The $50,000 grant the management of the Island Center for the Performing Arts says it has coming from a federal program won’t be arriving any time soon, according to the commissioner of Planning and Natural Resources.
In October, Gloria Peel, a consultant to Island Center’s board of directors, told the Source that the non-profit center would be in better shape if the V.I. government allocated $50,000 granted to Island Center in 1998 under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant program.
The CDBG program allots a certain amount of federal funding to states and territories each year, which local governments then distribute to various community programs. The Department of Planning and Natural Resources oversees the program locally.
But DPNR Commissioner Dean Plaskett said last week that CDBG money was never appropriated for Island Center.
"Island Center has never applied to DPNR, to the best of our knowledge, for any CDBG funding," Plaskett told WSTX radio.
Instead, he said the misunderstanding possibly stems from the reprogramming of bond proceeds by the Turnbull administration for capital improvements throughout the territory that has "nothing to do" with the CDBG program.
Meanwhile, a community group concerned about Island Center said it has been trying to meet with the Island Center board of directors since Oct. 13 to discuss a variety of issues ranging from the lack of an entertainment schedule for the upcoming 2000-2001 season, the state of the facility and the venue’s inability to present community oriented programming, said Shawna Richards, a member of the concerned citizens group.
Another concerned individual is Cassandra Dunn. She said the group has asked to meet with the Island Center board to discuss the issues, including the board’s lack of diversity, but hasn’t received a reply.
The concerned citizens group includes representatives of Talent Unlimited, CenterStage, Music in Motion and Artstage. Dunn said it is of the position that Island Center’s woes aren’t all due to the lack of government funding.
"Island Center’s decline has occurred over a period of years, not just the last two years," Dunn said in statement last week. "It is the community’s responsibility to bring in acts that would attract a diverse audience and not just serve the interests of a specific segment of the community. Island Center."
Peel said Island Center raises $200,000 annually in private donations and volunteer fund-raising.
