Community_Arts_and_Education_Committee
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 COMMUNITY ARTS, EDUCATION, and GRANTS COMMITTEE
November 13, 2008
4:30 p.m.
25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 70
San Francisco
Minutes
The meeting was called to order at 4:05 p.m.
Commissioners Present: Maya Draisin, Sherene Melania, Sherri Young, John Calloway
Staff Present: Community Arts and Education Program Director Judy Nemzoff, Cultural Equity Grants Program Director San San Wong, Community Arts and Education Program Associate Robynn Takayama, Cultural Equity Grants Program Associate Ebony McKinney, Cultural Equity Grants Program Associate Lucy K. Lin, Cultural Equity Grants Program Associate Weston Teruya
- Cultural Equity Grants Program Director's Report
Ms. Wong introduced the Cultural Equity Grants (“CEG”) motions. She indicated that guest artists, recommended applicants of the Individual Artist Commissions (“IAC”), will be talking to the Committee about their works. Ms. Wong explained that IAC grants support the generation of new work and require an aspect of the project to manifest as a public presentation. The grant cycles alternate yearly between awarding projects in visual, literary and media arts and the performing arts. Visual, literary, and media arts are the disciplines being considered this year. The IAC panels made recommendations for 31 grant awards out of a total of 61 applications. Of those, 24 applications submitted were for literary arts, 23 for visual arts, and 12 for media arts. Out of the 31 recommended applicants, 61% were first time applicants; two were first-time grantees who have applied before but were not funded; eight have received a grant before, either through their organizations or as previous IAC applicants; one was a Native American Arts & Cultural Traditions grantee.
Lucy Lin presented work samples from the recommended applicants in the visual arts. To represent the media arts, a film trailer clip from Jack Walsh's application was played for the Committee. In addition, Dee Hibbert Jones and Nomi Talisman introduced themselves as first-time grantees. Their project works with families of people on death row. The treatment of the film is animation, to allow for some anonymity of their subjects.
Literary applicants Kevin Simmonds, Chris Carlsson and Leticia Hernandez spoke on behalf of their individual projects. Mr. Simmonds described himself as a first-time grantee. His project will be dealing with fetishes, how they may cross cultures within San Francisco, and the challenges and strengths of these shared desires. He will be writing a collection of poems and holding a reading at Good Vibrations. He shared two poems dealing with the issue of fetishes.
Mr. Carlsson introduced himself as a first-time grantee as well as a longtime writer, having published five books. He was also a co-founder of CounterPulse. He is writing a book dealing with history of San Francisco entitled, “10 Years that Shook the City.”
Ms. Hernandez explained that she has been writing poetry for over ten years. Her project will be working on a collection, including the production of a CD, of her writing. She described the book as a way to bring together her life as a Salvadoreña, a young woman, and a young person living in the Mission District. The funds will allow her to focus on producing her work. She shared a work-in-progress poem/song with the Committee.
Commissioner Melania said it was great to put faces to the names on the documents they receive and to meet the artists in the form of presentations. She thanked the presenting artists.
Commissioner Melania made the following motion:
Motion to approve recommendations to award thirty-one grants totaling $260,440 in the 2008-2009 cycle of Individual Artist Commissions grants to the following individuals, and to authorize the Director of Cultural Affairs to enter into grant agreements with each for the amounts listed:
Chrissy Anderson-Zavala, $7,500
Sonia Avakian, $7,500
Tyson Ayers, $7,680
Stephanie Baker, $7,500
Brent Bishop, $7,500
Evan Bissell, $9,000
Ellen Bruno, $8,500
K. E. Da Silva, $10,000
Chris Carlsson, $10,000
Dina Ciraulo, $7,500
Tsering Dhompa, $8,500
Jacqueline Gordon, $8,000
Pablo Guardiola, $9,000
Perry Hallinan, $7,500
Leticia Hernandez, $8,500
Dee Hibbert-Jones, $8,500
Gigi Janchang, $8,000
Cherylene Lee, $8,500
Lynn Hershman Leeson, $9,000
Rudy Lemcke, $7,500
Jason Mateo, $7,500
Jerome Reyes, $10,000
Kevin Simmonds, $10,000
Annie Sprinkle, $9,000
Kirsten Stolle, $8,000
Candacy Taylor, $10,000
Michelle Tea, $10,000
Truong Tran, $9,000
Max Wolf Valerio, $8,500
Jack Walsh, $7,500
Lindsey Wolkin, $5,260
The motion passed unanimously.
Ms. Wong continued to her report on the budget cutbacks and the revised motion for Cultural Equity Initiatives Level Two (“CEI-L2”).
She explained that at the October 14 meeting, two motions, one for Creative Space (“CRSP”) and the other for CEI-L2, were approved by this Committee. The CEI-L2 grant focuses on organizational infrastructure and capacity-building in underserved communities. The initiatives awarded are usually in the amount of $100,000 over two or three years. The motion on the November 13 agenda is a revised motion. At the November Full Commission meeting, Cultural Affairs Director Luis R. Cancel announced that the agency was asked to cut $85,000 from its 2008-2009 budget, and that the cuts would be taken from grants. He asked Ms. Wong to create a strategy to cut from several grant programs. Ms. Wong decided to cut four to seven percent from the grant amount for each organization rather than entirely eliminating funding from some organizations. The reductions range from $600 to $7,000. She estimated about 70 organizations will be impacted by the cuts.
Ms. Wong explained that, of the seven existing grant programs, three will not undergo cuts. One of those programs will be the IAC grant category, because these individual artists have little overhead from which to cut. The Creative Space grant category is the second. Since performance and rehearsal space in San Francisco is precious in good times, it is even more important in an economic downturn for artists to have space at low and affordable prices. Some of the Creative Space proposals were for safety and code improvements, and therefore important in keeping the spaces open and running. The final grant category untouched is the Native American Arts & Cultural Traditions grants, which are already at a much lower amount than the core grant programs. This program is in its second of three years and addresses a seriously underserved community.
Ms. Wong announced that CEI-L2 will experience a $21,000 cut; Arts and Communities: Innovative Partnerships (“ACIP”) grant program, with two types of grants, will experience a $20,000 cut; CEI-L1 will also undergo a $20,000 cut; Organization Project Grants (OPG), the largest grant category, will have a $24,000 cut.
Commissioner Draisin followed the report by stating that she would like to defer this motion in order to have more discussion with Commission President Johnston, the rest of the Commission, and the Mayor's Office to more fully understand the impact of the cuts. Commissioner Draisin also expressed her support of community organizations and referred to the public comment from Krissy Keefer that grant monies go out into the community and have greater resonance. She also said that, as Director Cancel suggested at the last full Commission meeting, the Commission should be looking for ways to support the community during the economic downturn.
The Commissioners continued to discuss their concerns about budget cuts to the grants program, and emphasized that the CEI-L2 grants needed to go ahead so the arts organizations could begin their projects in a timely way. The Commissioners decided to defer the revised motion with the budget cut, to proceed with the motion which was approved at the last CAEG Committee meeting (for CEI-L2 grants at full funding), to have a more thorough discussion with the Director and the Commission, and if necessary, at the next full Commission meeting, to sever the motion from the consent calendar and amend it.
Ms. Wong concluded her report with other CEG activities. She announced that the ACIP panels would begin on November 14, and she distributed the schedule for panels, project summaries, and panelist bios. She commented that there are several Realization proposals submitted by previous year Exploration grantees. This affirms that the design of providing exploration and planning time is beginning to work.
Ms. Wong reviewed the deadlines for CEI-L1, OPG, and Native American Arts & Cultural Traditions grants. The deadline for Native American Arts & Cultural Traditions was originally scheduled for April 1, but in light of possible year-end budget cuts, the grant process may be accelerated to make sure funds for these grants are secure.
Ms. Wong also reminded Commissioners that they received two documents, a Grantmaking Procedures Scan and the CEG Grantmaking Process, in preparation for the Commission retreat. The Commissioners had a brief discussion about the purpose of the Grantmaking Procedures Scan. Ms. Nemzoff said that she would meet with Ms. Wong to schedule an update about the Native American Cultural Center in the spring.
- Community Arts and Education Director's Report
Ms. Nemzoff reminded the Commissioners that WritersCorps' 15th Anniversary gallery opening was taking place immediately following this CAEG meeting. She also reminded the Commissioners that the reading with Sherman Alexie will be held on Monday, December 1 with special $100 VIP tickets for sale. Ms. Nemzoff distributed WritersCorps' anniversary booklets and copies of an article written by Arts Education Program Manager Dia Penning for Teaching Artist Journal.
Ms. Nemozff reported that she sent formal notification to the tenants detailing the closure of the African American Art and Cultural Center (“AAACC”) for building construction. The facility will be closed from mid-January 2009 until April 4, 2009, when staff and tenants will be able to move back into the facility. However, there will still be active construction taking place at that time and the building won't be 100% open and fully renovated until June 1, 2009.
- Cultural Center Report
Ms. Nemzoff introduced London Breed, executive director of AAACC, by summarizing the Center's 2007-2008 final report. Ms. Nemzoff said that the final report matched outcomes promised in the Management and Program Plan (“MPP”). She noted one challenge in the final report in setting up an afterschool program; Ms. Nemzoff recommended that Ms. Breed invest in professional development to assist her staff with this challenge.
AAACC Report
Ms. Breed said that 2007-2008 was the first year AAACC received specific funds for the youth program, which is growing; teens are interacting with the younger children, creating a family feel at the Center.
Ms. Breed said that, in the past, AAACC's role was artistic development. She sees AAACC's current role to be administrators of the space, making sure the building is in order as she emphasized the fundraising she has accomplished for facility improvements.
She said she will continue to do fundraising for capital improvements, the youth program, and the visual arts program, while she encourages the resident organizations to apply for arts grants. She added that she will continue to try to diversify the organization's funding sources.
Ms. Breed said she's looking forward to the barrier removal project and the growth of the facility.
Commissioner Calloway said he'd like to stop by the Center and learn about the challenges the afterschool program faces. Commissioner Young appreciated hearing about the challenges because she said that's how we learn and grow. Commissioner Young added that as a tenant, she has noted the improvements over the years. Commissioner Young said diversification of funds is important so that the Center isn't dependent on Ms. Breed's personal contacts.
Commissioner Young also noted that AAACC's flyers do not have SFAC's logo. Ms. Breed apologized.
Ms. Takayama added that the youth programs coordinator sent a CD created by youth involved with the recording studio. She said she was impressed that the music sounded polished and professional.
Commissioner Draisin appreciated the thorough report and said that, while the organization needs to diversify its funding sources, she commented that Ms. Breed launched a successful fundraiser that netted over $20,000.
Ms. Nemzoff introduced Lex Leifheit, the new executive director at SomArts. Ms. Nemzoff noted that SomArts had a challenging year in 2007-2008 with the sudden passing of Jack Davis, the previous executive director. Ms. Nemzoff said the final report was not well written and that its brevity made it hard to obtain a full picture of the organization's year. Ms. Nemzoff asked the Committee to press for board development to build a healthy foundation for the organization.
SomArts Report
Ms. Leifheit said she had asked Ms. Breed what was toughest in her first year. Ms Breed's answer was changing relationships. Ms. Leifheit said that in addition to Mr. Davis' passing, the organization suffered leaves of absence during key reporting times and one of the key staff members became ill. She said that the people who played a key role in creating the final report had never done it before. She also noted that reports of participation and revenue might have been affected by weak fiscal management and program assessment; there may have been more people and money coming in than were counted. She told the Commissioners that this would be the first area she would address.
Ms. Leifheit said that another challenge was the move the technical services program had to make from Pier 70 because the roof blew off. Storage space for technical services is an ongoing challenge and whether or not SomArts can move back into the pier is under negotiation.
She noted the annual Day of the Dead exhibit as a success, reporting that over 500 youth toured the exhibition. She said the theme was “In the Time of Change” and SomArts hosted an opening, closing, and election night viewing.
Ms. Leifheit said her focus would be on staffing, accounting practices, and professional development of core staff. She will create a clear reporting structure, an organizational chart, and a facilities committee.
Ms. Leifheit said other challenges and changes this year included a higher energy bill than was anticipated and the end of fiscal sponsorship of United Playaz, whose budget grew to $500,000 and overloaded the SomArts accounting staff.
Ms. Nemzoff responded that there needs to be some generosity around the final report and the organization during this transition, but that guidelines should be applied to support new leadership and make sure the organization stays “on track.” She insisted that SomArts plan on professional development for the board. Commissioner Young agreed that board development was a must, and asked about the terms of board membership. She said the board needed to be rejuvenated to offset burnout. Ms. Leifheit said the board was eager to honor the term limits, but they need new members before old board members leave. Ms. Nemzoff asked that the Commission require that CompassPoint or another consultant be retained by SomArts for the rest of the year to help with board development.
Pam Wu, operations director at Somarts, said that she's happy that Ms. Leifheit is at the helm and agreed that board development is important. But she added that the organization was taking on new utility expenses and paying a higher staff bill. She told the Commissioners that a mandate of $10,000 for board development financially ties the hands of the organization.
Commissioner Draisin said that the Committee has talked about additional accountability for the Cultural Center grant funds and they would be within their bounds to say that there needed to be board development. But she said she did not want to mandate that SomArts would have to spend money at CompassPoint. She added that the Committee would need to see progress within three months, or they would reconsider funding SomArts.
Ms. Leifheit wanted details on the Committee's expectations. Commissioner Young said that by February she'd like to see a list of who SomArts is targeting for board membership, what skills they have that benefit the organization, and where to find these people. Commissioner Draisin said that new board members must be in place by the time the Committee votes on next year's MPP.
- Buildings and Grounds Superintendent Report
There was no report.
- New Business
There was no new business.
- Adjournment
As there was no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:00 p.m.
11/25/08 RT
