Meeting Information

Community_Arts_and_Education_Committee

COMMUNITY ARTS, EDUCATION, and GRANTS COMMITTEE
Tuesday, November 8, 2005
4:30 p.m.
25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 70

Minutes

Meeting came to order at 4:45 PM

The following Commissioners were in attendance: PJ Johnston, Ethel Pitts-Walker, Janice Mirikitani, José Cuellar
Staff: Richard Newirth, Judy Nemzoff, Jewelle Gomez, Janet Heller

The order of business was changed to accommodate staff schedules.

1. WritersCorps Report
   
   Program Manager Janet Heller briefed the committee on the motions. Commission Mirikitani commented on growth of the internship program and what an important part of the program it has become.
   
   Motion to award internships to the following WritersCorps students who will work on special projects such as teaching, events coordination, editing, and filmmaking and participate in regular writing workshops from November 2005 through June 2006 from National Endowment for the Arts, Department of Juvenile Probation, and Youth Arts Fund. Funds not to exceed amount specified:
   
   Antonio Caceres $8,680
   Martrice Candler $9,330
   Robin Black $2,160
   Annie Yu $2,160
   
   Motion to award a grant to Aunt Lute Books in the amount of $20,000 to support 2006 WritersCorps anthology celebrating the centennial of the 1906 earthquake from Youth Arts Fund.
   
   Motion to modify the contract of WritersCorps teacher Chad Sweeney from $32,000 to $35,000 to increase hours of service in 2005-2006 program year from San Francisco Foundation grant.
   
   

   Approved unanimously 
   

2. Community Arts and Education Program Director Report

   The Master Plan for Arts Education has been submitted to the Curriculum Committee of the School Board. Ms. Nemzoff is cautiously optimistic that the Plan will receive full Board approval and will be ready for distribution and media attention this spring. The draft needs to be edited for simplicity and readability and a graphic component added and will be ready this spring. Because of the good work of the Master Plan Steering Committee, the draft was used to make recommendations to the PropH committee for arts spending for FY 06-07. This is a great next step in our working relations with the school district and a very positive first step for the Plan.

   First Five Commission is moving forward with CAE in a revamped version of the initial pre-school for all arts initiative. Originally conceived as a hands-on direct service program of CAE, the program is reshaping to become more a research and development project on best practices and model program /site development for Pre-K.

   There was a lengthy discussion about the four cultural center buildings, the arts commission role as landlords and the lack of staff and money to take care of the buildings. 
   

3. Cultural Equity Grant Program Director Report
   
   

   Ms. Gomez reported on two recent public meetings held by CEG. The meeting with members of the dance community was focussed on providing information for constituents about framing applications more clearly and effectively. Participants had a number of questions about how panels are chosen and the ways that the panel usually views dance requests, specifically how to make a distinction between the individual artist request from a choreographer and the request to support a choreographer’s company in the Organization Project category. Staff will work more closely with panelists and dance constituents to make that difference clearer.

   Ms. Gomez then reported on the meeting with former panelists which yielded several recommendations for the panel structure. Those in attendance were very supportive of the idea of panelists making a three year commitment to be part of a pool approximately 10 panelists for a particular category. The effort would make it possible to have revolving panelists but also to insure some institutional memory.

   Commission Cuellar asked if repeat panelists might not put returning applicants at an advantage. Ms. Gomez responded that this seemed unlikely because of CEG’s overall commitment to funding new organizations, an instruction that is given to each panel. She further indicated that panel review of applicants is done by organization size which avoids the problem of smaller, new groups competing with more established groups.
   
   Motion to approve recommendations for the following twelve grants in the 2006 cycle of Cultural Equity Initiatives—Level One, totaling $276,000.
   
   Aunt Lute Books $25,000
   Creativity Explored of San Francisco $25,000
   Cultural Odyssey $25,000
   Manilatown Heritage Foundation $25,000
   National Japanese American Historical Society $20,000
   Purple Moon Dance Project $25,000
   Queer Cultural Center $25,000
   Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project $16,000
   Radar Productions $15,000
   The San Francisco Black Film Festival $25,000
   Theatre Flamenco of San Francisco $25,000
   World Arts West $25,000
   
   Approved unanimously
   

4. Adjournment

11/21/05 SL