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Meeting Information



Community_Arts_and_Education_Committee

2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 

COMMUNITY ARTS, EDUCATION, and GRANTS COMMITTEE
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
4:30 p.m.
25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 70
San Francisco


Minutes

The meeting was called to order at 4:40 p.m.

Commissioners Present: PJ Johnston, Maya Draisin, José Cuellar

Staff Present: Rachelle Axel, Janet Heller, Melissa Hung, Sarah Lenoue, Richard Newirth, Judy Nemzoff and Ellen Shershow

  1. Cultural Equity Grants Program Director Report
    Director of Cultural Affairs Richard Newirth began the meeting with the announcement that the Arts Commission is in the final stages of interviewing for the position of Director of Cultural Equity Grants. Mr. Newirth then welcomed back Janet Heller, Project Manager, WritersCorps, Community Arts and Education Program, in addition to welcoming new staff members Melissa Hung, Project Associate, WritersCorps, Community Arts and Education, and Ellen Shershow, Interim Program Associate, Community Arts and Education. Judy Nemzoff, Program Director, Community Arts and Education Program welcomed Tom Petersen, Buildings and Grounds Superintendant for the San Francisco Arts Commission.

    Ms. Lenoue reported that Cultural Equity Grants had recently concluded its panel process for Cultural Equity Initiatives—Level Two and was presenting three recommendations to the Committee for awards in the amount of$100,000 each to Flyaway Productions, the National Japanese American Historical Society and Golden Thread Productions. The panel comments and ranking were presented as a staff report.

    Commissioner Cuellar pointed out that in some of the panel comments, he didn’t see the constructive critique the organizations need to be able to understand what they could have done differently. Ms. Lenoue explained that there was less time for these critiques this year and said that staff would give more attention to this in the future.

    Motion to approve recommendations to award three grants of $100,000 each to Flyaway Productions, the National Japanese American Historical Society and Golden Thread Productions, in the 2006-2007 cycle of Cultural Equity Initiatives—Level Two, and to authorize the Director of Cultural Affairs to enter into grant agreement with each.

    The motion was passed unanimously.

  2. Community Arts and Education Program Director Report
    Ms. Nemzoff reported that this is a momentous year for the Community Arts and Education Program, in that we are welcoming several new staff, launching a historic Arts Education Master Plan, and have access to additional funding. Ms. Nemzoff is thrilled about all these changes and is looking forward to the opportunities that will be created over the coming months.

  3. WritersCorps Report
    Project Manager, WritersCorps, Community Arts and Education Program Janet Heller reported that WritersCorps, now in its twelfth year, is off to a great start. Seven teachers are returning this year including former Project Associate Gloria Yamato. Ms. Heller went on to report that WritersCorps will be reapplying this spring for a three year contract with DCYF for 2007-2010. One of the priorities of the year will be securing WritersCorps’ identity as a City program.

  4. Arts Education Report
    Rachelle Axel, Arts Education Officer, Community Arts and Education Program, announced that the Arts Education Master Plan press launch on Thursday, September 28, was extremely successful, with a festive, standing-room-only crowd. The launch was followed by the Third Annual Arts Education Resource Fair at Davies Symphony Hall that afternoon. The following week, we held the annual Arts Education Funders Collaborative reception for public school teachers at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. Mark Slavkin, Vice President for Education at the Los Angeles Music Center, was the keynote speaker and discussed challenges and opportunities inherent in a district-wide arts initiative. He delivered the right message to the right crowd at the right time.

    Commissioner Johnston inquired about the phasing-in of the new funding for arts education. Ms. Axel explained that the first portion of funding is from proposition H. This is a ten-year allocation, of which we are in the second year. The proposition H money will increase every year until 2010, at which time it will plateau at sixty million dollars. This particular funding is divided into three pots—one for sports, libraries, art and music (SLAM); the second for early childhood programs and universal preschool; and the third for in-kind City services that meet classroom needs (and this third is the least defined of the three). The second portion of funding comes to us via Governor Schwarzenegger and the State of California. This will likely become available at the end of the calendar year. There are two sources of income, the first being a one-time allocation of five hundred million dollars, or $80 per student (for both arts and sports), and the second, about one hundred and five million dollars, is an ongoing allocation for arts and music.

    Ms. Axel stated that this is the largest allocation of money for arts education in the history of the United States. As stewards of this funding, the entire country will be looking to us as a model of what can be done with this sort of allocation. She also stated that it was a critical time to continue to be a strong partner to the School District as it begins program implementation.

  5. Cultural Center Report
    Ms. Nemzoff introduced Tom Petersen, newly appointed Building and Grounds Superintendant, by explaining that his appointment is a momentous event at the Arts Commission. Mr. Petersen will enable us to not only be more effective landlords, but will also encourage a more collaborative relationship with all of the Cultural Centers.

    Mr. Petersen stated that he has worked for the City of San Francisco for twenty years. He has worked with Laguna Honda Hospital, Muni, and the Port. Mr. Petersen now works with the Department of Public Works (“DPW”), and is very enthusiastic about organizing the Cultural Centers in terms of maintenance and security. Commissioner Johnston stated that he is glad Mr. Petersen has joined the staff, and that he looks forward to clearing up some long-standing concerns, such as ADA requirements, with the Cultural Centers. Mr. Petersen explained that his familiarity with the City and with DPW will be extremely helpful in this regard. Commissioner Cuellar expressed his concern regarding security at the Cultural Centers, particularly in regards to the recent break-in at SomArts. Mr. Petersen responded that he has begun to work with staff at SomArts to address this issue.

    Ms. Nemzoff continued the discussion regarding the Cultural Centers by distributing a draft spreadsheet that listed information pulled from the Cultural Centers’ 2005-2006 final reports as part of ongoing efforts to evaluate and report in a meaningful way as part of ongoing efforts to evaluate and report in a useful way.

    The Commissioners requested that this spreadsheet include the following:

        • Projected audience attendance versus actual audience attendance
        • A pie chart of each Cultural Center’s budget distribution
        • An independent analysis of each center’s facilities, including criteria used for such an analysis
        • What is required according to legislation
        • What is required according to the grant agreements

    The Cultural Arts and Education staff agreed to bring all of these items to a future Commission meeting.

  6. New Business
    There was no new business.

  7. Adjournment
    As there was no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:03 p.m.