied for.

1990-’91 CULTURAL AFFAIRS DEPT. GRANT RECIPIENTS

A Selected List of Awardees

L.A. Theatre Center

Bill Bushnell, producing director

$68,000

Southwest Museum

$38,100

Bella Lewitzky Dance Foundation

$27,000

Inner City Cultural Center

C. Bernard Jackson, executive director

$36,100