Community_Arts_and_Education_Committee
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 COMMUNITY ARTS, EDUCATION, and GRANTS COMMITTEE
August 12, 2008
4:30 p.m.
25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 70
San Francisco
Minutes
The meeting was called to order at 4:30 p.m.
Commissioners Present: P.J. Johnston, Maya Draisin, Sherene Melania, Sherri Young, Nínive Calegari
Staff Present: Director of Cultural Affairs Luis R. Cancel, Community Arts and Education Program Director Judy Nemzoff, Cultural Equity Grants Program Director San San Wong, Cultural Equity Grants Program Associate Lucy K. Lin
- Cultural Equity Grants Program Director's Report
Ms. Wong presented the working FY 2008-2009 schedule of motions and presentations to the Community Arts, Education & Grants Committee. She said the document is a consolidated schedule from both the Cultural Equity Grants Program (“CEG”) and the Community Arts and Education Program (“CAE”). She reported that CEG is still solidifying the program assessment process. She also asked Commissioners to identify other business or discussion topics to include.
Ms. Wong projected an aggressive grant schedule for CEG, which will be implementing seven grant programs from August 2008 to June 2009. The first two deadlines take place at the end of August: Creative Space Grants (“CRSP”) and the Cultural Equity Initiatives Level Two (“CEI-L2”). She explained that the CEI-L2 grants are substantial because only three grants are awarded and each award is up to $100,000. Two new requirements were added last year which add more rigor to the application process: the first is a required assessment interview process which allows the staff to have more in-depth understanding of the organizational issues; and second, applicants are required to have and submit existing strategic plans. Some of the issues reflected in this pool of applicants are: sustainability and capacity-building, new organizational models, diversification of income streams, legacy succession planning, building new audiences, and organizational branding. CEG has staggered its grant deadlines so those applicants who are not recommended to receive the CEI-L2 grant may apply for the Cultural Equity Initiatives Level One. Based on the interviews, CEG staff anticipates nine applicants.
Ms. Wong presented a new addition to CEG staff, Corinne Matesich, as a Program Aide. Ms. Matesich is a practicing artist and has a background in the arts and social practice arena. Ms. Wong reported that Weston Takeshi Teruya will also be returning to his position of Grants Administrator.
Ms. Wong alerted the Committee that she will be submitting motions to approve grant review panelists in the upcoming months.
Commissioner Calegari inquired whether the panelists in the motion before this Committee will be assessing the CEI-L2 applications.
Ms. Wong replied that the CEI-L2 panelists have not been finalized. She explained that CEG staff usually identifies a core group of panelists based on the grant category and the expertise needed, and then may add panelists with specializations called for by the applicant pool. The panelists presented in this motion may be serving on future panels.
Commissioner Melania expressed her concern for the program to reach a broader audience. She recognized that some of the proposed panelists are from organizations who have been funded in the 2007-2008 grant cycle by CEG. She asked how these individuals are conducive to whom the program is funding.
Ms. Wong explained that these potential panelists are not from the same target organizations and communities to which the program is reaching out. CEG is partnering with organizations that will reach additional constituencies. She explained that in 2007-2008, the program placed ads in community newspapers and announced grant programs through the listservs of various community organizations, especially those working with immigrant artists and communities, individual artists, and, for the Arts & Communities category, neighborhood- and community-based organizations. She emphasized that some organizations act as intermediaries and have a broad reach. Such organizations include World Arts West, Alliance for California Traditional Arts, Door Dog Productions and Dancers' Group. With regard to the panelists, Ms. Wong explained that CEG invites panelists who have a breadth of field experience and expertise, and the staff contacts many funders, organizations, past panelists and others to identify potential panelists.
President Johnston argued that the individuals involved in grants review panels as well as the grantees involved with the San Francisco Arts Commission, in effect, create an “inside circle.” He expressed a desire to draw new individuals into CEG panels.
Ms. Nemzoff reminded the Committee that this motion did not determine a particular panel, but was intended to add members to a pool to cover the range of applications that might be submitted.
Commissioner Melania replied that these individuals are from the same organizations that have either been awarded or have been panelists in the past. She inquired about bringing in new individuals who have not yet served on Arts Commission panels.
Ms. Wong explained that the panelists were all new, had not served on CEG panels before, and that of the eight panelists, only three of their organizations had been funded by CEG. CEG has also been recruiting and training individuals as new panelists, such as younger leaders and leaders of new organizational models. For the present, she argued that the program needs to keep building out the panel pool and reach new individuals. She noted that recruitment of new grants review panelists is additionally difficult because of the significant time commitment involved in reading applications in advance of the panel meetings which can also be a large time commitment, and because the application critique is public with applicants often in attendance.
Commissioner Johnston maintained that it is still a legitimate issue that the panel pool is just a culture of people who know the panel process. He proposed that with certain panelists already involved in the panel process, inviting new panelists can refresh the process.
Ms. Wong described the mixed results last year with new panelists, and mentioned that some of them did not read all the proposals. She reminded the Commissioners that they can help by recommending people they believe would be good panelists.
Ms. Wong and Ms. Nemzoff discussed the potential for conflicts of interest in terms of each of their programs and panel processes.
Commissioner Melania made the following motion:
Motion to approve the following individuals as grants application review panelists for Cultural Equity Grants:
Jack Carpenter, Production Manager, World Arts West, theater facilities consultant
Rudy Garcia, Artistic Director, Alegría de San José
Wayne Hazzard, Executive Director, Dancers' Group
Ken Ikeda, Executive Director, Bay Area Video Coalition
Raul Lozano, Executive Director, Teatro Visión
Thérèse F. Martin, Executive Director, ArtSpan
Marc Vogl, Program Officer, Arts & Culture, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Michael Warr, Projects Director, CompassPoint Nonprofit Services
The motion passed unanimously.
Ms. Wong continued her report on the California Cultural Data Project (“CCDP”), a statewide, web-based collection system. She provided the Commissioners with a brief background on the project and its current state, which includes about 70 public and private funders as part of the consortium.
She said that, along with Grants for the Arts (“GFTA”) as our sister City agency, the Arts Commission is implementing CCDP participation as a requirement for application this year. She described the CCDP as a tool for arts organizations as applicants to decrease the amount of time inputting data for grant proposals. For funders it is a tool to extract comparative information to impact future policy discussions.
She explained that through the CCDP, applicants can print out reports for different funders. As part of their profile, organizations and their staff can see their organizational data. Funders can get applicant characteristics by different categories. Pew Charitable Trusts, the organization managing this project, offers onsite training sessions, webinars, and a personalized help desk with database assistance available to registrants.
Ms. Wong invited Commissioners to join one of the scheduled webinars or on-site application workshops to walk through the CCDP. She added that out of CEG's 300 applicants, only 20 organizations have completed their profiles. Seventy organizations have registered and started entering data. However, there is an upcoming information workshop for which approximately 100 organizations have signed up. Additionally, GFTA and the Arts Commission have developed an aggressive workshop schedule.
CEG is also in the process of designing a new pilot initiative to help grantees get started with their financial management. Ms. Wong described the hands-on labs where applicants meet with financial managers to help translate their financial data. Ms. Wong said she will work with financial trainers to develop the technical assistance further.
Commissioner Draisin asked about the process of organizations working with different financial methodologies and if the CCDP is bringing everything together.
Ms. Wong replied that organizations are not necessarily undertaking a thorough planning or analysis process to identify changes. The next level of financial analysis can be a follow-up.
Commissioner Draisin asked why so few organizations have completed their Cultural Data Profile.
Ms. Wong answered that the profile can be difficult to complete, and may take up to 25 hours. She explained that she, with staff, spoke to applicants, other funders and Pew about the issues. She explained that one challenge is that there are two different charts of accounts - one that exists for an organization and the other is CCDP's. The organization can create conversion charts to enter their data into the CCDP form, or the organization may decide to adopt CCDP's chart of accounts as their own. Immigrant communities who are unfamiliar with the grantseeking process may choose not to apply because of this requirement, and their voices would not be represented. CEG is trying to work with other funders to coordinate efforts to help organizations with this process.
Commissioner Calegari explained that much of the financial information requested is from the IRS Form 990 that nonprofit organizations should already have. She saw this new effort as protecting smaller groups.
Commissioner Melania asked about the deadline for applicants.
Ms. Wong responded that the biggest pool of applicants will be in January for the Organization Project Grants. The earlier deadlines in August are for organizations that should have the capacity to fill out the CCDP; the grant categories are Cultural Equity Initiatives - Level Two and Creative Space.
Commissioner Calegari asked if the CCDP replaces a part of the application. Ms. Wong answered that the requirement is in addition to the application. She continued that, in the long run, it will be a huge time savings when applying to multiple funding sources that are using the CCDP. Groups also will have the opportunity to apply to more funding sources.
- Community Arts and Education Program Director's Report
Ms. Nemzoff introduced the following motion by explaining that the arts education intern position is funded with a grant from the California Arts Council and the Arts Education Funders Collaborative. The intern will work on the next edition of Inside/Out, which is scheduled to be reprinted in 2010. Future CAE discussions will determine whether the publication continues to be a priority and if so, how to fund the book after 2010.
Commissioner Melania made the following motion:
Motion to enter into a 2008-2009 grant agreement with the CIF of the San Francisco Foundation in an amount not to exceed $28,000 to support the arts education program intern.
The motion passed unanimously.
Ms. Nemzoff introduced the following motion to support the Neighborhood Festival grants by explaining that a small increase in Grants for the Arts funding, which supports the Neighborhood Festival and Programs in Community grants programs, allowed for awards to three additional organizations. Ms. Nemzoff explained that, while small, these grants help build community connections. The Festival grants are defined by neighborhood blocks and not constituent groups and are largely run by volunteer community and neighborhood organizations.
Commissioner Melania made the following motion:
Motion to approve Neighborhood Festival grants to the following organizations pending written confirmation from Grants for the Arts:
Treasure Island Homeless Development Initiative to support the Treasure Island Community Day Festival, $3,000
North of Market/Tenderloin Community Benefit District to support the Safe Streets Holiday Street Festival, $3,000
Visitacion Valley Community Development Corp for Visitacion Valley Business Opportunities and Outreach to Merchants to support the Leland Avenue Street Fair, $3,000
The motion passed unanimously.
- Cultural Center Report
Ms. Nemzoff introduced a presentation by SomArts's staff. These monthly presentations are intended to increase the Committee's oversight and involvement with the Cultural Centers and allow for a more detailed conversation with Center staff. Every Cultural Center is scheduled to present over the next six meetings of this Committee. In addition, Commissioners will be receiving 2007-2008 final reports to be reviewed individually at upcoming meetings instead of all at one time. Copies of the final reports will be provided prior to each Committee meeting for early review.
Ms. Nemzoff asked SomArts's staff to provide an update on key areas of the organization, including the transition and hiring of a new director; board development; and a brief presentation on the technical services program, a key program of SomArts with high visibility. Ms. Nemzoff said that it is important that the Committee be knowledgeable about the program's successes and challenges.
Mr. Cancel stated that one of his goals is to help the Cultural Centers build capacity. He has asked three leaders of esteemed cultural institutions in the city to share their expertise on successful endowment campaigns and board development with the boards and executive staffs of the Cultural Centers. These invited guests include Connie Wolf, executive director of the Contemporary Jewish Museum; Neal Benezra, director of SFMOMA, and Heather Kitchen, managing director of ACT. He hoped that this meeting would take place in October and he welcomed the Commissioners to attend.
Mr. Ernie Rivera, the interim executive director at SomArts, gave a summary of the philosophy behind the technical services program at SomArts. The program provides technical services for events such as street fairs, music festivals, and parades. He talked about the extremes of what they go through to provide low-cost and timely installations for a wide range of community-based events in every district of the city.
Mr. Rivera distributed two articles that will be published in the Central City Extra. He also distributed a projected balanced budget for the technical service program of 2008-2009.
President Johnston asked how SomArts interacts with the unions. Mr. Rivera said that SomArts's technical service program works with union and non-union workers. As young workers are trained, they are recommended to the union. Mr. Rivera added that the SomArts program develops workers' skills and work ethic and the young people they train often go on and fill union jobs.
Commissioner Young asked for the number of staff in the technical services program and what wages they receive. Mr. Rivera responded that they work with as many as 30 people on a project-by-project basis, and that starting pay ranges from $10 to $15 an hour.
Ms. Mary Molly said she began working with Mr. Rivera as an intern ten years ago and now helps run the program. She said the technical services program staff works with a variety of events and with different collaborators. The work ranges from major parades to the Bayview backpack giveaway. She said that much of the staff comes to the program from social worker referrals and that many started as teenagers. Through the program they see areas of the city they might not otherwise see. She added that the program supports small organizations by providing low-cost set-up.
Mr. Rivera reported on the executive director search and said staff and board have done the first round of interviews. Ms. Betsy Kuntz from SomArts said the selection committee has made good progress. They received 42 applications which reflected a mix of backgrounds. Eight final candidates will be narrowed down to three, and they hope to have selected a new director by early September. Ms. Kuntz explained that the candidate must have organizational, financial, and facility management skills.
Mr. Rivera said that the SomArts board had also assembled an advisory board made up of board members who rotated off the Board of Directors. He wanted to engage the advisory board in fundraising and other projects such as acquiring new equipment. There are currently seven advisory board members. He said that the Board of Directors' intent was to invite ten people to serve on the advisory board and wait for the new executive director to present a vision for board development.
Ms. Nemzoff and Mr. Cancel will participate in separate interviews with the final three candidates. The selection of the director will be based on input from the SomArts selection committee, SomArts staff and board, and the Arts Commission.
Ms. Nemzoff said that the technical services program started as part of the Neighborhood Arts Program forty years ago and moved to become a program of SomArts. There was no dedicated funding to SomArts to maintain a storage space or maintain equipment.
Mr. Cancel addressed the need to upgrade equipment. He asked whether fees charged by the technical services program could be increased gradually to raise revenue for new equipment, or whether the program might apply for a loan to purchase new equipment. He also asked if SomArts could identify a portion of the equipment that an individual or a bank might be interested in funding.
Mr. Rivera replied that he wished the large cultural institutions such as the San Francisco Opera would work with the program, paying higher rates to supplement the lower fee charged to volunteer-run, community programs.
Commissioner Melania said she thought the large houses were union shops and that they probably have their own state-of-the-art equipment.
Ms. Nemzoff said that she understood the mission of the program to be providing low-cost services as opposed to generating revenue, and that it is time for a program assessment since the program is not financially self-sustaining.
Mr. Rene Yañez stated said that the program does a lot of free work, so the profit margin is not high and this should be taken into consideration when reviewing the program. He also said that Mr. Rivera has been doing a good job as interim director. He added that staff is talking with an architect to explore building adjustments that could increase income.
Ms. Nemzoff reminded SomArts staff that any changes to the building would need to be reviewed and approved by the Arts Commission before any work could be done.
- WritersCorps Report
Ms. Nemzoff explained the following motion. The recommended new hire, Aracely Gonzalez, is a strong writer and experienced teacher with bilingual skills. Ms. Nemzoff said that she will be a solid addition to the WritersCorps team. Her contract will be covered through funds from the Department of Children, Youth, and Families.
Commissioner Melania made the following motion:
Motion for the Director of Cultural Affairs to enter into contract with Aracely Gonzalez to teach in the WritersCorps program in an amount not to exceed $39,000.
Motion passed unanimously.
- Arts Education Report
There was no report.
- Buildings and Grounds Superintendent's 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.
8/29/08 RT
