NEWS: $1.3M for Colonial Williamsburg Tops City’s FY26 Outside Funding
Proposal includes $831K for public transportation, Human Services asks for $555K
At a meeting yesterday, the Williamsburg City Council listened to a presentation by the City’s Economic Director, Yuri Matsumoto, who recommended that multiple community organizations receive funding for FY26. The largest recipient would be Colonial Williamsburg, which is slated to be awarded $1.3M, the same amount they received from the City the previous year. Other tourism and arts organizations will garner an additional $1.3M, giving the tourism category the most funding. The largest non-tourism / entertainment grant is $831K to Williamsburg Area Transit Authority (WATA).
Matsumoto stated that the funding recommendations total $3.6M, which represents a 9.4% increase over the previous year's funding. According to the presentation, the City received 26 applications for funding, 5 of which were new applicants. A total of 21 agencies are recommended to receive grants, as none of the new applicants were recommended for grants.
According to Matsumoto, the City has begun a new process for reviewing and approving grant requests. “Moving forward, the Department of Economic Development & Tourism will lead a team of staff, representing any City department that is engaged with an outside agency requesting funds, to fully vet each application and determine funding recommendations to be considered by the City Council.” No mention was made of public participation in the grant review process or input determining recommended funding.
Recommended grant recipients
Recommendations presented by Matsumoto also include $550K to AVAdventure Productions, which the City says secured a “three-year Year-Round Event Management Services contract through a city-issued RFP.” The company produces the Last Word Comedy Festival, Ampersand International Arts Festival, Whiskey & Wine Weekend, BurgQuest and the Virginia Cat Festival. The Virginia Arts Festival would receive $325K to produce a 3-day live event in Williamsburg as well as provide education opportunities for Williamsburg and James City County students. Culturefix, which produces the Christmas Market and Winter Blues Jazz Fest is slated to get $1.6M based on the presentation.
Organizations that the City describes as Community Partner Agencies, which included WATA, are recommended to get a total of $969K, which is an increase of 51.4% over the previous year’s funding for these organizations. Matsumoto explained that the majority of this increased funding will go to Williamsburg Area Transit Authority in order to facilitate the 15-minute City GIO. Other organizations in this bucket will get around $138K. Besides WATA, the next largest grant to a community partner agency is to the Heritage Humane Society for $47K. The grants also include $34K for The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission and $28K for the Virginia Peninsula Community College. Public safety organizations are also on the grant list, as Colonial Community Corrections is slated to bet $43K and the Peninsula Alcohol Safety Program will receive $5K.
During the presentation, Matsumoto indicated that five organizations were not recommended to receive grants in the next budget. “Due to the current budget constraints, staff was unable to recommend funding for any requested funding increases for FY26 unless directly related to one of City Council's adopted GIOs.” She also noted during the presentation that the organizations are encouraged to try again in future years as the City may then be able to provide support. These organizations include Village Initiative, a group focused on equity and justice in the WJCC public school system, Williamsburg Community Pool, Center for Child & Family Services, Williamsburg History, and “Time-Out”Outreach, a faith-based community services organization.
City Council feedback
The City Council will vote on the recommendations as part of the upcoming budget process. Members had an opportunity to discuss the propsed funding with Matsumoto after the presentation, and Mayor Doug Pons was the first to speak. “There’s certainly a lot in here to read and look over. And I apologize I haven’t done all that in advance of this meeting, but I certainly will. In the budget process, maybe I’ll have some more recommendations or be able to share that, certainly with the City Manager as he prepares his budget. But I don’t have any questions.” Though the Mayor referred to future deliberation with the City Manager, he didn’t mention any efforts to seek input or feedback from residents about the grant funding.
Vice-Mayor Pat Dent began his comments by noting that he did review the information provided to Council in advance of the meeting. “I’ve read through it and looked at how the money’s going to be used, and changes in the requested funding and what they received in the past. And as the Mayor stated, it will take some time to go through and kind of organize thoughts on that. But very detailed information, so thank you for the work.
Other Agency Funding Requests
Williamsburg Area Arts Commission
At the meeting, the Chair of the Williamsburg Area Arts Commission (WAAC), Thomas Phelps, also presented their request for outside funding in FY26, totalling $159K, which is the same amount awarded in both FY24 and FY25. The WAAC funding includes recommendations for $15K for Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra, $12K for Virginia Regional Ballet, $12K for Opera in Williamsburg, $11K for Virginia Symphony and $10K for Williamsburg Contemporary Art Center.
Human Services request
The FY26 funding request presentation for Human Services was given to the Council by John Morgan, Social Services Advisory Board Chair. He stated that the Board recommends total funding of $550K for 16 area agencies. The bulk of the spending would go to several healthcare providers including Colonial Behavioral Health, which would receive $298K and Olde Town Medical & Dental Center would receive $125K.
Soil & Water Conservation District
Robyn Woolsey, a Conservation Specialist with the Colonial Soil and Water Conservation District, presented a request for $10K to the City Council. These funds would be used to help support the Virginia Conservation Assistance Program as well as the Turf Love Program in Williamsburg.
(Update 3-11-25: capitalization)
George Arbogust is Founder and Editor of the Williamsburg Independent. Consider buying him a cup of coffee.