Naperville hands out over $1M to fund arts programs, events
Naperville is giving out more than $1 million from the city’s food and beverage tax to support the arts and community events in 2023.
At the recommendation of the city’s Special Events and Community Arts Commission, the Naperville City Council this week agreed to spend $58,329 on capital projects, $233,804 on community arts, $59,756 on new initiatives and $686,322 on special events for a total of $1,038,211.
Last year, the city distributed $964,317 grants.
Allocations range from $345 for Downtown Naperville Alliance’s Characters on Water Street program up to $160,514 to fund city services for the Naperville Jaycees’ annual Last Fling.
This year organizations asked for $1.8 million in funding, including $90,811 for community projects, $375,783 for community arts, $129,192 for new initiatives and $1.2 million for special events.
The program is funded from dollars the city collects from its 1% tax on food and beverages.
Annually in the fall, the SECA Commission reviews grant applications and meets with applicants to reach a consensus on funding.
Michael Brown, business manager for the Soul2Soul Foundation, appealed to the city for $40,000 instead of the $18,050 the group was allotted for its SoulFest. The group had asked for $140,250.
Brown said a request by the commission for more information went unanswered by the deadline because the email went into his spam folder.
Mayor Steve Chirico said when making funding decisions, the city looks at the number of participants.
“For me, that’s an important criteria, and in your case that was a big number,” Chirico said.
But because the city has many applicants, the city has to establish ground rules for all groups to follow, he said.
Chirico added that members of the SECA Commission spend many hours trying to score the grant applications fairly.
“One of things we’ve agreed not to do on the dais is try to undo all the work that’s been done by our SECA Commission for the past year,” he said.