I NEED TO DO a short followup to a blog entry I wrote back in January about my friend Melissa Wantz's contest for high schoolers, The Phoenix.

Wantz, an English teacher at Foothill High School in Ventura, came up with an idea to support and showcase the creative work of high school writers, artists and photographers in Ventura County.

I went to the presentation ceremony for the awards last night and I can now report that the arts are alive and well in our county's high schools. With hundreds of entries to choose from, the judges, who are locally renown in their fields of expertise, were blown away by the quality of the students' work.

Ventura artist Michele Chapin was so enthusiastic about the work she saw she plans to help expand and promote the contest next year.

The contest awarded cash prizes and an opportunity to be published in a book compiled by the journalism class at Foothill High. A Ventura Education Partnership grant helped pay the expenses.

Both the book and contest take their name from a mythical bird which dies in a fiery death and rises to live once again -- the Phoenix. "Our motto, 'Rising from the Ashes of Standardized Testing,' is taken from this idea of life after death," Wantz wrote on her Web site.

As wonderfully talented as these kids are, the contest would not have happened without a dedicated teacher who spent hours of her own time on the project. Thanks, Melissa!

AND SPEAKING OF the Ventura Education Partnership, our biggest event of the year, SummerFest, is being held from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. Saturday (5-30) at the VUSD Education Service Center, 255 W. Stanley Ave., Ventura.

SummerFest brings our children and community together in a day-long event of fun, physical fitness events, music and healthy foods. This event celebrates our healthy community and also raises funds for nutrition and exercise programs through sponsorships. It is a free, family-friendly event. Join us!

IT HAD ALL THE MAKINGS of one of the Rubicon's best productions: drama, laughter, poignancy and a great song-and-dance number. But the non-profit Ventura theater company's rally and town hall meeting Wednesday night was a real-life drama highlighting the need to raise $1 million in 90 days.

"Major gifts are down from $900,000 last year to $150,000 this year," explained Ken Wesler, Rubicon managing director.

The 200-seat theater, which provides an intimate setting for original productions as well as the tried and true, such as the recent well-received "Fiddler on the Roof," relies on earned income for only about 40 percent of its budget.

So, while the theater brought in $1.4 million in revenue in 2008, $2.2 million came in from contributed income. Of that, $900,000 came in from a few major donors. "These usually come from just a handful of very generous philanthropists," explained Wesler.

Increasing the number of productions or seats would only boost income by about 10 percent, Wesler said. "The intimacy of the theater is part of our strongest selling points."

TO PILE ON EVEN MORE troubles, the City of Ventura usually contributes an average of $25,000 a year to the Rubicon through its competitive cultural grants program, but that money is dwindling with the city's budget cuts. And the theater's youth programs have also taken a hit because of the economy. Families are cutting back, too.

The Rubicon has already trimmed expenses by $114,000. "An overworked staff is working harder and longer," Wesler said.

Rubicon's board ideally wants to keep ticket prices low and offer reduced prices to students, and scholarships to children in the summer programs, board member Doug Halter said. The award-winning theater also brings 40,000-50,000 people a year Downtown, he added. And these folks go out to dinner here and often spend the night in local hotels.

The company has applied for National Endowment for the Arts grants and has raised more than $63,000 so far in its "It Takes a Village" campaign. The goal is to come up with 2,400 gifts of $365. "Almost everybody on the staff gave the $365 right away," said Rubicon Marketing Director Cindy Frankey.

This dynamic theater company and its supporters have been known to pull off fund-raising miracles in the past. Let's hope they can do it again.

Another rally is scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m. and the theater is opening a new show, "Spit Like a Big Girl." For more information go to http://rubicontheatre.org/

I'VE WRITTEN A LOT HERE about the economic value of the arts but little about their community-building effects. Ventura's arts community is close-knit and eclectic -- a group of people who choose to live here because their work is appreciated and valued. "Arts events actually encourage a camaraderie," internationally known arts advocate Jerry Yoshitomi told me.

Artists sure know how to pack a City Council meeting, too. From poets to painters to sculptors to actors to the Ventura Music Festival's Nuvi Mehta and his violin, creative types showed up Monday night to protest budget cutbacks to Ventura's cultural arts programs.

Somebody even brought a dog.

The artists and arts organizations in Ventura are one of the reasons I choose to live here. As a member of the city's Cultural Affairs Commission, the proposed cutbacks in the city's cultural programming and staff have been distressing to me. Our cultural grants program, which helps support the budgets of regional entertainment luminaries like the Rubicon Theatre and the Ventura Music Festival, was up for a nearly 50 percent reduction.

Despite the impassioned pleas of 32 public speakers, the City Council voted for most of the cuts proposed by the Budgeting for Outcomes teams. Gone will be ArtWalk (unless it is resurrected privately), the Holiday Street Fair, a film series, all operating hours of the Albinger Museum, technical assistance for artists, and Plaza Park events, along with some staff.

TO RESCUE A FEW THINGS, staff and council got, well, creative. With the potential for two federal stimulus grants in the offing, the council voted to provide "bridge" funding to save one staff position which will work with the new non-profit foundation to raise funds to support cultural programs, which will hopefully include our city's now county-run libraries.

The cuts to our community services grants programs may only get a 25 percent reduction if revenues from our fee-based programs come in over projections. They could also be rescued with grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

A lot depends on the $100,000 in NEA money the city is applying for, a gamble city staff is hoping will pay off. Volunteers will be needed now more than ever and our commission will be expected to step up its efforts.

"We will make it happen," Mayor Christy Weir said. "We won't let these programs die off."

The Cultural Affairs Commission meets the fourth Thursday of every month at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall.

ARE YOU HAPPY NOW? That was my first reaction to the long list of projects that are scheduled to be axed tonight from Ventura's often-maligned Public Art Program, including funding for the design of a memorial at Cemetery Park.

I've written about this art program's complicated and misunderstood funding system so many times since I started this blog that I almost find myself reciting it over and over in my head as I go to sleep at night:

"It is an actual ordinance, passed in 1992, allocating 2 percent of eligible Capital Improvement Project (CIP) costs for the commissioning of artist services which tie into a project. Not very many projects are selected for this program. Most of the money comes from specific CIP funds which cannot legally be used to pay for police and fire personnel or libraries. ... blah, blah, blah."

Why, I found myself reciting it once again to long-time Star columnist Chuck Thomas just last week as I explained the difference between funding for the Public Art Program, which comes from the CIP fund, and other cultural activities which come from the General Fund. Chuck and I have been locked in a public battle over the merits of government funding of cultural programs for several years now. Sound economic strategy, I say. Waste of tax dollars, Chucks says.

But we had a very amiable phone conversation last week. He understands the Public Art Program funding process better now and while we still don't agree on government funding of cultural activities in general we did agree that it is easier to be a print columnist than a blogger.

IN THESE DAYS of budget cutting in cities around the country, cultural arts programs seem to be the mushrooms growing at the bottom of the totem pole. We're now cutting essential services like police officers and street paving and sidewalk repair.

Former Star writer Charles Levin wrote a great opinion piece Sunday on our city's public and private investment in revenue-generating cultural activities such as ArtWalk. I've written a few pieces like this myself. But his trumped all of mine.

Congress recently passed legislation which would pump more money into the nation's arts organizations; perhaps some of it will trickle down to our community through a grant. Nationwide, arts organizations are facing huge budget deficits. The nonprofit Americans for the Arts estimates 10,000 arts organizations could disappear in 2009.

Tonight the City Council will take another look at the list of cuts the Budgeting for Outcomes teams proposed, as well as the cuts to Public Art, and may vote on finalizing them. Several of our city volunteers, including myself, are looking into forming a non-profit to prevent some of our cultural programs, like ArtWalk, from disappearing from the local landscape. Our efforts may extend to helping out our county-run libraries.

If you're interested in helping, email me.

I NOTED WITH GREAT IRONY the large crowd which filled City Council Chambers and an overflow room a week ago to complain about the closing of one of Ventura's three libraries, a number that exceeds what other cities in the county-run system can provide.

"Just wait until you see what else is going away," I thought to myself as I watched the impassioned speakers. As one of the city's Cultural Affairs Commissioners, I had been briefed just a few days before on the possible cuts our city is facing in the coming months.

Over the last few days, city staff have been huddled in rooms listening to more bad news: the latest revenue figures have come in under what was predicted and the cuts will be more extensive than originally feared. At least $4.6 million in midyear cuts will need to be in place by March 1. By July, another estimated $8 million will need to be trimmed. This comes after a $7 million round of cuts made over the last year.

As the city's Budgeting for Outcomes teams go over the list of city services and prioritize, it has been apparent to many that the Community Services Department will bear the brunt of the cuts. Targeted are arts and historic programs including ArtWalks and both street fairs, recreation and arts classes for children and adults, senior services, winter-time operations of the community pool, parks maintenance, and the list goes on. Many of these cuts could be effective as soon as March 1.

Every single department will feel the sting and jobs will be lost all over. City Manager Rick Cole has been busy trying to put a happier spin on this evisceration: "redesigning city government for the 21st century," he calls it and it does bring opportunities to think out of the box.

THESE DIFFICULT TIMES call for all of us to work together for the common good. Our public employee unions -- especially those in public safety who have lobbied for extra compensation and benefits -- must come back to the table and make some concessions. While they certainly earn their pay, givebacks might be necessary to save personnel in their own ranks.

Our citizens, who are used to government taking care of their needs but are unwilling to pay even the slightest increase in fees or taxes, should ask themselves how much they value their community and consider paying just slightly more to keep the services we all depend on.

To the NIMBYs who would like to micromanage all new private infill projects that could bring sales tax revenue and jobs into our city: you are short sighted and cutting yourselves off at the knees. We can balance quality-of-life issues and still generate revenue.

To those community volunteers, like City Corps and San Buenaventura Friends of the Library, you are the best among us. Public/private partnerships will help keep us afloat. My friends in the education community are also looking at enormous cuts. Groups like the Ventura Education Partnership will help bridge those gaps.

Along with redesigning our government, we need to redesign our attitudes, too.

I ALWAYS DISLIKE grumbling at a fellow opinion writer because we don't get paid enough for the grief we sometimes have to take from our readers, but I am rather grumpy at my Star comrade Chuck Thomas. I sent him an email taking issue with his column today and I'll share it here:

Dear Chuck,

Even in humor pieces, you need to be accurate in what you write. Suggesting in your column today that the City of Ventura is spending millions of dollars to turn the city into the "New Art City" is reckless.

The last time I checked our city spent less than 1 percent of its General Fund budget on art-related activities and with the recent round of budget cuts, this will likely be reduced. Update: I had somebody inquire about the exact figure. The total amount spent on cultural activities in the General Fund is $1.3 million. We generate $430,000 in revenue from some of these activities, so the net cost to taxpayers is $870,000.

In this less than 1 percent figure, we are charged with taking care of historic sites such as the Olivas Adobe and providing fee-based arts classes for children and adults, among other things.

If you are speaking about the city's Public Art program, it is an actual ordinance allocating 2 percent of eligible Capital Improvement Project (CIP) costs for the commissioning of artist services which tie into a project. Specifically excluded by the Public Art Ordinance are street resurfacing and water and sewer line replacement projects.

Not very many projects are selected for this program. The City Council, if it chooses, could suspend this ordinance. But it is unlikely that redirecting the small amount of money in the CIP budget allocated to this program would allow the city to fix its infrastructure much faster.

It might, however, give uninformed critics less to complain about.

The money comes from specific CIP funds and cannot legally be used to pay for police and fire personnel. But I've explained all this to you once before and you even printed my explanation in your column.

The city's very small investment in the arts, along with the considerable private investment in the arts here, is a significant force in our local economy.

Every dollar invested in non-profit arts brought $14 back into the local economy. Ventura's artists and non-profit arts businesses generate more than $18 million in economic activity annually, according to a 2004 Economic Impact of the Arts in Ventura Report. And it is growing. These expenditures generated $768,000 for local government and $1.5 million for state government. Without a doubt, Ventura's policy of supporting the arts as "California's New Art City" has paid off.

The arts and culture sector creates jobs, too. A new study from the national arts advocacy group Americans for the Arts reports that the City of Ventura has 370 arts-related businesses which employ a total of 1,068 people.

Moreover, cultural tourism is the fastest growing segment of the tourism sector. In Ventura, cultural tourists on average spend $80.55 per person per day, significantly higher than the average visitor, who spends $62.13 per day. Cultural tourists stay a day longer than the average visitors, too.

We are gaining a reputation as a cultural tourism destination. So much so that the California Cultural & Heritage Tourism Council's 5th Annual Symposium will be held in Ventura from January 14-16. Please join us.

Sincerely,
Marie Lakin, City of Ventura Cultural Affairs Commissioner

IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE shopping Downtown in the next few weeks, be sure and drop by the Ventura Visitors and Convention Bureau and the nearby Museum of Ventura County's temporary headquarters to look at the beautiful hand-painted chairs from local artists that were donated to the Ventura Musical Festival's auction.

Every year Festival organizers ask local artists to hand-decorate various items for their annual fundraiser and the results are always stunning. This time simple wooden chairs were transformed into wow by our resident creative types. Many of the artists were inspired by the Russian theme set by this year's Festival.

Half the chairs will be displayed at the VVCB, 10 S. California St., and the other half at the Museum of Ventura County, 89 S. California St., through Jan. 11. The collection will then be broken up and displayed separately in other locations throughout the county.

The "Musical Chairs" will be auctioned off on Saturday, March 14 at the Festival's White Russian Nights event at the Four Points by Sheraton Ventura Harbor. Festival organizers say the funds raised by these works of art provide an integral part of the Festival's operating revenue. Tickets for the event go on sale in January. Call (805) 648-3146 for more information or visit www.venturamusicfestival.org.

The Ventura Music Festival has become a renowned signature event for our city and has certainly helped put us on the map as a cultural tourist destination.

IN OTHER ART NEWS: Community Memorial Hospital has now officially become part of our "New Art City" with an exhibition by more than 60 local artists in the public areas of the ground floor of the hospital. The exhibit runs through March 1. It is a joint partnership between Community Memorial Hospital, Buenaventura Art Association, Leadership Ventura (Ventura Chamber of Commerce) and Community Memorial Healthcare Foundation. All the work is for sale and benefits the CMH Community Foundation as well as Buenaventura Art Association and the artists.

WE'VE TAKEN ONE MORE big step toward shedding our image as a "cow town," as one former local politician once dubbed Ventura. We now have our own Film Festival. And it's shaping up to be quite an event.

The event will run March 27-29, 2009 at the reconstituted Elks Lodge in Ventura, a venue which is part of Project Encore's efforts to revitalize both our Downtown and enhance our local arts scene. Two screening rooms will be set up there.

"We're trying to elevate this concept of home-grown festival, but it's not an amateur thing," explained festival organizer Lorenzo DeStefano, who is himself a filmmaker. "It's trying to blend local voices with global visions," he said.

I've posted a preview on top from one of the festival's featured filmmakers, Andrew Huang, a Los Angeles video artist. It's a nice piece of work. He's a USC film school graduate and hugely creative. "Doll Face" has received more than 2 million hits on YouTube. He'll be on hand to explain his vision along with the other featured filmmakers.

Another interesting entry is a film called "The Women's Kingdom," about a matriarchal society in China. Now this one really caught my attention!

THE FESTIVAL IS ALSO giving local filmmakers a chance to showcase their work, DeStefano said. The work of Brooks Institute students will be featured, plus "we're encouraging other people who aren't filmmakers to tell their stories on film," he said. These folks will be working with CAPS-TV's production capabilities.

The event has a pretty stellar lineup of locals behind it, too, people who are very good at getting things done in our town. I wish them much success and hope it becomes an annual event. DeStefano is also hoping to launch a Ventura Film Society from it.

As with any other event, it takes money to put it on, so the Ventura Film Festival is planning a fundraiser for this Sunday, Dec. 7 at 5 p.m. at the Candlelight Kitchen & Bar, 211 E. Santa Clara St., in Ventura. A $20 suggested donation will be taken at the door. Students with I.D. are $10. The event will feature previews of the festival lineup, guest directors and speakers, food, drink and a silent auction. Ojai/Ventura singer songwriter Emy Reynolds will entertain. For more information please visit www.venturafilmfest.com

"People are really geared up," DeStefano said, "I think Sunday's going to be something else."



I'VE BEEN AN ENTHUSIASTIC supporter of the Working Artists Ventura (WAV) Project Downtown since I went to the first fundraiser for the development several years ago. It encompasses everything Ventura needs right now: a tourist attraction, a cultural center and performing arts space, both affordable and upscale living, new retail plus aid for homeless families -- all in one green, innovative, and beautifully designed package. It's just plain cool.

So I was really happy yesterday to trail along on the project director's first official tour since the West Ventura development began construction. Wearing hardhats and dodging construction debris, we listened to Chris Velasco excitedly rattle off some of the development's amenities.

"This artists' community is one of a kind," Velasco said. "There's nothing else like it anywhere on earth as far as I know." The project is generating worldwide interest, Velasco said. (As an aside, today I talked to Jerry Breiner, the broker handling sales of the project's market-rate penthouse condominiums. He is also finding interest is high in the WAV. "Every day I get at least two to three inquiries," he said.)

Among the tidbits I picked up on the tour:
• A fiber optic system will run through the complex with cameras hooked up to various artists' studios, allowing them to be filmed while working. The video will be shown in the ground-floor cafes.
• An enormous solar-collection sculpture will be placed on the roof which will provide energy to the building as well as shade for theater patrons.
• The 99-seat performing arts theater will have retractable seats which can be adjusted for smaller audiences and folded up entirely for large art exhibits.
• The outdoor area will have a garden and Wi-Fi plus space for artists who need to do their work outside. The artist's quarters near this area will have garage-like doors which will roll up and down to allow studio access.
• If all goes well, the first residents will move in Sept. 1 with the rest in by mid October.
• There will be 15 residences for homeless families. "We're trying to do something to help end homelessness and like everything else we have a state-of-the art solution," Velasco said. The rents will be offered on a sliding scale and Project Understanding will coordinate all social services. Some space will be reserved for young people just emerging from the foster care system.
• The non-profit in charge of the project will ensure the rents remain fairly stable and affordable. The retail rent will also be below market, Velasco said. "We want to go out and hand pick who we think will be a good fit for this project."
• Construction was slowed by the tremendous amount of water that flowed beneath the project, Velasco said, which added to the project's costs. A million gallons of water a day were pumped out from beneath the project for four months. This water was treated and released.

I will continue to provide updates on the WAV as it progresses.

TONY BARNES HAS SEEN the power of music firsthand. As a teacher at Oxnard's Curren Elementary School he witnessed a miracle of sorts when a sixth-grader with selective mutism who had never spoken to an adult outside his own family before finally opened up.

"I brought my guitar and gave him my attention," Barnes explained quite simply.

Music turned Barnes around, too. "I came from a pretty horrific background. My brother was in juvenile hall and I was almost there, too." He credits his own fifth-grade teacher with starting the musical spark which changed his life and has led him on a singular mission to make sure every child has the experience of playing an instrument.

Barnes founded a non-profit group called Peace Thru Music to do just that. Since 2002 he has visited area schools and community groups donating instruments and spreading the joys of music with an infectious enthusiasm which also rubs off on the adults he encounters.

"There are any number of kids who have never held an instrument," explained Peace Thru Music Executive Director Heather Mackinga. The group's goal is to provide instruments to children who have demonstrated need and eventually establish a fund to pay for lessons.

BUT IT'S MORE THAN JUST THAT, Barnes said. "Kids need places to go. They need accomplishment." The group's core mission is to teach conflict resolution along with musical skills. While out visiting schools with his guitar, Barnes often can be heard leading the chant, "Pick on strings, not living things."

It all resonates with the students, Mackinga says. "Tony has an amazing ability to connect to the kids and get their attention."

Barnes laments the back-burner status music has been relegated to in the lower grades. His group was instrumental in jumpstarting the Bronco Band at Will Rogers Elementary, the only one in any of Ventura's elementary schools.

Peace Thru Music is struggling a bit with funding, Barnes said, as are most non-profits these days. They recently received a boost when MTV gave the group a plug and assisted in providing instruments. Because of that, Mark Burnett Productions of "Survivor" fame asked Peace Thru Music to be involved in an upcoming musical reality show, "Jingles," Mackinga said. The group is also hoping to publish, as a fundraiser, a book with short stories from famous musicians.

IN THE MEAN TIME, Barnes is only too happy to partner with other kid-friendly organizations who also need a boost. Peace Thru Music has helped with open microphone nights at Ventura's new City Corps, a civic works project for at-risk kids. The two groups are currently holding a used musical instrument drive. (Bring donations to the City Corps office at 77 N. California St., between 1 and 5 p.m., Mondays through Fridays.) And the group is lining up talent to play before Kevin Costner's band Modern West takes the stage this Saturday in Downtown Ventura.

"We're all like musical instruments in a band when we work together," Barnes explained.

For more information about Peace Thru Music, go to www.peacethrumusic.org. For information about City Corps, which is looking for volunteer youth leaders ages 18 to 24, call 653-2351