At their July 23, extended study session, the Bellevue City Council discussed the possible negotiation of funding requests from three of the city’s cultural arts organizations.

The Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB), KidsQuest Children’s Museum (KidsQuest), and Bellevue Cultural Arts Museum (BAM), have requested funding from the 2018 Cultural Arts Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). According to the staff report, the total funding amount of $1.3 million requested by the three groups is more than than the total $1 million reserved in the CIP and wouldn’t leave leftover money for requests from other organizations in the future.

City staff came to the meeting to receive direction on whether to engage funding negotiations with the three organizations and the terms of those negotiations.

PNB, KidsQuest, and BAM have previously requested funding. In 2017, they made the request during the 2017-18 mid-biennium budget process. Council created an arts and culture fund, which receives $200,000 a year for a five-year time period, to address those requests.

The staff report explains that in 2007, council set guidelines for the distribution of $4.5 million for cultural arts and have used those guidelines ever since to evaluate investments in this area. The guidelines include having a sustainable long-term financial model with private sector financial commitments, stating defined public benefits the funding will allow, allowing city involvement in financial oversight and that the funding must be invested in the facility or operations.

PNB is requesting $100,000 for the next five years for reimbursement for some capital improvements spent due the the school having to move to facilitate the Eastlink Light Rail project. KidsQuest’s request for $250,000 for the next two years is also to reimburse capital improvements brought about due to relocation. BAM is requesting $100,000 for the next three years to fund the renovation of its ground floor area to create a public space for programming that requires no charge and also to fund the continued programming of the museum.

Staff went through their analysis of each organization with council and discussed how they met each of the criteria. All three were agreed upon by the council to be critical organizations to the culture and public of the city. However, when it came to the financial side, there were some concerns about KidsQuest and BAM.

City attorney Lori Riordan explained that the city had previously funded KidsQuest for $2 million for a 20-year period of service and that their request was inconsistent with the way the grant application has been set up. The grant is funded $200,000 per year for five years but KidsQuest is requesting $250,000 for two years. There was some initial confusion with City Council and city staff who were concerned that 70 percent of the organization’s private funds came from one donor. The following day, KidsQuest sent the clarifying documents that included audited financial statements and an annual report that documented more than 500 annual donors.

Regarding BAM, Riordan said the museum presents the greatest challenge from the perspective of long-term financial sustainability. It has improved dramatically since a 2016 audit, Riordan said, but BAM is still not out of the woods quite yet. She explained that BAM had high short-term liabilities and its ratio of current assets to liabilities was not good. BAM has been very receptive to involvement and requests from the city regarding its operations and has shown positive growth. Also factored in was the importance of the building and location on the Grand Connection on Bellevue Way.

Council members were all very supportive of supporting each of the organizations, however, the dilemma of the pricing and timing led to several questions for staff to research and report on at a later date. Council discussed several possibilities such as fully funding the organizations, but with benchmarks for years two and onward to make sure each grant recipient is able to meet certain requirements to earn the following year’s funding.

Other suggestions included looking at other funds the organizations may qualify for, such as additional Grand Connection funding for BAM. Several council members expressed that while funding all three organizations would be great, sticking to the currently set financial allocation of $1 million is important, adding that that looking for other creative funding sources would be best.

Based on the discussion at the meeting, staff will look at possible funding methods regarding benchmarking staying at the $1 million mark while finding additional funding sources.

For the full discussion, the full video recording of the meeting is available online under “agendas and minutes” at bellevuewa.gov/city-government/city-council.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that KidsQuest Children’s Museum’s private donor base included one donor making up 70 percent of its private funds. This is incorrect. The Reporter strives for accuracy and regrets this error.