[Baltimore Sun] Baltimore mayor says $1.8 million emergency request from BOPA was last straw
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Mayor Brandon Scott said Tuesday that the $1.8 million request last month for emergency funds from the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts convinced him to terminate the city’s contract with the quasi-governmental agency.
“That was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Scott told Tom Hall, host of “Midday with the Mayor” on WYPR-FM.
“For me this was about responsibility. When I saw their fiscal situation and I knew how many taxpayer dollars were already being put into BOPA, this was the only decision that could be made.”
The city of Baltimore notified BOPA’s board in a letter Wednesday night that it would defund the organization and end its contract on Jan. 20.
Though the mayor’s office has issued statements explaining the rationale for that decision, the radio interview was the first time Scott has spoken publicly about the factors that led him to dissolve the 22-year partnership between the city and its arts council.
Since 2002, BOPA has mounted city celebrations from Artscape to New Year’s Eve fireworks. The agency also runs the city’s film office, operates several public facilities and distributes about $500,000 in grants annually to artists and cultural groups.
Scott said he was taken by surprise when newly appointed BOPA CEO Rachel D. Graham and interim board chairman Andrew Chaveas announced last month that the arts council had run out of money three months into the fiscal year. Graham and Chaveas said they had only recently discovered that BOPA had effectively been running deficits for the past five years.
That announcement capped a tumultuous two and a half years during which BOPA appeared to frequently be in in crisis, and during which the mayor’s and City Council’s patience was repeatedly tried.
“When you consistently talk to and work with folks,” Scott said, “and you and your team never hear about [BOPA’s cash-flow problems] only to have it suddenly thrown at you that they need some large amount of money to pay for this or that, that makes you think deeply.”
Scott said BOPA’s decision last week to lay off staff and to take other measures to restore the agency’s financial stability was a step in the right direction — but that step was taken too late.
“Had these kinds of decisions about the funding, and even the fiscal situation itself, been raised to me or my team a lot earlier, we may have had a different conversation [today],” Scott said. “But we have to come up with a better structure that is sustainable over time.”
Scott said that specifics of what that new direction will be are scarce until the city can solicit feedback from artists, community organizations and other stakeholders.
“I don’t think the arts community would want that to happen any other way,” he said.
He also hinted that the city plans to take on the responsibility for mounting Artscape and other festivals in the future.
“We know that the city put on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade a few years ago,” Scott said. “We know that the city is accustomed to putting on large events like AFRAM, which is a kind of similar festival to Artscape.”
Scott also indicated that Tonya Miller Hall, his senior adviser for arts and culture, will play a critical role in festival planning in the future. Now, the mayor’s arts and culture office has just one employee — Miller Hall.
“Tonya has an extensive knowledge of all things BOPA and of the arts community in Baltimore,” Scott said. “She’s going to continue to be leading deeply in this work. Because Tonya is in my office that means she has the full weight of city government [behind her].”
Scott attempted to assure city residents that “Artscape will happen. The fireworks will happen on New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July. The book festival will happen — but now it is time to move in a different direction.”
Have a news tip? Contact Mary Carole McCauley at mmccauley@baltsun.com, 410-332-6704 and x.com/@mcmccauley.
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