Naperville narrowly approves $150,000 annual funding for Century Walk art group
After considerable debate, the Naperville City Council has narrowly approved $150,000 in annual funding over the next three years for the Century Walk Corp. art group as part of the city's Special Events and Cultural Amenities program.
A 5-4 vote at Tuesday's city council meeting came after a presentation by Century Walk President Brand Bobosky and comments from 15 speakers in favor of and against the funding. The support included Mayor Steve Chirico, who proposed increasing the guaranteed funds for Century Walk months ago.
Century Walk, which has sponsored 51 pieces of artwork in Naperville since 1996, has been receiving $50,000 a year in special events funds to maintain its collection. The additional $100,000 will allow the group to support new art with city oversight.
Century Walk is currently working on a Gold Star memorial for families of fallen service members and a Martin Luther King Jr. memorial to commemorate his 1960 speech at North Central College.
Those opposed to the funding questioned the fairness of giving Century Walk additional guaranteed money ahead of other local organizations. They also said a decision should be delayed until a public art task force presents an anticipated report in the next two months.
But calling the relationship between Special Events and Cultural Amenities leaders and Century Walk "broken" because of funding denials in the past, Chirico said it's time for the city council to allocate the additional money.
"To see a reliable partner in this city that has done so much for this community be turned down entirely for three years tells me that there's something wrong, and that it became more political than it was the application process," Chirico said. "I don't want to see that happen again."
Chirico received city council support from Jennifer Bruzan Taylor, Patty Gustin, Paul Hinterlong and Paul Leong. Voting against the funding were Ian Holzhauer, Patrick Kelly, Theresa Sullivan and Benjamin White.
"I have not heard one compelling comment to tell me why we can't do this in two months to get that information back from the task force," White said. "I haven't heard it. And I know the mayor supposedly has the support. Well, I assume the support will be there in two months."
The total guaranteed Special Events and Cultural Amenities allocation of more than $1.1 million - raised through a food and beverage tax - includes funding for Riverwalk maintenance, the Naperville Municipal Band, the Naperville Development Partnership, Carillon Maintenance and other entities like Century Walk.
In the past, Century Walk has been among the many local organizations having to apply for remaining money beyond the guaranteed amount. Now that the $1.1 million in guaranteed funding has been allocated, organizations will be applying for the remaining $814,283 of the 2022 funding.
Holzhauer commented on a letter sent to city leaders, co-signed by 10 organizations, that opposed the additional guaranteed funding for Century Walk. Three representatives from the BrightSide Theatre also spoke Tuesday in opposition.
Bobosky, however, defended the funding.
"What we're asking is that we can continue to proceed with our production of art so that we know we have the city as our back," Bobosky said, "so that we can do our work."