FY2027 Arts and Humanities Grants Program Rejects Local Group Funding Requests for Juneteenth and Watch Night
Summary
The City allocated $73,500 for the FY2027 Arts and Humanities grants program. $25,000 was designated for the Levine School in West Falls, a commitment made at the time West Falls was being developed. The Grant Review Committee (GRC) made their recommendations for awarding the remaining $48,500 of FY2027 grant funds to City Council at the September 28, 2026, meeting for City Council’s approval.
The GRC rejected applications from the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation (THHF) for Juneteenth celebrations and the CATCH Foundation, the organizer for Watch Night, in favor of more detailed and specific applications from other groups. GRC cited the lack of details in the rejected applications.
Edwin Henderson II of THHF criticized the process as biased and the City for not supporting local organizations that put on popular and high impact Falls Church events.
City Council was unanimous in their concern that the City support THHF’s Juneteenth celebrations and will explore allocating funds during the October budget amendments discussions. The City will work with CATCH to solicit funds from businesses.
City Council voted 6-1 to approve the awards as recommended by the GRC. Grants were given to Creative Cauldron ($20K), Little City Concerts ($5K), Washington Sinfonietta ($6.7K), Friends of Cherry Hill Foundation ($5K), Welcoming Falls Church ($5K) and Falls Church Arts ($5K). THHF received an operations grant of $1,000.
Background
The FY2027 budget allocated $69,000 to Arts and Humanities funds for projects in the City. Together with remaining funds from a Virginia Commission of the Arts grant of $4,500, the City had $73,500 to apportion to various nonprofit groups.
Of these funds, the Levine School was assigned $25,000. This is the third year that Levine School has received this level of funding. As part of the City’s negotiations during the development of West Falls, the City agreed to fund Levine School for up to 5 years.
The City invited groups either based in the City or with at least 75% of their programming in Falls Church to apply for the remaining $48,500. In a new process, an Arts and Humanities Grant Review Committee (GRC) made up of three residents reviewed and selected the winning projects.
The City Council reviewed the GRC grant awards at their work session on September 22, 2026, and was asked to approve the fund allocations to Levine School and the grants recommended by the GRC at the September 28, 2026, action meeting.
Awards made by the GRC leaves out major City nonprofits
The staff document detailed the awarded grants, totaling $47,717. We are awaiting information regarding the remaining $783 of the $48,500 the GRC awarded. The groups that received funds were:
- Little City Concerts – $5,000
- Creative Cauldron – $20,000
- Washington Sinfonietta – $6,717
- Friends of Cherry Hill Foundation – $5,000
- Welcoming Falls Church – $5,000
- Falls Church Arts – $5,000
- Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation – $1,000.
Two well-established groups that had their applications rejected were the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation (THHF) and the CATCH Foundation. THHF is the main organizer of annual Black History events in the City, and CATCH (the acronym for City of Arts, Theater, Culture and History) organizes the City’s Watch Night, the popular New Year’s Eve event that has greatly benefited local restaurants, and so generated meals tax revenues for the City.
Recreation Program Supervisor Holly Irwin who worked with the GRC said that the THHF applications and the CATCH application were rejected because they lacked details such as the names of speakers and specific descriptions of the programs. She said, “Someone who had never witnessed an earlier iteration of Watch Night would have no idea what Watch Night actually is [from the application].”
The winning applications had more specific information for the GRC to consider. Ms. Irwin did not elaborate on the criteria used to evaluate the applications. In this new competitive application process, entries were judged solely on the merits of the written applications and a follow-up in-person meeting that some applicants were unable to attend. The process does not seem to have considered the need to support high impact community activities.
Henderson criticizes the process for resulting in the rejection of core community events
Edwin Henderson II of THHF spoke at the City Council meeting to criticize the bias in the new process that resulted in the City’s lack of support for the local nonprofits that organize key annual community events.
“Tinner Hill provides diverse events and programming that the City should have but doesn’t provide,” he said. “The City can’t do everything. That’s why funding for local nonprofits is essential to community well-being. Programs such as MLK [Day], Watch Night, Juneteenth, Concerts in the Park, Fourth of July readings [Independence Day Readings]–these are done by local nonprofits that need [the City’s] support, and these organizations received zero in this funding.
Therefore, we depend on local city nonprofits like VPIS [the Village Preservation and Improvement Society] and Tinner Hill to do the heavy lifting. The money should go to those organizations that are providing programming and events for the City’s citizens to take advantage of.”
Mr. Henderson also said, “There’s a problem with process and results resulting from bias and ignorance of what goes on in the city and who does what. …I’m not sure why Levine School of Music is being awarded $25,000. Are they in the comprehensive plan for the City? … This is ludicrous.”
What the Levine School’s $25,000 award covers
The Levine School has two centers in Maryland and two in Washington DC in addition to the one in West Falls. They provide individual and group music lessons for various instruments. This regional nonprofit occupies a rent-reduced space in the West Falls development. The City has provided Levine School with $25,000 for the last three years.
At the City Council work session on September 22, 2026, Community Relations & Legislative Affairs Director Cindy Mester explained that the City is coordinating with the school to provide five or six programs at the Mary Riley Styles Public Library and five or six with the Recreation and Parks Senior Programs and Cherry Hill Farmhouse. Unlike the other grant candidates, the details of these programs did not have to be specified for the Levine School to receive funds.
The Levine School will also provide $7,500 in tuition assistance for low-income families. Ms. Mester said, “This is a five-year commitment that grew out of the West Falls development voluntary concession to have a music or arts and culture [center].”
The staff report states “[Levine School] Funding support was proposed at $25,000 per fiscal year, for up to 5 years, contingent on subsequent budget allocations …”
City Council Member David Snyder questioned why the school is getting a significant public subsidy, in addition to subsidized space negotiated by the City, when that is not available to other arts and cultural groups in the City. He asked, “Why should we continue to allocate that level of support?”
Ms. Mester responded, “Continuing [this level of funding] is a Council policy directive… It could be a policy discussion for subsequent years.”
City Council discussions
In response to Mr. Henderson’s comments on September 28, City Council members unanimously voiced their concern about the lack of financial support from the City for the Juneteenth event and asked whether Watch Night needed additional funds. Council Member Snydersaid he could not vote to approve the awards.
Local restaurant owners had been furious with the City for “cancelling” the 2025 Watch Night on short notice. The City had decided that it did not have the resources to close the section of Broad Street as was done in prior years. The City responded that CATCH was responsible for Watch Night and the City was primarily responsible for the street closure.
CATCH organized indoor entertainment at churches and office buildings, bringing in bands, dancing and magic shows on New Year’s Eve. CATCH also set up the midnight “ball drop” and liaised with local businesses and restaurants. The City expanded its role by adding street activities in 2023 and 2024. The 2025 Watch Night took place but, without the street closure and outdoor activities from the City. Attendance was significantly lower, impacting restaurant sales and meals tax revenues.
Ms. Mester said that for the 2026 Watch Night, the City has allocated $20,000 in the FY2027 budget for the street activities and a stage that the Recreation and Parks Department will organize. An additional $10,000 has been set aside for equipment and staff overtime.
For the last 15 years, CATCH has applied for and received $3,200 to $5,000 from this annual Arts and Humanities fund to offset their costs. This is the first year the City has not funded CATCH. Ms. Mester expressed the hope that commercial entities would be able to make up the $5,000 funding CATCH requested.
Council Member Marybeth Connelly said, “The [GRC] may not have known, but we know the history of the partnership between the Tinner Hill organization and the City of Falls Church. The Juneteenth event, in particular, is very meaningful, very well done, and a signature event for the City of Falls Church. That we have such a good event is simply because the Tinner Hill organization puts it on.”
She added, “These programs are really essential to the values we have in Falls Church, and they are being run by people who have the commitment and the heart for them.”
City Council asked staff for alternative funding sources to partner with the THHF and CATCH. Ms. Mester responded that while there was time to fund Juneteenth and other THHF requests during the budget amendment discussions beginning in October, there would not be enough time to fund CATCH for Watch Night.
Council Member Erin Flyn commented that the City has provided programming and support for certain holidays like Memorial Day and Veterans Day. She would like to see the City extend support to the Juneteenth holiday through a budget amendment.
Several Council Members said they were reluctant to override the recommendations of the GRC and voted 6-1, with Mr. Snyder dissenting, to approve the grant awards as shown in the tables below.
There was also unanimous agreement that the City would support THHF’s Juneteenth celebrations, providing financial support if necessary. Ms. Connelly asked that the review of the Arts and Humanities grants award process be shared with the City Council before next year’s awards.
The Arts and Humanities Grants for FY2027
The data in the tables below are taken from the staff document on the resolution to grant awards. The awards listed totals $47,717. We are awaiting a response from staff on the award of the remaining $783 of the $48,500 Arts and Humanities grants.
| PROJECT GRANTS | |||
| Applicant | Purpose | Requested | Awarded |
| Little City Concerts | “Wolf at the Door” a new musical | $5,000 | $5,000 |
| The CATCH Foundation | Watch Night Celebration | $5,000 | $0 |
| Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation | Juneteenth Celebration | $5,000 | $0 |
| Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation | Symposia and Workshops | $5,000 | $0 |
| Creative Cauldron | “The C Word… It’s Not What You Think” World Premiere Play | $5,000 | $5,000 |
| Washington Sinfonietta | Annual Holiday Concert | $2,500 | $2,217 |
| Friends of Cherry Hill Foundation | Floor Cloth Replacement | $5,000 | $5,000 |
| Welcoming Falls Church | Author talk with Viet Thanh Nguyen | $5,000 | $5,000 |
| Total | $37,500 | $22,217 | |
| OPERATIONAL GRANTS | |||
| Applicant | Purpose | Requested | Awarded |
| Creative Cauldron | Increased administrative expenses in new space | $15,000 | $15,000 |
| Falls Church Arts | Facilities rentals, administration | $12,013 | $5,000 |
| Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation | Operating costs | $5,000 | $1,000 |
| Washington Sinfonietta | Rentals, operating costs | $4,500 | $4,500 |
| Total | $36,296 | $25,500 | |
