More than $1.5 million is missing from the Fresno Arts Council in an embezzlement case now under investigation.

This prompted city officials to terminate contracts with the FAC, stripping them of Measure P funds and all city-owned property.

The city confirmed it was a non-profit employee accused of taking the funds.

Fresno police say they were made aware of this on Friday and are now investigating this case along with the FBI.

“Those funds are a huge deal to an emerging artist. Many have still not received the funding for their projects,” said Christina Soto, a member of the coalition of artists in Fresno.

Several art projects are on pause after the Fresno Art Council claims they fell victim to unauthorized financial transactions, resulting in a loss of agency funds.

Funds local artists use to complete their projects.

“It’s really hard to accept the fact that, you know, FAC was a victim. Here, because really they’re, you know, in a position of power and responsibility, and they’re receiving a lot of funding as well to oversee these funds. And frankly, they just aren’t. They don’t seem to be. They don’t seem to have a good handle on it,” said Soto.

The money loss comes out of taxpayers’ pockets

12% of funding from Measure P, a sales tax that in 2022 generated around $37.5 million, goes to arts and culture.

“On any given day, we have a lot of trust in our nonprofit partners. And so when we have a case like this, which is rare, where somebody is being unethical with how they’re spending taxpayer dollars,” said Annalisa Perea, a Fresno City Councilmember.

Now, the remaining funds are in the hands of the city.

Fresno City Manager Georgianne White sent this letter to the Arts Council, terminating the city contract with them, removing their role in managing Measure P funding.

“We’re going to learn from this, and we’re going to do everything possible to not just recover the funds, but to add any additional safeguards to ensure that this does not happen again with another one of our nonprofit partners,” said Perea.

While Soto was an advocate for Measure P, she says concerns about transparency that had been raised before.

“I think that the community artists raised a lot of concerns over the equity of the funds and how they were being allocated, who was allowed to have access to those funds. There was a concern for a lack of accessibility to emerging artists,” said Soto.

There are still a lot of questions yet to be answered, like what safeguards did the FAC have in place for the funding, and if the funds lost can be recovered.

The Fresno City Council will hold a special meeting at 10:15 am on Tuesday.

The FAC’s contract with the city council will officially be terminated on February 20th, but until then, FAC has to give back all funds from Measure P to the city of Fresno.