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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesV.I. OWES ISLAND CENTER $50K IN FEDERAL FUNDS

V.I. OWES ISLAND CENTER $50K IN FEDERAL FUNDS

As crews set the stage for the winter season at Island Center, St. Croix’s premiere performing arts venue, the theater’s administration is playing out a funding drama off-stage. And the V.I. government is the lead protagonist.
The strained budget of the Island Center for the Performing Arts could receive a much-needed fiscal boost if the local government would make good on a $50,000 federal grant allocated to the center in 1998, according to Gloria Peel, a consultant to the center’s board of directors.
"These were federal monies for the Island Center that have still not been paid," Peel said. "This has just got to stop."
The funds were allocated through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant program, which allots a certain amount of federal funding to states and territories each year. Local governments then distribute the funds to various community programs. Peel said the Legislature and the governor approved the grant for the center but has failed to deliver.
Lawrence Joshua, who oversees the grant program for the V.I. Department of Planning and Natural Resources, did not return calls for comment.
"We need to upgrade Island Center. We need to invest in the center so it’s safe. We need to invest so it is up-to-date. And we need to invest especially now that it’s becoming St. Croix’s only civic center," Peel said.
The not-for-profit center does not receive annual funding from the territorial government. The $200,000 raised annually in private donations and monies raised through volunteer fund-raising to support Island Center are not enough to continue operating as a civic center and performing arts venue, she said.
"The community has been doing its part," she said. "We’re just asking the government to pay us what they owe us."
To top it off, various government agencies – from public safety to education – have used the center at cut rates for engagements, Peel said, and both the police academy and public high schools have held graduations there.

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