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Journal North: Home | Sports | Opinion | Obits | Entertainment
Sunday, November 15, 2009
400th Anniversary Chairman Is Ever the Eternal Optimist
By Karen Peterson
Of the Journal
It's a good thing the guy in charge of Santa Fe's 400th anniversary is an optimist, because, despite the two years and more than a million bucks in taxpayer money spent on the effort so far, not many others see much to be hopeful about.
Maurice Bonal, who was chosen two years ago to head the committee in charge of the commemoration and more recently presided over the all-but-dissolution of the nonprofit set up to administer funding, says he's still planning to ask the city for another $750,000 to continue anniversary events into next year — the best-guess "official" 400th year of the city's existence.
"There are so many good people working on this project," Bonal said of his 25-member 400th anniversary committee. "These are very solid citizens who understand who we are and what we're doing. We're still enthusiastic — as long as I can keep that, we're in good shape."
So far, the effort to raise private funding has been a lot like holding a bake sale to buy an airplane. Anniversary banners — which include the names of the commercial sponsors who paid for them — flutter downtown. You can pick up a T-shirt or a gimme cap, aprons, water bottles, notecards and even a Frisbee, all with the 400th anniversary logo, and make a contribution. Or buy a $9 margarita at various downtown bars and take home the commemorative glass — a transaction that nets the anniversary committee $3.
Other efforts include a commemorative state license plate and a "beds-and-heads" surcharge of $1 on lodging at participating inns and bed-and-breakfasts.
Oh, and there's a commemorative coin, on sale for $20. Bonal says this was his personal effort at raising money. After plans to get congressional approval for a U.S. Mint commemorative coin fell through, Bonal says, he personally purchased a thousand non-Mint coins that are now for sale through various vendors and on the Web site. If all the coins sold, Bonal said, the 400th Anniversary Inc. nonprofit would net "between $10,000 and $15,000 total."
Is he seeking reimbursement for his own investment in the coins? "I haven't talked about reimbursement," he said. "But don't tell my wife."
Bonal adds that he's not happy with the profit-sharing arrangement negotiated on the other merchandise and wants to change it. But he defends the idea of marketing stuff to raise money.
"Not a lot of (nonprofits) do this type of active fundraising," Bonal said. "They sit around and wait for foundations (to donate). We're trying to come up with matching funds."
But big corporate donors have been scarce. Karen Heldmeyer, who was on the City Council when the committee was organized, says that, by the time the anniversary nonprofit was up and running, organizers knew that the window for soliciting big corporate donations had already closed.
Bonal says he's not necessarily sorry. Looking back, he says: "I wouldn't have done anything different. If you involve big money, they tend to take over. It's not going to be a family-and-kids affair."
The largest corporate donor so far, Bonal says, has been Santa Fe Natural Tobacco, which gave $25,000.
The 400th committee first approached the city about getting another $750,000 for the commemoration efforts in September, but withdrew its request after deciding to lay off 400th Anniversary Inc.'s executive director and all but one of its staff members. Bonal says the committee is in the process of drawing up a new budget for 2010 before going back to the city with the funding request.
"What we're going to do is scale back the operating expenses," Bonal said. "We're going to the city for the $750,000, but operating expenses should be under $100,000."
Previous projections, based on full staffing, had put the nonprofit's 2010 expenses at about $450,000.
Bonal says he's going to continue renting an office for the nonprofit even though there is now only one full-time staffer, as well as a separate smaller office for himself and the committee. (Rent on the offices, plus storage, phone and DSL service for both spaces runs about $30,000 for the year, and salary and payroll taxes for the lone staffer total about $67,000, according to earlier budget projections.)
But Bonal says the two offices about a block off the Plaza "aren't expensive" because the landlord, Gerald Peters, gave the 400th "a very, very good" deal on the spaces. (Peters is listed on the anniversary Web site as one of the event sponsors, as are Bonal and his wife.)
The separate office for himself and the committee ($300 a month in rent, plus $220 for phone and Internet), Bonal says, is necessary to keep the committee "from micromanaging" the nonprofit's organizing effort.
The rest of the $750,000 Bonal hopes to get from the city will all go toward events and programs, he says.
But what programs? The City Council should take a close look at what it will actually get as it considers the committee's funding request. So far, the highlights of Santa Fe's 2-year-long birthday bash have been a free weekend festival in a city park and two concerts, plus a visit from Spanish royalty (but not the king, and not the Mexican head of state either, as touted when preparations started).
Bonal says he still hopes to organize a mini-film festival and an art and lecture series. The 400th Anniversary Web site mentions the likes of Carlos Fuentes, Sherman Alexie and traveling foodie Anthony Bourdain as "potential speakers," but you can scour the Internet in vain for further details. (Fuentes, one of the best-known novelists and essayists in the Spanish-speaking world, was in Albuquerque a couple of weeks ago to deliver a lecture at the University of New Mexico, but apparently didn't make it to Santa Fe.)
Bonal also says he wants about $100,000 of the city money to go toward two books on the history of the city.
"Then we may have another Viva! Santa Fe this summer," says Bonal, referring to the free Labor Day festival that officially opened anniversary events. "And we've got other commemorative projects, like plaques on the Plaza. And we plan to collaborate with (the Santa Fe) Fiesta and various arts and crafts events," including Spanish and Indian Markets next summer.
"The idea is to keep it multicultural, to not lose sight of who we are and where we came from," he said.
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