Lewisville Lake Symphony: outreach reaches Flower Mound but town audit rule is limiting grant eligibility

Nancy, introduced in the meeting as executive director of the Lewisville Lake Symphony, briefed the Cultural Arts Commission on May 28 about the orchestra’s outreach and a barrier to local grant eligibility tied to audit requirements.

Nancy said the Symphony is the only fully professional orchestra in the area, gives four concerts per season and conducts significant education outreach, including performances for Lewisville ISD third graders (she cited roughly 3,800 students reached in a recent year). She estimated the organization served close to 6,000 people across nearly 70 ZIP codes last year and said about 30% of its audience comes from Flower Mound.

On funding, Nancy said earned income covers a small share of costs (she cited about 10%–11% per full house in general) and that municipal, civic and corporate grants constitute a substantial portion of the Symphony’s support. She offered approximate figures from the current cycle: municipal/civic/corporate grants in the order of $60,000 (which she described as roughly 39% of certain funding lines) and said Flower Mound accounts for about 12% of that segment.

Nancy said the Symphony did not apply for the town grant this year because Town policy requires organizations above a specified budget threshold to obtain an audit, and the cost of the audit would exceed likely grant funds. She said the Town’s audit threshold (as cited in the meeting) is $100,000; by her account the Symphony’s budget is about $160,000, which put the organization into the audit-required category. She said she is working with town staff (she mentioned a staffer by the name JP Watson) on options and expects staff to take any change to Town Council if appropriate.

Commissioners compared Flower Mound’s threshold with peer cities and noted other municipalities use higher audit thresholds or allow CPA reviews at different levels (Dallas was cited as having a $500,000 audit threshold). Commissioners and Nancy discussed whether raising the threshold or changing the audit requirement would expand grant access for mid-sized arts nonprofits.

Nancy urged continued support for arts outreach and said she hopes the audit issue will be reconsidered so more organizations can apply for municipal grants without being disadvantaged by audit costs.

The commission thanked Nancy and noted interest in having staff and the new grants coordinator follow up on the audit-threshold issue.