Astoria Budget Subcommittee Meeting on Arts & Culture Grants - March 13, 2026
Astoria Budget Subcommittee Meeting on Arts & Culture Grants - March 13, 2026
Note: The agenda lists this meeting for Thursday, March 12, 2026, at 5:30 PM, but the user-provided date is March 13, 2026. This summary uses the user-provided date as instructed.
The Budget Subcommittee of the Astoria Budget Committee met to review and make recommendations on applications for the Arts and Culture Program to Promote Tourism Grant. With only two subcommittee members present (subcommittee members Waron and another unidentified member, missing Adams and Rose), the meeting proceeded without a formal quorum, acting in an advisory capacity. The subcommittee had $100,000 to allocate among 19 requests totaling $167,865.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments or testimony were recorded.
Discussion Items
- Election of Chair: Initially on the agenda, but not conducted due to the absence of a quorum. The meeting was informally co-chaired by the two present members.
- Grant Application Overview: Staff presented the breakdown: 19 requests totaling $167,865, with a budget of $100,000 (same as previous year). Seven new requests totaled $57,675; four requests sought the same amount as last year ($18,700); eight requests asked for significant increases ($91,490).
- Funding Approach: The subcommittee agreed to first fund the four organizations requesting no increase at their requested amounts, then give the eight organizations seeking increases their previous year's funding, and finally allocate remaining funds to new applicants.
- Evaluation Metrics: Staff explained the “visitor per request conversion” metric (cost per anticipated visitor), with lower numbers being better. The metric was used to assess applications.
- Non-Compliance Concerns: Two returning applicants—Astoria Street Opera Company and North Coast Pride—had not submitted required grant reports from prior awards. The subcommittee decided not to fund them and recommended adding a compliance self-reporting question to future applications.
- Scandinavian Heritage Association (ASHA): This organization had previously been non-compliant but since corrected the issue. They requested $15,000 for a 60th anniversary festival. The subcommittee agreed to fund them at a reduced level, initially $2,500, later increased to $5,075.
- Audio Sound Technology Organization: A new applicant requesting $12,500 was deemed not aligned with the grant’s purpose (event promotion) and had an incomplete application (no budget, high cost per visitor of $10). The subcommittee decided not to fund it and to provide feedback.
- KMUN: A new applicant requested $1,500 for marketing a fall gala and art auction. The subcommittee agreed to fund the full $1,500.
- Partners of the PAC (Charlene Larson Center): A new applicant requested $5,000 for telemarketing and audience development. The subcommittee agreed to fund the full $5,000.
Key Outcomes
- Final Recommendations: The subcommittee allocated the entire $100,000 as follows:
- Four organizations with no increase requested: exactly their requests ($18,700 total).
- Eight organizations requesting increases: their previous year's funding amounts (approximately $67,655 total; exact figures not fully detailed).
- Arts Council of Clatsop County (previously funded at $2,070): awarded $2,070.
- Astoria Scandinavian Heritage Association: awarded $5,075 (increased from initial $2,500 due to leftover funds).
- KMUN: awarded $1,500.
- Partners of the PAC: awarded $5,000.
- Astoria Street Opera Company and North Coast Pride: not funded due to past non-compliance.
- Audio sound technology applicant: not funded due to incomplete application and lack of alignment.
- Process Improvement: The subcommittee recommended adding a question to future applications asking applicants to self-report on compliance with previous grant reporting requirements.
- Next Steps: The recommendations are advisory and will be presented to the full Budget Committee for official adoption.
Meeting Transcript
Also it'll be it'll be just myself. Hillary's not feeling well. So you guys have just me tonight. But who else coming? Um it was originally the people who were appointed were um you two as well as uh counselor Adams and uh meeting Rose, but we can we can get started. And we is there enough of us to uh Scott and I talked about that in the event that um didn't have a potential quorum. We still wanted to move forward um in your guys' roles as the subcommittee is the advisory part of this. Okay. You're just advising the budget committee in terms of okay, you know what these recommendations should be. So uh we we talked it through and we still wanted to just go through the the process of making these awards and obviously since the budget committee is the one who does make the official AOK although it's the quorum is still over so yeah but that being said, we can uh follow me in order. It's okay. 532 and uh I'm just gonna do a quick roll call. So we've got that um subcommittee member um here and subcommunity member war on here okay and currently we're missing um subcommittee member Adams and uh Rose. So okay do we expect either of them to make it or are we maybe maybe um Mimi, but um I don't know about sort of okay. So yeah, Mimi has she had surgery coming up, and I don't remember having hip replacement. Oh my gosh, that's so and I think I think it was this week. So I'm surprised she's right, yeah, agreed to be on the committee. Yes, said she was gonna try to make scary to no way. I think to just be laying down. That sounds very hard. Yeah, I can see her. I think it's just us. Okay, okay. All right, so uh I guess we don't have to vote on chair, so I'm during the meeting. Oh yes, that you're the case. Um, so happy to share the meeting. And so we're going to go to 3B, which is the arts and cultural program to promote tourism grant program discussion on applications, and we have 19 requests that were submitted for a total of 167,865. Seven of them are brand new requests, which total 57,675. Four requests did not ask for more money than last year. That's 18,700, and eight requests asked for significant increases, uh totaling 91,490. So that's what we have. We have a budget to work with of 100,000, which is the same as what we looked with last year. Um so we have a difficult um difficult challenge ahead of us allocating amongst the new applicants, the returning applicants, and the people who are expecting to get significantly more money. We can't make everybody happy for sure. Um so we can go through the one by one. I don't know what the um how would you like to gosh attack this problem that we have in front of us here. The math we guys like the Excel. I love the excitement. Yeah, the XL is great. Thank you. Um I'm I am curious. So then you mentioned a number of applicants did not request more than they did last year. Or they did not. So um AAMC, which is uh movement. Arts and move they they uh same six thousand last year, six thousand this year. Um the other one was ABA requested 9500, which was exactly what they asked for last year. And Fisher Poet FPG Fisher Poets, is that correct? Uh they requested 3,000 and which is what they asked for last year, and then the other one was ECNW, which is what is that stand for L Croquets. Yeah, they asked for more, but um it was their application was adjusted down to 200 because some of the items on their request were not did not qualify as marketing. Yeah, sure.
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