By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – Many area cultural organizations have been in a virtual free-fall since 9/11 devastated many funding sources. It's led to deep staffing and program cuts and, in some cases, doors nearly swinging shut. Erie County has stepped in and come to the rescue for some of these arts groups. But there are emerging concerns about how emergency funding is allocated -- and who might be left out.
The county has long picked up a substantial portion of the public funding tab for dozens of the area's cherished culturals. So, it was a logical place for groups to turn to when the rug was pulled out from so many other local, state and federal sources. The problem is that there was -- and still is -- no formal mechanism for allocating the so-called emergency funding. Lorna Hill from Ujima Theatre says they have pleaded for extra help for more than a year. Now, she says it may be too late.
"I'm fighting the urge today to announce this twenty-fifth and final season - that's where I am now," said Hill. "Our bank account is over drawn. We have zero dollars. We don't have money to pay staff, rent, utilities -- nothing."
Hill says the area's three other African American cultural groups are in the same dire situation. They collectively submitted two requests for what is informally referred to by the county as "extraordinary aid." Hill says the first written request was sent more than a year ago. There was no response.
So, they submitted another request this March. Larry Rubin, who is County Commissioner of Environment and Planning, oversees the funding process. Rubin says he was unaware things were that desperate. Rubin says all that was submitted was a one page ambiguous request asking for a total of $336,000 of extra funding for the African American groups.
"I don't see the word emergency. I don't see the word bankruptcy, I don't see the words our doors are closing anywhere in this request," said Rubin. "But certainly somebody being out of cash today should have been spotted in the last six to eight weeks. It certainly would have been brought to our attention by the organization. So, I'm a little surprised to hear about this."
Hill says he shouldn't be. She says they sent follow-up letters, and were calling the county on a weekly basis with no response. And in March, she and the other African American cultural leaders met with County Executive Joel Giambra personally. She says they left Giambra with no doubt about the seriousness of their financial need. Hill says they were told Rubin would be handling it -- and nothing more.
"No one ever said, concretely, 'this is what you do next,'" said Hill. "We were kept on hold indefinitely, and we never received a formal denial or acceptance of our application. And they know this."
A letter sent to Hill from Giambra's office last week said the county would review the groups' regular funding application for 2004. It also set a deadline of June 30th for sending any additional information.
Meanwhile, other organizations have asked for and received emergency aid. The Buffalo Philharmonic asked for help last fall. This March, the BPO was given $200,000 of additional county funding. And the Historical Society recently received $70,000 of emergency aid.
Charlene Ritter-Lester, director of the County Office for the Arts. She says there is no formal process. But Ritter- Lester says everyone is considered equitably.
"It's a very similar, if not exactly the same process, in some ways in terms of it being a deliberative process," said Ritter-Lester. "It isn't a decision that is made over night. It's taken an exchange of information and meetings to come up with a solution for both of those groups and now, hopefully, for the other groups."
But according to Bill Seiner, president of the Historical Society, there was one difference.
"We did speak to the county executive, and we also spoke to Charlene Ritter-Lester to ask for guidance in the whole matter, as to what the best approach might be - to take" said Seiner. "They advised laying out the information and the situation that we were in, and what we were doing to correct the situation over the long haul."
Hill says she and all other area cultural leaders would appreciate the same information -- and access to funding.
"If there is in fact money available for emergencies, why couldn't the county contact all of the cultural organizations of that money being available, and what the process or policy for distribution of that money is," said Hill. "Why is it we have to find it out by trial and error? Why is it we have to learn the language of requesting emergency assistance?"
The problem is, without a formal application process, it's difficult to know if all groups are being given equal access to emergency funds.
It was exactly this problem that led the county comptroller last year to investigate the county's handling of public benefit agency funding. That investigation determined that there was a deliberate practice of hiding who received money. There is now a formal application process for that funding. It provides detailed guidelines for applying. And it calls for transparent accountability of all funding decisions.
Perhaps it could serve as a model for supplying scant emergency funds to cultural groups -- ensuring that none of the community's valuable cultural resources are lost.