In June, Alamo City Opera dissolved after the death of its founder, Mark Richter, a mere three days after being recommended to receive almost $58,000 in annual funding from the City of San Antonio Arts Commission. While mourning a loss for the city’s arts community, the 10-member Arts Commission had a new problem on its hands: what to do with the now freed up funds.
On Tuesday, the commission voted unanimously to reallocate the funds to seven mid-size arts agencies. The $57,813 originally designated for Alamo City Opera has been divided amongst the following organizations: Youth Orchestras of San Antonio ($8,327), Opera San Antonio ($5,719), the Public Theatre ($6,931), Ballet San Antonio ($3,706), Artpace ($12,330), ARTS San Antonio ($10,843) and The Magik Theatre ($9,944). According to the Rivard Report, the funds total a 3.66% increase from each organization’s previous allocation.
“We were very concerned with what happened with Alamo City [Opera],” said Debbie Racca-Sittre, director of San Antonio’s Department of Arts & Culture. “We wanted other organizations to see this as a wake-up call — that they could use some of this funding to put aside for emergencies.”
While the Arts Commission considered imposing requirements on how the money could be spent, Racca-Sittre said it ultimately decided against imposing a “one-size-fits-all solution.”
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This article appears in Jul 3-16, 2019.
