Panel Recommends Groups for Arts Funding

A nonprofit group’s dream to build a downtown performing arts center got a boost Thursday when a city commission recommended it receive a $150,000 city grant.

The San Buenaventura Foundation for the Arts was one of three nonprofit groups the city’s cultural affairs commission suggested get a share of $1 million in grant money for downtown arts groups. Later this summer, the City Council will determine which groups get the money.

The decision was a departure from preliminary recommendations, which suggested money only for the Ventura County Museum of History and Art and the Laurel Theater.

Both those groups were targeted for grants, too, with $400,000 proposed for the museum’s expansion and $150,000 for the Laurel Theater’s arts program. The panel also recommended the city spend $41,000 to market downtown to tourists, and that a request for $50,000 be reconsidered to help the Flyin’ Lindy Hoppers dance group buy the long-shuttered Mayfair Theater.

The recommendations leave more than $200,000 still available, and the commission will determine how to use that money at a later date, said Ed Summers, chairman of the commission.