S.F. artists were supposed to get grants in weeks. Months later, many are still waiting
The San Francisco Arts Commission supposedly listened to artists.
In July, the agency revised what many grantees described as a bad policy of requiring low-income artists to get their funds via reimbursements, which required some to go into debt to front expenses. That small victory – moving back toward an earlier system of more advance payments – looked, at least for a moment, like local government was being responsive to the constituency it serves.
Except this year’s artists still haven’t been paid.
For documentary filmmaker and three-time grantee Susannah Smith, “It’s not advanced funds anymore.”
In typical years, grant agreements are sent in early July, with artists getting money in hand within four weeks. As of October, multiple artists still haven’t received a dime, and at least two received their grant agreements only after the Chronicle wrote the commission to ask about the delay.
“I’ve had to borrow thousands of dollars from friends and family just to pay the basics,” Smith said, noting she’d foregone looking for other work opportunities in anticipation of receiving a grant that’s come on time in two past cycles. “I had to call my mom. … That’s so embarrassing. I’m 49 years old. I’ve never paid my rent late, even, in my life.”
Though she has now also signed an invoice – an encouraging sign that payment is on its way – she added, “I still don’t know where my October rent is coming from.”
Shrey Purohit, San Francisco Arts Commission grantee, works on a painting for his grant proposal in his studio at Root Division in San Francisco on May 12. He says he and a dozen other grantees in his category have not been paid yet. (Lea Suzuki/S.F. Chronicle)
Painter and fellow grantee Shrey Purohit decided to track down others who were in the same predicament. While declining to share names, citing privacy, he said he made contact with 12 grantees out of the 59 total in his category. None of the 12 had been paid.
As the process dragged on, each time Purohit contacted the SFAC, he said staffers told him, “Two more weeks, two more weeks, two more weeks.”
In September, he started posting a series of videos on Instagram to bring broader attention to the problem. In the first clip, he said, “My landlord does not accept, ‘Sorry, the city hasn’t paid me yet.'” He too noted the irony that such delays are happening with a grant “literally meant to keep artists in San Francisco.”
Executive Director of Arts and Culture Matthew Goudeau acknowledged the holdup.
“I understand how important Arts Commission grant funds are to artists and cultural organizations, and I’m sorry for the uncertainty these delays have caused,” he said in a statement.
Matthew Goudeau, San Francisco’s executive director of arts and culture, stands in front of Kelly Finley’s artwork at the Veterans Building on July 15. He apologized to the arts grantees who have not been paid yet by the San Francisco Arts Commission in a statement. (Giselle Garza Lerma/For the S.F. Chronicle)
Goudeau cited the merger of the city’s three arts agencies as one obstacle. Another was the change to paying artists in advance.
For Smith, the situation is ironic, given city officials’ frequent rhetoric about the arts being crucial to economic recovery and their claims that the merger would make public support of the arts much more efficient.
“I wonder: Efficiency for who?” she said. “The artists are being asked to shoulder the burden by accepting delays and uncertainty.”
In the meantime, as of Friday, Oct. 16, the city has not guaranteed when artists will be paid, but Arts Commission spokesperson Coma Te told the Chronicle it would be “as quickly as possible.”
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This article originally published at S.F. artists were supposed to get grants in weeks. Months later, many are still waiting.
