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A crowded scene from the popular summer concerts in downtown Culver City.
What about the Culver City Summer Music Festival, which, hopefully, will return in about four months?
The popular but frequently fiscally tentative Thursday night series in the Courtyard of City Hall once again is in Maybe condition.
Same old reason that has dogged the concert series for years – whether funding is available.
A City Hall source said that $7500 is believed to be in the pot to underwrite the series that was shrunk to four Thursdays last summer, two in July and two in August.
In the good, ol’ days before Gov. Brown destroyed the Redevelopment Agency, City Hall funded two months’ worth of programs, from early July to Labor Day.
Now they count pennies.
Entrepreneur Gary Mandell, the music magician and maestro of Boulevard Music who has made the concerts happen for the past 12 summers, is opening negotiations with City Hall.
At stake:
Will Mr. Mandell return under last year’s stringent conditions?
In light of recent expenditures, will more money be found to attract first-rate groups?
“Whether Gary is willing to take the risk of putting on concerts is a question for him,” the City Hall source said. “Last year's four concerts were fine, but the abbreviated schedule left people wanting more”.
