Executive_Committee
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 MEETING of the EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
3:30 p.m.
25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 70
Minutes
Commission President P.J. Johnston called the meeting to order at 3:45 p.m.
- Roll Call
Commissioners Present
P.J. Johnston
Maya Draisin
Jeannene Przyblyski
Commissioners Absent
Sherri Young
Staff Present
Director of Cultural Affairs Luis Cancel
Interim Deputy Director Nancy Gonchar
Community Arts and Education Program Director Judy Nemzoff
Cultural Equity Grants Program Director San San Wong
Commission Secretary Sharon Page Ritchie
- Director’s Report
Mr. Cancel explained how he has begun his work with the Arts Commission by meeting with the directors of City agencies, the Convention and Visitors Bureau (“CVB”), and cultural institutions, to be sure that the Arts Commission participates strategically in decision-making. He argued that because the arts and culture are crucial to economic growth, the cultural agenda needs to be reflected in all of the City’s decisions. His meetings have been very cordial, and organizations such as the CVB and the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development are quite receptive to working more closely with the Arts Commission. Mr. Cancel added that it is equally important to strengthen the Arts Commission’s outreach into the neighborhoods and that they also have access to the arts.
He had an initial meeting with most of the Cultural Center directors, and will continue working with them to set common agendas. He noted that Bayview Opera House is the focus of a great deal of attention now, in light of the increased investment and renovation underway. He would like to see this cultural center have its full impact on the community, and on the visibility of the Arts Commission. He has begun talks with individual Commissioners to explore the potential for private investment to augment City funds. He and staff are also fighting to keep this project on the City’s capital planning agenda. He said that a successful public-private funding effort for this center could be a model for others, which also have substantial needs.
Finally, he reported that budget negotiations continue.
- Deputy Director’s Report
Ms. Gonchar said that there were no changes in the budget since her previous report. She explained that the Mayor’s Office has withdrawn $100,000 of this year’s addback from the International Arts Festival grant to World Arts West. Ms. Gonchar reported that Arts Commission staff is looking for other ways for them to fund the festival, in cooperation with Grants for the Arts (“GFTA”). She added that World Arts West has already begun working on the festival in good faith, and that she and GFTA Director Kary Schulman are doing their best to help them.
Ms. Gonchar added that the agency is requesting additional positions in Public Art, and would like to bring Facilities Manager Tom Petersen’s position into the Arts Commission, since paying the Department of Public Works for his time is more expensive.
President Johnston asked about the World Arts West funds. Ms. Gonchar explained that the Mayor’s Budget Office has requested mid-year cuts from all departments and is asking for unallocated funds from addbacks. Other departments’ addbacks are also being targeted. He asked if Supervisor Ammiano’s office had been consulted about this, and she said she understood that the Mayor’s Budget Office would be speaking with him. Finally, President Johnston asked if an appeal had been filed regarding the original grant decision. Ms. Gonchar replied that it had, and that staff was working with the City Attorney’s office to craft a response.
- Cultural Equity Grants for Native American Artists and Arts Organizations
President Johnston took this item out of order.
Ms. Nemzoff reported that the motion below was a recommendation from staff in response to the severing of the motion at the January full Commission meeting regarding the AIM-West proposal. She reported that in addition to public testimony at that full Commission meeting and at the following day’s Community Arts, Education and Grants Committee, staff had held a community meeting. Over and over, they heard that it is an absolute priority to keep the funds in the Native arts community, going into the hands of artists. Staff met with Andrea Bruss in the Mayor’s Office and will work with a consultant to do a feasibility study on when and how the Native American community can obtain a physical center. They are working with the Human Rights Commission and other City departments toward a similar goal, and would like to work in concert with the community and avoid duplication of effort by City departments.
Ms. Nemzoff said that Cultural Equity Grants (“CEG”) Program Director San San Wong had crafted an extraordinary set of guidelines, with a schedule intended to get the funds quickly to artists and artist teams in the Native community. The intention is first to get money into the community quickly, and then to continue the conversation with the community about a long-term approach.
Ms. Wong explained that she and Ms. Nemzoff have met with many artists and arts organizations in the Native American community. They identified a need to put funds into the community to support the existing level of activity while the cultural center discussions take place, and also to support arts activities taking place in non-arts locations. The proposed grant initiative mirrors the CEG Program initiatives, including Individual Artist Commissions, Organizational Project Grants, etc. With approximately $96,000 available for grants, staff is trying to fund as many kinds of projects as possible; the largest grant ranges up to $15,000. Their plan is to release the guidelines at the beginning of March, with an application deadline at the beginning of April, panel reviews at the end of April, and grant recommendations going to the full Commission at its May 5 meeting. If contracts can go out in May, the funds can be encumbered in the current fiscal year.
Ms. Wong continued that three application workshops have been scheduled, as well as budget workshops, and ongoing meetings with other community leaders. Ms. Wong outlined the grant categories for the Committee.
Mr. Cancel added that he recently met with Tony Gonzales of AIM-West and former Commissioner José Cuellar. They were concerned that the money not disappear back into the City’s general fund, and he was able to reassure them that it would get out into the community in a targeted way.
Ms. Nemzoff emphasized that this is a short-term approach, and that the agency is committed to create a long-term vision of how to allocate funds for the Native American community. She suggested that the applications received will help to shape this discussion. Ms. Wong noted that relatively few Native applicants come into CEG, and believes that the community has been relatively unaware of the program. She is hopeful that this initiative will raise awareness in the community and bring more Native applicants to the larger CEG programs.
President Johnston called for public comment.
Tony Gonzales, of AIM-West, said that he had some concerns. He said that the American Indian community wants accountability, and wants a report on how the prior administration at the Native American Cultural Center spent the funds allocated by the Arts Commission. He said that they are willing to work with the City and the Arts Commission on a new direction. He drew a distinction between the needs of individual artists and of organizations, and was concerned about that the grant amount of $15,000 might be too small to accomplish much, citing the example of a large group like the Ohlone dancers, who might require $5,000 or more to travel to San Francisco.
Commissioner Przyblyski said she thought this was a way of saying that the primary purpose of the Arts Commission’s programs is to provide support for artists, as the Cultural Center problems are being addressed. She thought this could be an opportunity to fundamentally rethink the Cultural Centers. She supported the proposal as a way of bringing underserved artists and communities into the granting programs, heeding community concerns as well as the Commission’s mandate.
Vice President Draisin agreed that the proposal achieves the goal of getting arts money into the community and helps the Commission to see what the community’s needs are. She added that the budgets submitted will give a better idea of the actual needs, for all of the virtual centers.
Commissioner Przyblyski seconded the concern about accountability, saying that the granting structure with its requirements for reporting gives more accountability than the Cultural Centers have historically had. Because the Commission doesn’t have money to waste, accountability is crucial.
Mr. Cancel said that it is important to discuss the steps and resources required for institution-building. When he met with the Cultural Center directors, he explained that he comes out of a tradition that values community arts, and he also knows a lot about building institutions. He believes it is important for them to build their bases of support to ensure their survival, to develop long-range plans. He said that Ms. Wong’s work will help in this process.
President Johnston was encouraged to hear that the groundwork for this proposal is increasing access to CEG grants. He, too, shares Mr. Gonzales’s concern about accountability. He began grappling with the problems of the Cultural Centers, particularly the virtual centers, from the time he became President four years ago. He wondered whether $96,000 is enough to run a center, and if not, whether the Commission should try to do so. He added that it certainly can’t be done if the Commission doesn’t trust the Center’s leadership. He said that the Controller’s Office wouldn’t have begun its inquiry into the Native American Cultural Center’s spending without Ms. Nemzoff’s and Commissioner Cuellar’s persistence.
He agreed that it was important to maintain funding in a period of budget-cutting, and not see these funds go out into other Arts Commission projects. He said that he had no objections to AIM-West running the Cultural Center, but the system had seriously broken down over the course of several years. He didn’t want to act too quickly, but wanted to wait until the agency’s new director was at work. He wants to be sure that when a long-term plan is in place, it is one that the Commission can have confidence in over the long term. He agreed that in the short term, getting money into the hands of working artists is a priority.
Commissioner Przyblyski added that the question of grants versus cultural centers should be discussed in the community. Are they more interested in having a mechanism to get money to artists, or do they want a convenor and a center, a place, not a funder?
The motion was approved.
Motion: Motion for the one-time transfer of funds in the amount of $96,259 from Community Arts & Education Hotel Tax Funds originally intended for the Native American Cultural Center in FY 2007-2008, to Cultural Equity Grants for disbursal of funds to Native American artists and organizations, to be encumbered no later than June 30, 2008.
- Proposed Cultural Voucher Youth Program
Mr. Cancel explained that he has been developing this idea over several months. He began by asking where the next generation of cultural consumers will come from, citing the well-document “graying” of audiences, particularly for major institutions like the symphony and the opera. The voucher program is intended to help develop that next generation by intervening at a crucial stage of development, in middle school. The program will target the entire sixth grade in the San Francisco school system, some 3,353 students and their classroom teachers.
The program will give each student the equivalent of $75 which they can use to purchase cultural services. It would include organizations that have a relationship with the Arts Commission and with GFTA, which have cultural products they could market to this age group. The idea is to work with the School District’s Arts Education Master Plan and to work with the schools’ arts educators, who could disseminate information, and distribute and monitor the voucher or card. The Arts Commission would maintain a website listing eligible events. He proposes launching the program at the beginning of the next academic year, and evaluating at the end of the year in 2009, determining by the next budget cycle whether to continue, revise or end the program.
He distributed a first draft of the proposal.
President Johnston asked what kind of guidance the Arts Commission would give to students and teachers as to what cultural institutions and venues were eligible. For example, could the voucher be used for the latest commercial film blockbuster?
Mr. Cancel answered that it could not be used at commercial venues, but at arts organizations that have applied for grants from the Arts Commission or GFTA, credible organizations trying to provide a cultural experience.
He continued that it would be important to inform the cultural community as to how they could participate. Some are already doing activities targeting younger people, like after-school programs. Others, who for the first time might find themselves looking at a $250,000 market, would have to ask themselves how they could appeal to them. He argued that teaching these young people how to become informed cultural consumers is a really important task. He explained that the offerings will be determined by the participating arts organizations. He added that the program needs to be at least $250,000; a hundred students will not change the behavior of the arts organizations, but having the entire sixth grade with $75 burning a hole in their pockets will.
Commissioner Przyblyski said that her fourteen-year-old daughter frequently receives gift cards, which she would lose if her mother didn’t manage them and keep up with them for her. Commissioner Przyblyski really likes the idea of speaking to and educating this age group; she believes that many of them won’t redeem the vouchers without organization by the teacher. She asked about the relationship between self-initiated activities by the sixth-graders and activities organized by the group.
Mr. Cancel answered that the dynamic must be carefully balanced. He said that teachers are important, and this should not become merely a vehicle for pooling funds to pay for class trips, where students are not making the decisions.
President Johnston added that the agency could help to craft suggested curriculum for how to use the vouchers.
Commissioner Przyblyski asked about rolling out the program to upper grade students, who have more freedom to travel the city without an adult. Mr. Cancel replied that for sixth-graders’ participation, parents are crucial. Perhaps a discount could be arranged with the providers for an accompanying adult, so that the voucher gives one and a half admissions. Commissioner Przyblyski noted that even that might be too great a barrier for some families. President Johnston noted that San Francisco has a higher percentage of children taking public transit to school by themselves than any other city in the country.
Mr. Cancel said that it will be up to the cultural organizations to come up with activities to reach this age group. He wanted to start the conversation, and if the Committee agrees, he will continue. He reported that the Mayor liked the idea when he proposed it to him.
Commissioner Przyblyski liked the fact that the program would bring visibility to the Arts Commission and to the Arts Education Master Plan.
Ms. Nemzoff agreed that it is really important that the City continue to support the Master Plan and find ways to implement it, including curriculum and professional development.
Vice President Draisin was really excited to see ideas like this, and she shared Commissioner Przyblyski’s concerns. She also thought it would be useful to make the program more web-based than text-based, giving examples of how the Symphony and other organizations use the web and e-mail for their younger-adult organizations. Commissioner Przyblyski noted that posting on MySpace was even more effective than e-mail blasts for younger groups.
President Johnston called for public comment.
Mr. Gonzales liked the idea, saying that it is important to teach youth to be informed cultural consumers. He thought this way of teaching them is an excellent idea.
President Johnston liked the idea and will continue to think about it. He added that for Commissioners to share their experience with the City will be helpful to Mr. Cancel.
- Cultural Equity Grants Panelists
President Johnston presented the following motion, which was approved.
Motion: Motion to approve the following individuals as grants application review panelists and guideline reviewers for Cultural Equity Grants:
Shawna Alapa’i, Executive Director, Halau Hula Na Pua O Ka La’akea
Chus Alonso, Program Director, Community Music Center
Jonathon Freeman, Program Officer, Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development
- Public Comment
President Johnston announced that there would be a party following the March 3, 2008 full Commission meeting to thank Ms. Gonchar for her nine months of service as Interim Director of Cultural Affairs.
There was no further public comment.
- Adjournment
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m.
spr 2/29/08
