Fresno Cancels Contract With Arts Council After Alleged $1.5M Embezzlement

The City of Fresno has terminated its contract with the Fresno Arts Council after the council’s executive director reported that $1.5 million in Measure P grant funds could be missing. Fresno Police and the FBI are investigating, and City Manager Georgeanne White announced the city will take over administration of Measure P grants going forward.

City officials say the timeline of notification has some discrepancies in reporting. Some accounts say city staff were first notified on Feb. 5; the Fresno Arts Council’s executive director, Lilia Gonzáles Chávez, met with City Manager Georgeanne White on Friday, Feb. 6, and told White that $1.5 million in Measure P funds were gone. Chávez then reported the matter to law enforcement and issued a brief news release saying the council “was the victim of unauthorized financial transactions.”

The city convened a rare special closed session the following week and issued a written public statement sharply criticizing the Fresno Arts Council’s oversight. The statement read: “The Mayor and members of the City Council are appalled by the lack of safeguards put in place by the Fresno Arts Council, which ultimately allowed this embezzlement to occur.” White also told reporters, “It’s really disappointing, you know?... There’s probably not a day or two that go by that I say something like, ‘You can’t make this up.’”

The alleged missing funds come from Measure P, the voter-approved program that has steered millions to local artists and organizations. The first grant cycle distributed nearly $10 million, and an additional $5.7 million was allocated in October 2024 for a second round. The scale of the alleged loss is notable against the Fresno Arts Council’s recent financial history: a review of tax filings from 2014 through 2023 shows the largest single-year amount handled by the council in that period was $2.48 million.

Artists and community leaders have pressed for swift transparency and repayment. Dozens of local artists gathered in central Fresno to demand answers; at a community meeting hosted by Home Lopez, artists pushed city officials for timelines and accountability. One attendee asked, “You talk a lot about later it'll happen, but where is the transparency to fix the problem? We don't care whose fault it is. What are you going to do to fix the transparency problem?” Meanwhile, a local commentator urged patience for the probe: “A thorough investigation would take two to three months to make sure we know exactly where the money went, how it came in, where it went, how it came out, and to whom it went.”

No arrests or charges have been publicly reported. The alleged perpetrator is described only as a now-former Fresno Arts Council employee; the name has not been released. Artists and Measure P recipients who have not received full payments are advised to contact the City of Fresno at (559) 621-2999 or email ExpandedArts@fresno.gov and include their Measure P grant agreement and any supporting documentation.

For Fresno County residents and the local arts community, the immediate questions are restitution and oversight: who will be made whole and what safeguards the city will impose when it assumes control of the Measure P program. The federal and local investigations will determine next steps, and city leaders say they will provide updates as more information becomes available.