by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - A public hearing was held today to source funding for the upcoming Festival of Pacific Arts. Bill 19 would temporarily redirect a percentage of funding that originally would go to the Council on Arts and Humanities from its Arts in Building Program and instead use it for the festival. With roughly a year and a half away, The FESTPAC Trust has just under $3 million of the estimated $13 million necessary for the event.

Chairperson for CAHA Monica Guzman told KUAM News, "We did recognize the intent of the bill and CAHA as being the lead agency for the festival, we kind of put our FESTPAC hat on and we're 100% in support of the bill, we put our CAHA hat on and we're 100% trying to protect the percent of the arts funding."

CAHA is concerned because the program has only recently reached fruition, and hopes that other alternatives, such as amending CAHA's rules to remove the cap on grants, could be another alternative.