By The Numbers: Scottsdale City Council contributes $6M this fiscal year
By Terrance Thornton | Digital Free Press
Scottsdale City Council has set the fiscal year 2024-25 funding level to be allocated for operations of Scottsdale Arts at just over $6 million.
Scottsdale City Council — through unanimous consent Tuesday, June 25, at City Hall, 3939 N. Drinkwater Blvd. — approved agreement No. 2024 -067-COS in the amount of $6,057,005 to provide a portion of funding for myriad operations at Scottsdale Arts for this current fiscal year, which runs from July 2024 through June 2025.
For more than 30 years what was then the Scottsdale Cultural Council is now Scottsdale Arts facilitating the presentation of artistic expression at public facilities throughout the calendar year, according to Brent Stockwell, Scottsdale assistant city manager.
Mr. Stockwell explains in his June 25 report to City Council that through a 2020 management services agreement, which was vetted and approved by elected leaders, City Hall officials keep tabs on performance of the annual contract.
“Monitored by the city’s contract administrator through annual performance measures, programming updates and financial reports, the agreement ensures that city funds are used for the program of work as presented in the annual operation plan and report,” Mr. Stockwell said in his report to City Council.
“Annually, the City Council must approve the allocation for the city’s financial participation for Scottsdale Arts, subject to the terms of the management services agreement.”
For all intents and purposes, Scottsdale Arts includes six branches:
- Canal Convergence
- Scottsdale Arts Learning & Innovation
- Scottsdale Center for Performing Arts
- Scottsdale Civic Center Live I
- Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
- Scottsdale Public Art
About five years ago, the rebirth of Scottsdale Arts began with a new vision and a new strategy to bring more events and a musical festival to ‘The West’s Most Western Town’ brought to life by its CEO, Gerd Wuestemann.
Mr. Stockwell points out the municipality provides funding to Scottsdale Arts in a variety of ways while requiring the arts entity to match certain funding dollars.
“The MSA requires that Scottsdale Arts increase its revenue to match two dollars in earned and contributed revenue for every dollar of unrestricted funds received from the city,” he explained. “The goal should help decrease reliance on city funding and increase reliance on outside funding to 67 percent of total revenue by the end of the agreement term. Only the unrestricted management services fee is required to be matched.”
Mr. Stockwell explains Scottsdale Arts has a goal of raising 67% of its annual operating budget. Here is a breakdown of those increasing revenues:
By The Numbers: Scottsdale City Council contributes $6M this fiscal year
Scottsdale Arts is reporting $14,296,849 as its operating budget this fiscal year, numbers show.
“The management service fee is $3,497,547 representing a decrease of $141,273,” Mr. Stockwell said in his report. “City staff requested an increase in $32,778 for community arts grants consistent with the MSA, bringing that total to $100,000 ($151,000 including funding from the Community Arts Trust). The rest has been deducted to recoup a total of $108,495 in city fees for the use of city space for Canal Convergence in years 2021, 2022 and 2023 that had not been collected by the city as stated in Section 2.8 in the MMA.”
Mr. Stockwell outlined, which is now approved by City Council for this fiscal year, the below payment schedule:
- The General Fund portion of $5,256,205 will be paid over a nine-month period from July 2024 to March 2025.
- The Special Programs Fund – Community Arts Trust portion of $51,000 will be a one-time payment in July 2024.
- The Tourism Development Fund portion of $750,000 will be paid over a four-month period from July through October 2024.
Furthermore, Mr. Stockwell explained the Tourism Development Commission approved a one-time allocation of $750,000 in bed-tax funds for the upcoming Canal Convergence event slated for this November.
In recent months, Scottsdale Arts has become a beacon of what a municipal arts program can aspire to be made apparent through the recent success of the Canal Convergence event.
“A recent article in the Rolling Stone about Dreamy Draw surmises that this will become one of those ultra-high quality annual festivals where people discover the next big thing,” Mr. Wuestemann, Scottsdale Arts CEO told the Digital Free Press late last year of local and national attention gained from innovative efforts at the 2023 Canal Convergence.
“One of the most amazing aspects was how well the Civic Center layout worked: we designed it specifically so that multiple stages can play at the same time and there’s always a performance going.”
Funding for the majority of the $33.5 million Civic Center revitalization project was approved by Scottsdale voters in the 2019 bond election. Construction began in October 2021. In broad strokes the revitalization project brought new life to the East and West bowls and the Civic Center Lawn, which most recently played host to the both the Dreamy Draw Music Fest and coveted Canal Convergence public art community event.
Mr. Stockwell points out in his report the Civic Center events produced by Scottsdale Arts includes a shared revenue and cost requirement of which has proven profitable for both entities, numbers show. Here is a breakdown:
