BY SUSANNAH PATTON Northwest Arkansas Times
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008
URL: www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/65620/
Organizers of the Fayetteville Arts Festival are hoping to receive $ 35, 000 from the Advertising & Promotion Commission in order to salvage the two-weekend event held in the fall.
The Fayetteville City Council approved a resolution last week to urge the commission to consider funding the festival. It will now be up to the commission to decide if the funding is granted or not. That discussion will take place at the group’s June meeting.
The original resolution brought forth by Alderman Lioneld Jordan urged the Advertising and Promotion Commission to reconsider its position to fund the arts festival.
Daniel Keeley, board president of Fayetteville Downtown Partners, the organization responsible for putting on the festival, said the board didn’t actually apply to the A & P Commission for funding this year, and therefore wasn’t really denied funding.
Jordan’s resolution was amended to say that the commission “ has not funded” the festival this year, rather than the commission has “ denied” funding this year. The language urging the commission to “ reconsider” was changed to “ consider. ”
Jordan said whether they applied or not is beside the point: The point is that the festival needs help.
“ What are we going to do about the arts festival ? ” he asked. “ Personally, I don’t want to lose it. ”
Marilyn Heifner, executive director of the commission, said special requests are funded through unallocated revenue. The commission had about $ 151, 000 to fund special requests this year, all of which was handed out in November.
“ There is no more money in unallocated revenue, ” she said.
The commission is cooperating with the event, Heifner said, by holding the visual arts component of the festival at the Town Center as well as hosting the art party held the night before the festival.
Mayor Dan Coody said the longterm solution may be hiring a fulltime staff person to take on the role of raising funds for events such as the arts festival. A staff person could grow the festival to where it pays for itself, he said.
“ We’d save money in the long run, ” he said.
But festival organizers said they first need a short-term solution.
The festival has a budget of about $ 54, 000, and organizers have only raised about $ 9, 500 so far.
“ We need more help; we need more funds, ” Julie Gabel, a member of the Fayetteville Arts Council and Downtown Partners, said.
Jordan said the arts festival is an important event for the city.
“ My concern is that if we don’t fund it, some of the cities to our north might, ” he said.
