Arts and culture budgets face up to $49,000 in cuts as the city of Durango adapts its budget to the coronavirus crisis.
The city is still discussing how to address the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its 2020 budget. Durango expects a 12% to 30% drop in sales tax revenue this year, affecting budgets across all departments. In response, city staff and the Creative Economy Commission, which oversees the city’s Arts and Culture Program, are preparing to delay some new art projects and instead focus on how the program can support struggling creative businesses.
“We don’t really know what’s going to happen, so we’re looking at different scenarios,” said Nicol Killian, assistant director of community development. “One thing that unfortunately always happens is that public arts budgets tend to be one of the first things cut.”
In the approved 2020 budget, Durango allocated $25,000 from the Capital Improvement Program to serve as matching funds for grant applications. The city deferred the expense during its April 7 meeting. Those funds will return to the city budget and no longer be used for new public art.
The Arts and Culture Program received about $24,000. Killian, a city staff liaison for the commission, proposed reducing the budget to $3,000. The rest would go back to the city budget. The $3,000 could be used for some creative economy support programs, such as outreach or the Empty Storefront Project, which the commission approved funding for in 2019.
“I’d like to help keep some money to help stimulate economic recovery, whatever that looks like,” Killian said.
Reducing the budget would limit the city’s ability to maintain its 33-piece, $1.1 million public art collection.
Projects also would be delayed. Three completed public art pieces would remain in storage limbo until the commission has enough money to install them.
One of those pieces is the Common Threads project, which will eventually be installed at the U.S. Highway 550/160 intersection. The city might display some parts of the Common Threads project in public buildings this summer.
“The city’s not in a position to be installing art pieces when we’ve got a lot of other things that we need to consider with the budget,” Killian said.
The city also entered into an agreement with the Durango Creative District to provide $40,000 in support in 2020. To save general fund dollars, city staff hope to receive a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment of the Arts, which is disbursing CARES Act funds to entities around the country.
The grant would cover the $40,000 for the Creative District. City staff would use the remaining $10,000 to cover the operational costs for the Arts and Culture Program, including maintenance for the public art collection. The Creative District will receive its funding with or without the grant.
Durangoans might still get to see some new public art.
The Creative Economy Commission has allocated $11,000 of the $15,000 Durango Creates! grant for creative installation and event projects. Some artists plan to complete their projects, like a mural on north Main Avenue, and will receive their grant reimbursements. Others might return the grant funds to the city.
During the commission meeting, creative economy representatives from the city, Creative District and artist community shared ideas for how to support the local community with a smaller budget. They talked about drive-in movies to replace group events, mini-grants for businesses and campaigns urging customers to shop locally.
“We’ll be applying for a lot of grants to help supplement things or just to be able to support our community as we rebuild everything,” Killian said.
smullane@durangoherald.com
