Established arts organizations would be eligible for less Measure P money in 2025 under proposed grant guidelines now working their way through City Hall. But even before the 2025 guidelines get final approval, pushback from the community could lessen the financial impact on those organizations.

Meanwhile, a big question looms: Will city officials approve the guidelines in time to avoid a delay in Measure P funds reaching eligible artists and nonprofit arts organizations next year? Currently, the guidelines are stuck before the city’s Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission.

The Munro Review offers 10 takeaways from deliberations over the proposed 2025 guidelines. The guidelines will give direction in awarding millions of dollars in arts grants that Fresno voters put in play when they approved Measure P in 2018. The measure will generate millions of dollars for parks and arts over 30 years through a ⅜-cent increase in the sales tax.

1.

Less Measure P money will be available to the arts in 2025 (an estimated $6.2 million) compared to 2024 (when $9.4 million was awarded). There was more money in 2024 because Measure P funds built up over several years as officials geared up to make the first-ever grants.

2.

More applicants are expected in 2025, meaning a greater number of eligible applicants could have to share that smaller pot of money, according to Lilia Gonzáles Chávez, executive director of the Fresno Arts Council. The Arts Council runs the arts grants program. In 2024, the Fresno Arts Council received 137 applications for Measure P money, and in the end 112 applicants were awarded money.

3.

Established arts organizations like Arte Américas (a Latino cultural arts center), the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra and the Fresno Art Museum could get a maximum of $350,000 each in 2025. In 2024, their maximum was $500,000, though no established organization received that much. The highest amount ($428,395) went to the Community Media Access Collaborative (CMAC), a public service media organization.

4.

The 2025 cap of $350,000 for established arts organizations was originally set at $300,000. But community feedback convinced the Fresno Arts Council and the culture committee of Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission to boost the proposed amount, Gonzáles Chávez told The Munro Review.

5.

Two types of arts grants would continue in 2025: operational support (covering utilities, rent, staff salaries, etc.) and project specific (covering artists’ fees, materials, venue rentals, etc.). Established organizations could apply for either operational support (capped at $350,000) or project specific support (capped at $150,000). They could not apply for both, as they could in 2024. It seems logical to assume established organizations would opt to go for $350,000.

But emerging organizations (annual budgets of less than $50,000) could apply for both types of grants. These organizations could receive a maximum of $100,000, which is more than any emerging organization received in 2024.

The saga of Measure P: See past coverage in The Munro Review’s comprehensive archive

6.

Applicants proposing to offer art therapy in 2025 would need to be or use licensed art therapists. Therapist biographies and license numbers would be required on applications for Measure P funds.

Several organizations submitted grant applications in 2024 that appeared to offer art therapy. But it isn’t clear if practitioners are licensed, Gonzáles Chávez told The Munro Review. “There is the potential danger of people without a license, as in any discipline, delivering a service that is not helpful,” she said. She declined to identify which 2024 applicants might fall into that category.

7.

Guidelines for 2025 would put in writing that eligible artists and nonprofit organizations receiving Measure P money in 2025 must conduct all Measure P-funded activities – including rehearsals, performances and presentations – in the City of Fresno.

Gonzáles Chávez told The Munro Review that the Arts Council received “community feedback” that some 2024 grantees might be operating outside the city in violation of Measure P. “We try to determine whether or not it’s accurate, but if we can’t, it’s just hearsay,” she said, declining to identify which 2024 grantees might be involved.

8.

The Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission received proposed 2025 guidelines on Sept. 30 but has taken no action so far. The Commission’s approval is necessary before the guidelines go to the Fresno City Council for final approval. It’s only then that the Fresno Arts Council can set into motion the 2025 grants program.

“The delay will not allow us to make grants in a timely way so organizations now awaiting the funds can move forward with their programs or staff support,” Gonzáles Chávez said. “That’s my ultimate concern – that organizations are going to be hurt.”

The Munro Review has no paywall but is financially supported by readers who believe in its non-profit mission of bringing professional arts journalism to the central San Joaquin Valley. You can help by signing up for a monthly recurring paid membership or make a one-time donation of as little as $3. All memberships and donations are tax-deductible. The Munro Review is funded in part by the City of Fresno Measure P Expanded Access to Arts and Culture Fund administered by the Fresno Arts Council.

9.

The delay has thrown off the schedule that the Arts Council hoped to follow in awarding 2025 grants. The goal – before the delay – was to begin accepting grant applications in November 2024 with Measure P grant money in the hands of successful applicants by July 1, 2025.

Now there’s a push for the Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission to hold a special meeting on Monday, Dec. 9, to approve the guidelines and send them to the City Council for consideration on Thursday, Dec. 12. Whether this is possible remains unclear.

10.

The question of which neighborhoods will get Measure P arts grants in 2025 – – and which neighborhoods got them in 2024 – continues to be a contentious issue for the Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission.

At the Commission’s Nov. 18 meeting, Commissioner Jose Leon Barraza asked whether the 2025 guidelines could have “stronger language” making a “commitment to allocate resources to the underserved population of our city.” Barraza has repeatedly expressed his concern that neighborhoods in southeast, southwest and south central Fresno did not receive equitable funding in 2024.

Deputy City Attorney Angela Karst replied that Measure P does not require that a designated amount go to the highest need areas of the city. But, she said, commissioners can “engage their communities” by encouraging more applicants to seek grants.

Commission Chair Kimberly McCoy joined the conversation by saying she doesn’t think “other communities were left out” of Measure P arts funding in 2024 – a direct challenge to Barraza’s contention. Echoing what Karst said, McCoy emphasized that commissioners have a role to play in where arts grants land in the city. She said Barraza should get artists in southeast Fresno, where he lives, to apply for Measure P grants, just as she must do in southwest Fresno, where she lives.

Doug Hoagland has been covering Measure P for over two years.