{"id":33028,"date":"2024-04-19T12:34:36","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T19:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=33028"},"modified":"2024-04-19T12:34:37","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T19:34:37","slug":"mission-cultural-center-may-face-cuts-budget-woes-ahead-of-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/04\/19\/mission-cultural-center-may-face-cuts-budget-woes-ahead-of-move\/","title":{"rendered":"Mission Cultural Center may face cuts, budget woes ahead of move\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\" by\u00a0OSCAR PALMA<\/a><\/strong> APRIL 17, 2024 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Mission Cultural Center’s building seen from the eastern side of Mission Street. The center will have to move out next summer due to renovations on Wednesday April 18, 2024. Photo by Oscar Palma<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The leader of the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts said Tuesday that the arts center\u2019s planned move from its longtime home at 25th and Mission streets will be exorbitantly pricey, and that it is still unclear how the center will survive over the next two years, while its facility is being upgraded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what we\u2019re going to do, because everything here is really expensive,\u201d said Martina Ayala, the executive director of the center, speaking Tuesday night at a community meeting on the planned renovations. \u201cHaving to add rent to our budget now is gonna force us to cut classes, lay off teachers and cut many programs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ayala said rents in the Mission range from $15,000 to $25,000 a month for spaces much smaller than their current building, and often these spaces also require additional expenses, such as structural and ADA compliance work. At the moment, she has a $490,000 relocation fund, but Ayala said it\u2019s not enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She estimated the expenses over the next two years demand an annual budget of $3 million, nearly double the nonprofit\u2019s current budget of $1.7 million. As as result, she said the 48 teachers and most of the staff may be laid off, and all 48 classes cut.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The center has occupied a city-owned building at 2868 Mission St. since its foundation in 1977, when local artists in the Mission rallied to secure a space for the representation, preservation and the celebration of Latino arts. But that building will undergo a planned $24 million renovation, long overdue, that will require the center to find new digs elsewhere in the city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The center pays only $1 a year in rent to the city, and receives around $600,000 from the Arts Commission annually for its budget. But still, its executive director said, the center will struggle to find the hundreds of thousands of additional dollars required to pay market-rate rents elsewhere in the neighborhood.. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ayala added that the search for a new home may create a domino effect of additional spending: The Mission Cultural Center will likely be forced to take a smaller space, which will then require additional storage units \u2014 and some with temperature regulation for certain art pieces \u2014 that will add to the cost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 50 or so community members who attended Tuesday\u2019s meeting said the city was not doing enough to help the center during the renovations, which include seismic upgrades and making the center ADA compliant. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who worked for many years in the Mission prior to attaining elected office, agreed. Melgar was critical of the city\u2019s failure to come up with a satisfactory plan for the center while its home site is being renovated. \u201cThe way this is being presented would not be acceptable in any other community,\u201d said Melgar.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denise Pate, the director of community investment for the Arts Commission, said that the center does not qualify for some of the available grants because they already receive funding from the Arts Commission, both in cash and in the facilitation of the building. She said that other groups that function at the building could apply for the grants instead, and they could use those funds to support the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen Martina [Ayala] tells me how many people came here, the one thing that strikes me is what happens to the community. We don\u2019t have all the answers yet, but my job is to support the community. We are still working,\u201d said Pate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gloria Esteban, a community member, said the city failed to take into account regular users of the center, like her. \u201cYou haven\u2019t taken into account the community.\u201d She said that community members, \u201cas mothers, grandmothers\u201d were \u201cnot willing\u201d to simply accept the fact that the center must be relocated in this way. \u201cIt\u2019s not fair that we continue to be treated this way. You have to find the economical support to support us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, some of the center\u2019s board members raised other concerns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One, said Robert Retana, is the lack of a written commitment from the city to renew the Mission Cultural Center\u2019s lease once it expires in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Panel
Mission Cultural Center Executive Director, Martina Ayala, and the center\u2019s board listen to the public express their concerns over the institution\u2019s move on Tuesday April 16, 2024. Photo by Oscar Palma.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey said that a lease would be forthcoming, and it never came,\u201d said Retana to Lisa Zayas-Chien, the capital project manager of the Arts Commission, at Tuesday\u2019s meeting. \u201cThis is a cultural institution, and people rely on it. It\u2019s disrespectful to treat us that way. How can we believe what you\u2019re saying if you\u2019ve treated us that way?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zayas-Chien said that the Arts Commission is committed to renewing this contract, but that the commission would have to revise its details early next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fernando Marti, a longtime Mission activist and artist at the center, said city officials should have been present at tonight\u2019s meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope that next time your bosses are here to hear our concerns.\u201d he said \u201cThey should be here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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OSCAR PALMA<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

oscar.palma@missionlocal.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oscar is a reporter with interest in environmental and community journalism, and how these may intersect. Some of his personal interests are bicycles, film, and both Latin American literature and punk. Oscar’s work has previously appeared in KQED, The Frisc, El Tecolote, and Golden Gate Xpress.More by Oscar Palma<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0OSCAR PALMA APRIL 17, 2024 (MissionLocal.org) The leader of the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts said Tuesday that the arts center\u2019s planned move from its longtime home at 25th and Mission streets will be exorbitantly pricey, and that it is still unclear how the center will survive over the… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33028"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33028"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33029,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33028\/revisions\/33029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}