A fund supported by Yerba Buena property owners is directing $193,000 to neighborhood museums, festivals and community groups this year, providing an unusual source of arts funding as cultural and arts organizations confront reductions and uncertainty in San Francisco\u2019s grant allocations.<\/p>\n
The Yerba Buena Partnership awarded its own grants in July to 18 organizations for murals, performances, exhibitions, workshops and family events. The nonprofit community benefit district<\/a>, which uses assessments on properties to fund neighborhood services, says it is the only such district in San Francisco with a recurring competitive grant program for arts and community programming.<\/p>\n The awards come as seven San Francisco cultural centers<\/a> got their city funding cut by 10 percent over the last fiscal year. Proposed Arts Commission rules on grant payments drew warnings<\/a> that artists and smaller arts organizations could be forced to borrow money to complete city-funded work.<\/p>\n For some recipients, the Yerba Buena neighborhood money is helping fill funding gaps in the arts. Kultivate Labs<\/a>, a SoMa nonprofit that supports Filipino arts, culture and economic development, had enough money to paint three murals in a Yerba Buena alley, but not enough to celebrate them with the community, according to Executive Director Desi Danganan. A grant of $10,000 from the Partnership will pay for a public unveiling of the murals later this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n The grant comes as one of Kultivate Labs\u2019 awards from the city\u2019s Grants for the Arts program was cut in half.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTimes are tough right now,\u201d Danganan said. \u201cThere\u2019s just not enough resources to go around.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Other Yerba Buena Partnership grant recipients this year include SFMOMA, the Museum of the African Diaspora, Litquake, the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, SCRAP and the Children\u2019s Creativity Museum. The grants will support outdoor performances, literary events, art workshops and exhibitions featuring emerging artists.<\/p>\n