Arts Panel Embraces Festival With Grant North Idaho Projects Fare Well With Idaho Commission On The Arts

Despite a year of budget woes and personnel problems, the Festival at Sandpoint scored a vote of confidence and $9,100 from the Idaho Commission on the Arts.

The commission handed out more than $401,000 worth of grants Friday and the festival landed the second largest award of any organization in the state.

“That’s a great endorsement for the festival,” said Executive Director Ron Wasson. “It’s like a Good Housekeeping seal and shows despite all our problems the last year we are still a strong organization.”

Arts organizations in Sandpoint fared better than most of Idaho’s larger cities, falling in behind Boise and Moscow. Overall, Sandpoint snapped up more than $30,000 worth of grants.

“There is a real commitment to the arts by the people in Sandpoint,” said Margot Knight, the commission’s executive director. “It’s one of the best examples in the state of how cultural activities and the arts can benefit the economy.”

For Sandpoint, the grant money will cover everything from bringing in the San Francisco Opera and providing performances for students to renovating restrooms at the historic Panida Theater.

Theater Director Karen Bowers said it’s difficult to explain the need for better bathrooms to people who haven’t been to the 550-seat Panida during intermission.

“When you have a full house, more than half of them women, trying to get into a bathroom with one stall it’s a nightmare,” Bowers laughed. “It’s never worked, but that’s the way it was built.”

The Panida received $6,400 to expand the restrooms and another $7,500 for general operating expenses. The Pend Oreille Arts Council managed $7,900. A portion of that subsidizes a performance by the San Francisco Opera. Sandpoint is the smallest venue in the United States that brings in the opera company.

“It would be a tremendous challenge for us to do that without the commission grants,” said Arts Council President Ginny Robideaux. “It’s taken a long time, but this community has developed a respected reputation for quality arts presentation and that shows in the grant awards.”

The festival grant was one of the highest in the commission’s history.

“Everyone knows Sandpoint’s festival has had its troubles, but they have come out on the other side and this money is a recognition of that fact,” Knight said.

The festival had a $90,000 deficit earlier this year. The non-profit group overcame that debt.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: GREEN FOR THE ARTS Other grants awarded in the five northern counties include: Coeur d’Alene Carrousel Players, $5,200 for operating support and Shakespeare in the Park. Coeur d’Alene School District, $1,115 for an Artist in Residence. Post Falls Arts Commission, $2,500 for operating support and presenting its 1996-97 season.

The Western States Art Federation also awarded grants: Post Falls Arts Commission, $1,997 to present a Croatian dance ensemble and “The Dutton Family.” Pend Oreille Arts Council, $4,000 for the San Francisco Opera and “Street Sounds,” an African American group that will perform on Martin Luther King Day.