Isla Vista Arts is asking students to approve a new $2.00 lock-in fee in the upcoming campus-wide election.

I.V. Arts, an initiative in support of art programs and theatrical performances available to students and community members, is based in the UCSB Interdisciplinary Humanities Center. According to its Web site, I.V. Arts exists to promote “art as a catalyst for social growth and change in the neighboring Isla Vista community.”

If students approve the measure, each undergraduate student would pay $2.00 per quarter during the regular school year, $0.50 of which will be collected for return to aid and $0.02 of which will be gathered for administrative fees. During the summer, students would be charged $0.67, with $0.17 collected for return to aid and $0.005 taken to cover administrative fees.

Ellen Anderson, acting director for I.V. Arts, said voting for the lock-in fee would mean preserving important aspects of I.V. culture.

“[The fee] will allow I.V. Arts to continue to provide the innovative, exciting, weird, cutting-edge student-initiated entertainment it has for the past five years in I.V.,” Anderson said. “For student performers, it provides funding and support for bringing their theater, art, dance, comedy and film to the stages of I.V. Most importantly, it provides great, inexpensive nights out in I.V.”

The extra funding will be used to publicize events, art showings and performances relevant to the Isla Vista community. In addition, the fee will be used to maintain staff positions and facilitate publication of WORD: Isla Vista Arts & Culture Magazine, as well as I.V. Live, Magic Lantern Theater, Laughology, Shakespeare in the Park and Nuestra Voz.

The decision to approve I.V. Arts’s lock-in fee’s place on the ballot was tabled at last week’s A.S. Legislative Council meeting after the proposal failed to include Laughology as a beneficiary of the fee. Legislative Council will vote on the fee at this Wednesday’s meeting. If it receives approval by the council, the initiative will need 60 percent of student voters to check “yes” on the election ballot for it to pass.

A voter turnout of at least 20 percent is required in order for the election to be deemed valid. The election is scheduled for April 19-22.

With increased financial cuts looming on the horizon, Associated Students Internal Vice President Chris Wendle said many student services are forced to search for money outside the administration in order to maintain optimal functioning.

“Right now, with all the budget cuts affecting the UC system, lots of groups on campus are scrambling to find alternative ways to fund programs essential to the student body,” Wendle said. “One outlet to receive funding from is the students themselves.”