Tom Camarella
As many readers know, the revenue of the state of California has been hard-hit by the international recession/depression during the last several years. Consequently, the legislature and the Governor have been slashing the state budget and these cuts have had a domino effect on many local programs in counties and cities throughout the state. The latest hit came with the demise of redevelopment agencies in, set to go into effect on Wednesday. Our Culver City Redevelopment Agency has had to be dissolved, since no more funds would be forthcoming. Since the agency was the largest funder of our Culver City Music Festival (the Summer series at City Hall), it has placed the festival in dire jeopardy. The future of the Festival was placed on the Council Agenda on Jan. 9 and continued for 2 weeks to allow staff to research potential funding options. Many residents continue to contact the City Council, asking that this well-attended, popular and good-will cultural mainstay of the city not be discontinued.
Consequently, an item was placed on the Culver City Council Agenda on January 23, 2012 (Monday night) to consider:
1. A conceptual proposal by Boulevard Music to produce a music series in lieu of one produced by the city; and
2. A conceptual proposal by Boulevard Music to produce one city-sponsored 2012 summer concert.
Gary Mandell (the owner of Boulevard Music) could not be too specific regarding how many concerts could be funded, since it depended on how many dollars could be fundraised and how much the in-kind services would be worth from the city or others.
Prior to the Council discussion, residents at the podium mentioned how important it was to continue the cultural benefits to the city, that the quality of the events should remain high and that more proposals should have been solicited through a Request for Proposals.
In a wide-ranging discussion, Councilman Weissman mentioned that there was more time to make a decision than originally thought, so this could be given to an Ad Hoc Committee of the Cultural Affairs Commission for further fleshing out of proposals and ways to proceed.
Councilman Cooper was concerned about what type of performers could be available, how much lead time it would take to book them and how much each concert might cost.
Councilman Armenta brought up whether there were any available dollars in the Council’s Discretionary Fund. When city staff said that there was $10,000 available, Mr. Armenta requested a $7,500 allocation from that account to help fund the concerts.
The discussion then went into specifics regarding the costs of last summer’s concerts for artists, marketing production, sound, etc. and it was quickly realized that there were not enough specifics available and this needed to be fleshed out more with a representative of the City and Mr. Mandell. However, the Council was willing to direct $ 7,500 of available funds to the Summer Festival to be used by Mr. Mandell in furtherance of the limited festival that would happen this summer.
Last, but not least, the fundraising would be referred to the Cultural Affairs Ad-Hoc Sub-committee to garner as much financial support as possible, so the Culver City Music Festival might continue at a high level into the future.
Tom Camarella is the former Chair of the Fiesta La Ballona Committee, the former President of the Culver City Democratic Club, and a former Member of the Culver City Charter Review Committee.
I wanted to correct the error from Mr. Camarella's article.
ReplyDeleteHere is the quote from the article on your blog:
Consequently, an item was placed on the Culver City Council Agenda on January 23, 2012 (Monday night) to consider:
1. A conceptual proposal by Boulevard Music to produce a music series in lieu of one produced by the city; and
2. A conceptual proposal by Boulevard Music to produce one city-sponsored 2012 summer concert.
Item 2 above states a proposal by Boulevard Music to do one city-sponsored 2012 summer concert.
However, the fact was the staff would produce an alternative concert to the Boulevard Music proposal at Media Park
to generate potential sponsors and build interest. They hoped I would participate. They would produce the event.
I never said I would be involved and I probably wouldn't be if I didn't produce it. I'm surprised Mr. Camarella wrote
that as his wife is one of the Cultural Affairs Commissioners.
Furthermore as many of you were at the meeting I'm surprised that nobody caught this.
Thank you,
Gary Mandell
Producer of the Culver City Music Festival 2001-2011