Arts council loses federal funding anew

The National Endowment for the Arts has reiterated its stand that the local arts council is ineligible for funding the from the national body up through 2018, apparently because, among other things, the council submitted its grant application using the wrong form, and because of ongoing concerns with the council’s management, according to a NEA a letter to the Gov. Ralph DLG Torres last month.

The May 11 letter, copies of which we obtained by Saipan Tribune this week, responds to a March 2016 letter from Torres where the governor expressed commitment that that he and the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs new secretary, Robert Hunter, would be seeking qualified management to run the arts agency, or the Commonwealth Council for Arts and Culture.

The May 11 letter also appears to signal Torres’ desire that a new executive director for the council be found.

However, while NEA says they appreciate the steps Torres’ office has taken in recent months, their decision on the eligibility of CCAC to apply for funding still stands.

“CCAC is ineligible through Jan. 22, 2018,” said Winona H. Varnon, deputy chairman for management and budget and audit follow-up official, in the two-page letter to Torres.

Varnon explains they had received a “final descriptive report” on grant activities for its “partnership agreement grant,” but that the form that was completed was for not partnership agreements.

“It was for NEA grants issued to nonprofit organizations for their art projects,” Varnon said, providing a correct link the form.

“We look forward to receiving the correct final report to meet the requirement outlined in item 2 in our Jan. 22 2015 letter to Secretary Ogumoro (Laura Ogumoro, former DCCA secretary), and reiterated in our March 10, 2016 letter to you.”

About $3M lost

This is the second time CCAC’s NEA funds have been lost.

The first time, in 2007, ended up seeing the CCAC ineligible for seven years.

Hunter told Saipan Tribune that the amount of direct funding lost over the course of the two periods of ineligibility—the first seven years and the second three years—and the year of eligibility in between that saw the benefit of only a portion of the grant funding—may total upwards of $3 million.

“The total dollar loss is likely greater than that when taking into consideration the loss of the promotional benefits of activities, and peripheral income generated through car and room rentals and sales by visitors and participants who travel here to attend certain events,” Hunter said in an email.

“Equally important is the loss of cultural, preservation and educational opportunities, and the direct loss of income to artists,” he added.

Need for new management

The NEA, in the May 11 letter, signaled its expectation that new management be found for the art agency, which Hunter separately confirmed as concern cited by the NEA and its inspector general, in his email.

In the letter, Varnon quotes Torres’s March 28 letter, where the governor wrote: “we will impress upon the [CCAC] board the necessity of providing a new executive director with the necessary flexibility to asses current staffing and to employ where necessary, qualified and experienced individuals.”

“Upon resentment of CCAC,” Varnon went on to say, “we expect to receive specific information concerning the new management structure at CCAC including staff names, titles, and responsibilities.” The current executive director for CCAC is Angel Hocog.

“Not having seen the May 11 correspondence yet, and wanting to avoid discussing specific personnel issues,” Hunter said, “I can say in general terms, that we are working to meet all of the requirements that have been set forth by the NEA and its Inspector General, which includes the submission of complete reports and will address the management issues.” CCAC falls under the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs.

Hunter disclosed they had received another letter, from the NEA Inspector General, where the IG asked, among others, that they provide names of new management “if they are in place, or when they are in place.”

“Right now, the NEA and especially their Inspector General, are not confident that federal funds will be properly managed by the Commonwealth Council for Arts and Culture (CCAC),” Hunter said. “A finding was made by the Inspector General, which was concurred by NEA officials, that the CCAC be ineligible to receive grants from the NEA through January 2018,” Hunter said.