Campus Arts Consortium Looks for Funding After Forced Closure

After being forced to close in October 2008 due to a lack of funding, the UC Berkeley Consortium for the Arts is seeking money from outside sources.

The consortium, which was an interdepartmental association that funded campus art projects, depleted its budget in July of last year but continued without funding until October.

The consortium had a budget of $150,000 a year and was maintained by the arts and humanities department special projects fund, said Michele Rabkin, former associate director of the consortium.

Rabkin said funding was set to be transferred to the office of Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer for 2008-09. She added that the arts foundation should be managed on a campus-wide level, rather than by the College of Letters and Sciences.

"(The move) was initially welcomed, but over the course of the last academic year as the budget crises took shape, they didn't have the funds available to pay for it," Rabkin said.

Janet Broughton, dean of arts and humanities, said she hopes to raise money to re-open the consortium in the future.

Broughton said funds could possibly be raised through the Campaign for Berkeley, the campus's ongoing fundraising effort that has raised $1.42 billion so far.

The consortium gave out grants to art departments, student groups and organizations such as the Berkeley Art Museum, the Pacific Film Archive and Cal Performances.

One of the projects funded by the consortium included a workshop in January put on by playwright Philip Kan Gotanda and the department of theater, dance and performance studies.

"The consortium is crucial in being able to bring these artists to Berkeley," said Mark Griffiths, theater, dance and performance studies interim chair.

Adam Planas, a junior minoring in art practice, said he was discouraged by the closing but understood the reasoning behind it.

"It's unfortunate," he said. "It's not necessarily the fault of the university or necessarily the fault of any particular person-it's the state of the economy in this country."

Rabkin said administrators had been highly supportive of the consortium before its closure.

"It's a tremendous loss," Rabkin said. "Arts never have great wealth and resources, unlike sciences that can pursue major contracts and grants. There are much fewer places that the arts can turn to for funding."

Tags: ARTS DEPARTMENTS, CONSORTIUM FOR THE ARTS