Esperanza Peace & Justice Center

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Index of information about Esperanza's Funding Cut

Arts budget presented
Esperanza grant motion rescinded

San Antonio Express-News
Thursday, September 3, 1998

by By Dan R. Goddard
Express-News Arts Writer

With all funding eliminated for the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center, Department of Arts and Cultural Affairs Director Eduardo Diaz had it easy when he presented his proposed $3 million budget to the City Council Thursday.

Council members raised no objections to the city's arts funding plans, although Councilman Robert Marbut, who has led past efforts to reduce funding for arts agencies, made cutting and chopping motions with his hand while Diaz made his report during a budget workshop session.

On Wednesday, the Cultural Arts Board rescinded its recommendation for a $20,733 grant to Esperanza, which has filed a federal lawsuit against the city for cutting all its funding -- more than $60,000 -- last year.

The board decided to withdraw its funding recommendation for this year after meeting with Assistant City Attorney Tom Bailey.

He told the board the city has a policy that forbids giving grants to agencies with litigation pending against the city.

Diaz reported the board recommended the $20,733 grant be divided into two grants: $10,366 for the Nonprofit Resource Center of Texas and $10,367 for technical assistance grants. The center provides information and assistance to help nonprofits apply for grants from a variety of sources, such as foundations.

"We think this money will help a lot more people this way," Diaz said.

Diaz also is proposing to change the name of his department to the "Office of Cultural Affairs" and to reduce his staff from 13 to eight by eliminating or "out-sourcing" three arts educational programs.

Mayor Howard Peak asked, "You don't think changing the name sends a bad message?"

Diaz replied the word "cultural" includes the arts, and major cities such as Chicago and New York use "cultural affairs" in the names of their city departments overseeing arts programs.

More than $2.3 million in city money, drawn from the hotel/motel tax fund, will be granted to local arts groups. Most of it is earmarked for the "big four": $400,000 to the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, $400,000 to the San Antonio Symphony Society, $300,000 to the San Antonio Museum of Art and $300,000 to the Witte Museum.

Through his staff and program reductions, Diaz said he would save $230,000. He is recommending that $100,000 be used to establish a Performing Arts Building Facility Challenge Program, which could be used to make improvements in city-owned theaters operated by other agencies, such as the Guadalupe, Beethoven Hall and the San Pedro Playhouse.

The remaining $130,000 would be reallocated to the arts agencies by the Cultural Arts Board as part of the grants program.

Diaz also said he will move his offices from the Majestic Building into the City Hall annex in November.

In an interview, Marbut said he still would like to see more cuts in arts funding, while reducing the number of staff members in Diaz's office to three.

Marbut said city arts funding still requires too much bureaucracy and should be tied to attracting tourists. However, Councilman Roger Flores said Marbut does not have enough support from the rest of the council to cut arts funding further. Last year, council made an across- the-board, 15 percent cut that affected 30 local arts groups and made national headlines.

Also as part of Thursday's budget work session, Library Director June Garcia outlined her proposed $16.8 million budget, which includes a $215,000 increase for materials.

Five more branch libraries will open on Sundays -- Brook Hollow, Carver, Forest Hills, Great Northwest and Pan American. And the library system will add eight part- time custodians to help with increased maintenance.

A computer specialist will be hired to aid with the establishment of tech centers in four branch libraries made possible by a $160,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Library Foundation.

Garcia reported the number of items borrowed from the city's libraries topped 3.93 million in 1998 and is expected to go over 4 million in 1999. The number of children enrolled in the summer reading program went over 30,000, compared with 16,300 in 1997.

Thursday's presentations by the Department of Arts and the Library were the latest in a series of workshops in which city agencies outline their budgets to the council. The council will vote on an overall city budget Sept. 17.
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What do you think? E-mail us at esperanza@esperanzacenter.org.