“Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is proposing a 12.2% spending increase for the Department of Cultural Affairs, which would receive the biggest boost during what has been a very lean, recession-racked 21st century for the city’s arts arm,” writes Mike Boehm in Wednesday’s (4/22) Los Angeles Times. “Garcetti’s plan would lift the core Cultural Affairs budget to $11 million from $9.8 million [marking] the first time it has reached $11 million since 2003-04. Accounting for inflation, $11 million was worth the equivalent of more than $13 million today. The Cultural Affairs staff, led by 2014 Garcetti appointee Danielle Brazell as general manager, would rise to 49 from 41. The department had more than 70 employees in 2008, when it began outsourcing operations at many of the city-owned neighborhood theaters and arts centers to private, nonprofit organizations…. Factoring in the add-ons found elsewhere in the budget, Garcetti’s proposal calls for total cultural affairs spending of $15.5 million. The mayor’s plan estimates that $17.4 million will flow into the hotel tax-fed fund during the budget year that begins July 1, up from a projected $15.3 million in the current 2014-15 fiscal year.”
Posted April 24, 2015
