Grove Festival, Orchestra Get City Funding : Finances: The council, which approves a total contribution of $35,000 to the groups, had promised it would be more generous to arts organizations.

The City Council delivered on its promise of a new friendliness toward the arts this week by approving a total of $35,000 to a pair of financially troubled local arts organizations.

On a 3-2 vote Tuesday night, the council agreed to contribute $20,000 to the Grove Shakespeare Festival and $15,000 to the Orange County Symphony of Garden Grove, each of which is facing a budgetary shortfall well in excess of $100,000 for this year.

Councilman Mark Leyes, the key proponent of the grants, said Wednesday that revenue will come from a “windfall” received from the Irvine-based Bustop Shelters of California Inc., which is paying the city “a signing bonus” of $1,000 per bus shelter for the right to build 35 such structures in Garden Grove.

“This is a onetime proposition,” said Leyes, who vowed after his election last November that the new council lineup would be more supportive--philosophically and financially--of the arts. “But we are also looking into a more stable source of funding for all arts organizations. We’re considering two major options for that: ongoing revenues the city would receive as its share of advertising income from the bus-stop shelters, and a building-permit surcharge that already exists.”

Leyes said that he expects the subject of a continuing arts subsidy to be placed on the council agenda in September and that the council majority is looking to give a total of between $60,000 and $80,000 to all arts organizations, with the biggest share expected to go to the Shakespeare company and the orchestra. If approved, it would reverse the council’s move in recent years away from budgeted, ongoing arts subsidies.

The three councilmen who approved the grant on Monday night were Leyes, Frank Kessler and Mayor W. E. (Walt) Donovan. J. Tilman Williams and Robert F. Dinsen dissented.