City tentatively agrees to pay Stay Gallery’s rent one more year

Stay Arts Executive Director Gabe Enamorado answers questions about Stay Gallery at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. (Photo by Alex Dominguez)

DOWNEY – Stay Gallery will stick around for at least one more year, as the Downey City Council tentatively agreed to pay for its lease for 2024, albeit not without some criticisms.

The city is prepared to pay over $39,000 to cover Stay Gallery’s lease for 2024, with potential to pay the following year as well on the condition that Stay provides consistent financial reporting and adequate fundraising efforts.

The city has paid the lease for the gallery since 2012, when the city entered into a five-year agreement with Stay Arts – then known as Downey Art Vibe – to operate an art gallery in the Downtown area. Originally, the agreement stipulated that the city would pay the first two years of the lease ($2,000 a month), with the final three to be the responsibility of Stay.

However, that agreement would be amended in October of 2014, with the city picking up the remaining tab while expressing a desire for Stay to become self-sufficient.

In May 2017, the city approved its second five-year operating agreement with Stay, this time agreeing to pay $2,750 in lease payments with 3% annual increases, plus $2,625 for prorated rent for the month of June, 2017. Additionally, the city committed $4,000 per quarter for three years ($48,000) towards program expenses.

The third and most recent operating agreement would be passed in July 2020, to the tune of $3,004 per month with 3% annual increases. With the onset of the pandemic, the city agreed to pay the remaining lease payments from April-July 2022 ($12,128), as well as $4,000 per month during that same period for operating costs to ensure regular open hours and programming for the public.

In total, the city has provided Stay with $375,838 in funding to manage the gallery between May 2012 and May 2023.

The city’s assistance didn’t end with the rent, however.

The city waived fees (around $7,000) for Stay as it transitioned its facility – a former drapery shop – into the current multi-use space in mid-2012 to late 2013. The city has also remained a consistent partner with Stay, contracting the organization for various projects and events.

Stay Arts Executive Director Gabe Enamorado was put in the hotseat, as the city council had several critical questions about “what it would take” to keep the gallery open.

Notably, Councilman Hector Sosa did not go easy on Enamorado, taking aim at Stay’s fundraising efforts, discrepancies in it’s financial reporting, and the organization’s lack of an individual with experience in those matters.

According to Enamorado, Stay fundraises year-round. Year-to-date, however, he only estimated that stay had mustered around $5-10,000. although he added that they depend more on grants.

Sosa made note of a recent three-year, $383,000 proposal for programming costs, which he pointed out as being “just a bit more than what you’ve received over the last 11 years.”

Enamorado’s and Program Director Juliana Canty’s $120 and $100 per hour wages also raised a few eyebrows, with Sosa asking if it was “necessary to save the gallery.”

Enamorado called it “an administrative rate,” saying that they were “trying to build an organization that is growing.”

“You can look at what the city has invested since the beginning, and the community should know that most of that money has gone towards the lease of the building,” said Enamorado. “For the most part of the history of the organization, it hasn’t had an employee.

“It definitely takes a lot more to get this organization and these programs to the level of being able to provide livable wages for staff.”

Stay currently employs Enamorado and Canty, as well as eight part-time after-school employees through a program with the Downey Foundation for Educational Opportunities.

Enamorado added that all proposals had been submitted “to be discussed and negotiated.”

Mayor Claudia M. Frometa said that they “weren’t questioning [Enamorado’s] worth or value,” but that they were “breaking down the numbers” to decide on how to spend “the people’s money.”

“I think there’s a misconception that the Art in Public Places fund belongs to Stay Gallery,” said Frometa. “I think that has been said, or somehow murmured, and we want to continue to have a partnership; we want to be able to understand what it’s going to take to continue Stay Gallery and to keep it open.”

She added that there is “no question that the city has been committed to the arts.”

Sosa, making reference to his time with West Downey Little League and Downey Los Amigos Kiwanis, said that Stay “has an advantage.”

“As a brick and mortar in a prime space in Downey, you have an advantage over other non-profits,” said Sosa. “Believe me, I’ve been on the phone dialing for dollars; I’ve raised a lot of money. I’ve seen people in this room, other people who were here at the last council meeting speaking on Stay’s behalf, they’ve raised a lot of money for other organizations.

“I’m telling you, you have a gold mine there. You have all these petitioners, not all of them can spend a few bucks and send it your way, but some of them will; some of them will be able to. Again, I think you have an advantage there, you have something going there.”

City staff will return to the city council at a later meeting with an official agreement for approval.