\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s at stake?<\/p>\n
Several artists and organizations that were awarded Measure P arts funding last year have yet to see a dime of what they were promised by the Fresno Arts Council \u2014 and are in limbo with the City of Fresno taking over the grant program from the agency as it\u2019s investigated for alleged million-and-a-half-dollar embezzlement.<\/p>\n
The night before artist Jennie Guerrero found out that $1.5 million in Measure P arts dollars had been stolen from Fresno\u2019s arts community<\/a> \u2014 leaving all the grant money she\u2019d been awarded in limbo \u2014 she was already sitting down to start on her next Measure P application.<\/p>\n Now, she\u2019s not sure if she\u2019ll ever even see the $38,000 she was promised more than seven months ago.<\/p>\n Guerrero, alongside her partner Roeski \u2014 who together run the downtown art studio Hella Fresno<\/a> \u2014 were awarded a second year of Measure P arts funding to support their project \u201cheARTS of Downtown<\/a>\u201d in 2025. Through the project, Hella Fresno recruited and paid local creators to teach arts workshops downtown.<\/p>\n But between being recommended for only 30% of the funding they\u2019d originally applied for in 2025, and the still-open question of whether they\u2019ll ever see a dime of their award, Hella Fresno was already forced to give up the new space they\u2019d been renting for the workshops.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t a difficult call to make, Guerrero said. They just couldn\u2019t afford it anymore.<\/p>\n One of the tougher pills to swallow has been the fact that Measure P \u2014 a program she once actively encouraged other artists to take advantage of \u2014 is something she can\u2019t feel excited about anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m always on this soapbox \u2014 a Measure P soapbox \u2014 of how great it is,\u201d Guerrero said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I can be that way this year, and it kind of sucks.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a true advocate of Measure P and arts and culture \u2026 and downtown and everything Fresno,\u201d she added. \u201cI\u2019m just like, I can\u2019t be that way this year because I feel like there\u2019s just so much going on that\u2019s not OK.\u201d<\/p>\n On Feb. 7, artists like Guerrero had the rug pulled out from under them when they learned that an ex-Fresno Arts Council employee was under investigation<\/a> in connection with the at least $1.5 million theft from the taxpayer-funded arts grants program, news first reported by Fresnoland.<\/p>\n Hella Fresno is far from the only organization now left searching for answers<\/a> with zero percent of the funds they\u2019d been promised in hand \u2014 and no detailed plans yet from the City of Fresno on how they\u2019ll make artists and organizations whole, now that the city has taken the reins<\/a> from the Arts Council.<\/p>\n At the same time, many of these artists have already made promises to their communities with their ambitious projects \u2014 and said they plan to find a way to keep those promises, even though the Arts Council broke theirs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re basically seeing how much we can keep going without the funds, which obviously is really hard,\u201d said Fresno muralist Andrea Cano Torres, who\u2019s partnering with Eben Santos, a local printmaker, on a mural to beautify a planned community garden at My Homies Kitchen<\/a> downtown.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want the momentum to stop,\u201d Torres added, \u201cespecially not for the surrounding communities because everyone\u2019s already so excited about it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Torres and Santos\u2019 project, fiscally sponsored by Dulce Upfront, is another effort meant to activate Fresno\u2019s downtown, a part of the city that leaders have long struggled to revitalize<\/a>.<\/p>\n Torres said she thought she\u2019d finally checked off the final box needed to receive the $30,000 award they\u2019d been promised mere days before news broke of the embezzlement scandal.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Feb. 4, she and Santos submitted a signed authorization from the property manager where the mural was planned and spoke briefly with the Fresno Arts Council Executive Director Lilia Gonz\u00e1les Ch\u00e1vez, confirming that was the last bit of paperwork they needed.<\/p>\n Three days later, she learned of the alleged embezzlement of $1.5 million. She\u2019s been reeling ever since.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve checked my Submittable a million times,\u201d Torres said, referring to the online portal<\/a> where the Arts Council collected grant applications, \u201cand been like, how is this happening?\u201d<\/p>\n