Arts_Task_Force
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 MEETING OF THE ARTS TASK FORCE
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
5:30 p.m.
City Hall, Room 201
Minutes
- Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 5:43 p.m.
- Roll Call
Voting Members Present
Ken Foster
Rick Galbreath
Tim Gaskin
David Gluck
Elaine Katzenberger
Krissy Keefer
Tony Kelly
Pamela Wu Kochiyama
Maria X. Martinez
Anjali Nath
Pamela Peniston
Richard (Rick) Putz
Laird Rodet
Virginia (Ginny) Carollo Rubin
Marc Vogl
Debra Walker
Voting Members Excused
Jeffrey Ferns
Vinay Patel
Voting Members Absent
Alma Robinson
Darryl Smith
Voting Members Resigned
Ron Gallman
Nonvoting Members Present
Tim Hallman
Renee Hayes
P.J. Johnston
Richard Newirth
Carolyn McMillan
Elizabeth Murray
Geraldine O’Brien
Gloria Woo
Nonvoting Members Excused
John R. Killacky
Nonvoting Members Absent
Bob Davis
Rich Hillis
Daniel Homsey
Charles Roppel
- Approval of Minutes
This item was tabled as there were no minutes to approve. Approval of July 5, 2005 and July 20, 2005 minutes will be calendared for approval at the August 17, 2005 meeting.
There was no public comment on this item.
NOTE: ALL VOTES ARE UNANIMOUS UNLESS OTHERWISE RECORDED.
- Announcements by the Chair
The Chair announced that the matter of the $100,000 allocated by the Board of Supervisors will be on the next agenda. During the Town Hall meeting, Supervisor Ammiano explained that the Board of Supervisors had proposed the funding to implement the recommendations of the Task Force and that the funds came from the City’s reserve, thus having no effect on any agency’s or program’s current budget.
There was no public comment on this item.
- Discussion on Hotel Tax
Dan Goldes, Vice President for Member and Community Relations for the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau ("SFCVB") was recognized. Mr. Goldes indicated that he comes from and arts background having majored in Drama and worked in several arts related disciplines which contributed to his well rounded understanding of the arts. Mr. Goldes distributed several documents and publications of the SFCV and submitted the following outline of his remarks for the Minutes of the Task Force.
San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau
- Founded in 1909
- Private, not-for-profit, 501(c)6 trade—association governed by 54-member Board of Directors drawn from membership.
- Not a City agency or department
- Mission: Market San Francisco as destination for meetings, conventions, trade shows and as leisure travel destination.
- Goal: Enhance local economy
- Maintain and grow Hotel Tax revenue (only recipient of Hotel Tax charged with maintaining and growing the fund).
- Public/Private Partnership
- Private - 45% of revenue
1,700 members - Businesses in the visitor industry
Arts members - 106 organizations including Exit Theatre, World Arts West, AfroSolo, New Conservatory Theatre, Asian Art Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SomArts, Museum of the African Diaspora, LGBT Historical Society.
Revenue: Dues, co-op marketing, advertising in Bureau publications, etc.
- Public - 55% of revenue
Small portion of Hotel Tax:
Portion of Convention Facilities Fund
Grants for the Arts - Arts & Tourism program
- Results: 2004 15.4 Million visitors
- $6.73 Billion in visitor spending ($18.4 million a day)
- $347 Million Tax/fee revenue to City:
Hotel Tax, local portion of sales tax, parking tax, airport fees, Recreation & Park department fees, port fees, etc.
- For every $1 in hotel tax allocation to SFCVB, City receives $46 in fees/taxes
- For every $1 Bureau spends on marketing, visitors spend $400.00+
- Equivalent of 87 cents spent attracting each visitor
- Bureau markets San Francisco aggressively in the face of increasing competition for meetings and for pleasure travel.
- Arts play large role in how the Bureau markets the city to visitors, primarily through our Convention, Marketing, Tourism, and Public Relations divisions.
Convention Division
- Foundation for long-term business
- Markets the city for conventions, meetings and events.
- Potential audience for Arts/increases hotel usage and tax revenue.
- 05/06 Goal:
- 920 Definite Future Bookings
Represents 2 Million room nights (3 million visitor days).
- 1,835 Leads/tentative business (pipeline)
5.4 Million Room nights (8 million visitor days).
Promote the city at 21 trade shows/19 sales trips
- Through 2028 - 9 Million definite room rights/6 Million Tentative
Marketing Division
- Targets consumers/leisure travelers
- Goal: Increase hotel occupancy to 75% (04=73%)
- Potential audience for Arts/increases hotel usage and tax revenue.
- Ad campaign: “Only In San Francisco” - So. Cal
- Marketing campaigns attract visitors in off season: Dine About Town, Crab Festival and Winter Promotion
- Website - 2.5 Million Unique; users up 48%
- Calendar of events includes arts and cultural events
- All Arts-related Bureau members listed
- Suggested itineraries w/Arts
- This Week in SF
Events of special note. Examples: Maori Exhibit, New Conservatory Pride Season, AfroSolo, Queer Arts Festival.
- Visitor Information Center - Hallidie Plaza
- Information provided to 387,000 people on-site in 2004
- Arts member brochures distributed
- 25,000 phone inquires received in 2004
- 47,000 visitor kits mailed in 2004
- Telephone Events Hotline (5 languages). Examples of events include: Zeitgeist Film Festival, Aloha Festival, Nihonmachi Street Fair
- San Francisco Book/Visitor Planning Guide
- Arts members listed
- Calendar of events - Arts and cultural events
- 80,000 “Visitor Planning Guides” are mailed in advance of a visitor's trip to San Francisco.
- 320,000 “San Francisco Books” distributed in city.
Tourism Division
- Targets travel trade - travel agents, tour operators & airlines.
- Goal: Increase individual & group leisure travel.
Potential audience for Arts/increases hotel usage and tax revenue.
- Make contact with 13,000 travel trade @ tradeshows, sales missions worldwide.
- Brings 1,200 travel trade into San Francisco on familiarization tours.
- 8 International offices: Australia, France, Brazil, Germany, China, Japan, England and Mexico
- Arts & Tourism - Geraldine O'Brien
- Founded in 1989; housed at the SFCVB since 1991
- Cement relationship between arts community and hospitality industry.
- First in country, now frequently replicated.
- Educates Travel Agents/Tour Operators about arts.
- Helps arts groups/member access bureau & industry resources.
- Include arts in tour itineraries.
Tour ideas brochure include arts and events
- “SF is all about the arts” posters at trade shows
- In-flight video
18 months starting in 2002 on all United Airlines westbound transatlantic & domestic flights.
- VIP Cultural Pass - 2,500 distributed annually to Media, Tour Operators, Meeting Planners.
Includes all Bureau Arts members.
- Arts membership in Bureau
Discounts for GFTA recipients and other non-profits.
Liaison
Public Relations Division
- Link to local, national, international travel media.
- Coverage of SF as visitor destination
- In 2005/06 Bureau staff will assist 1,600 journalists from around the world, including 350 visiting San Francisco on assignment.
- Referrals to Bureau Arts members
- 90 press releases, including: LGBT Pride Events, Free concert/Film series, Stern Grove Makeover, Juneteenth Celebration, Museums Found Only In SF and Carnaval
Conclusion
- SFCVB works constantly to keep SF positioned as visitor destination in order to grow economy and Hotel Tax.
Public Comment:
Andrew Wood asked what the Arts & Tourism budget was. He was told it was $150,000 but it has been cut 40% over the last three years.
Tom Radulovich, BART Director, said that the City needs to improve transportation signage, provide multilingual maps, and promote car-free tourism. He said that it is not especially easy to get around without a car but he would like to see the SFCVB stress that it is possible to see San Francisco without a car.
There was no further public comment on this item.
- Outline Report of Recommendations to the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor
There was an extensive colloquy facilitated by BART Director Tom Radulovich regarding ideas that came from the Town Hall and supplemented by Task Force members’ ideas and suggestions and how to integrate those ideas into the three charges.
Public Comment:
Mike Farrah, Office of the Mayor, commenting on some of the remarks made during the “brainstorm,” said that Arts Commission appointments are based on diversity, but may already be representative of districts. He thought that good structural reform ideas have been expressed and he will bring them back to the Mayor. Mr. Farrah reiterated that the Mayor is committed to taking the ideas and recommendations from the Task Force and acting upon them.
Jeff Jones stressed the need for evaluation and accountability of the sole-source contracts and historic grantmaking. He said that there has been no evaluation of how facilities subsidies are meted out. He thought that zero-based grants and consolidating the bureaucracy (26 agencies currently involved in meting out arts dollars) are good ideas.
Andrew Wood said that the Task Force’s three goals come directly from the Mayor (as expressed during an April, 2004 meeting), and that the legislation was drafted expressly to assist the Mayor in formulating the policies to support the arts. As to a proposed Mayoral Coordinator position, he suggested that the sole duty of someone in that position would be to leverage funds: i.e. a fundraising position. Relating to comments regarding “add-backs,” he said they are the way the Board of Supervisors exert their priorities for funding. Ultimately, he thought, the Task Force should strive to bring political power to the arts community.
Anne Smith urged the Task Force to read the 1990 Arts Plan, an element of the City Master Plan, saying that much of this meeting’s discussion is embodied in that plan. She suggested that members should also read the 1990 San Francisco State study which stated that 1 in 11 jobs in San Francisco is related to the arts.
Karen Ames, San Francisco Opera, stated that she has a different memory of the April 6 meeting with the Mayor which ultimately spawned the Task Force. Ms. Ames further pointed out that $1 million has been taken out of GFTA and she wants to see the funding restored for arts programs. Ms. Ames would encourage the use of public funding to leverage mentoring programs from grantees and would like to see organizational support funding disconnected from a specific program, i.e., allow the funds to be used to support existing programming, not require a specific program in order to get funding. She said that there needs to be a solution to the worker’s comp problem. Ms. Ames stressed that the arts are essential to the quality of life in San Francisco. She would like to see the SFCVB produce arts guide by neighborhood to assist visitors in exploring the city. Ms. Ames further seeks the assistance of the Mayor’s office to address neighborhood safety and transit issues in the Civic Center, and would like to have streamlined assistance, so that one does not have to call several agencies to address all the different issues. Of the funds potentially at the disposal of the Task Force, she suggested using some for a survey to determine what the citizenry would like from the arts and how they would support the City in providing that.
Toby Leavitt, Executive Director of the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, is interested in improving, expanding and protecting the City’s support of the arts, but, given the current political and economic circumstances, he fears a net loss. If there were a 20-year guarantee of funding, Ms. Leavitt would support any Task Force recommendation that could overcome the political and legal threat to the Hotel Tax funding of the arts. Ms. Leavitt further suggested that we should preserve what we have and only go up in the future. Ms. Leavitt related that when the Shakespeare Festival (along with other arts organizations) was evicted during the dot-com boom, she was heartened by the support the arts received.
- Continued Discussion about San Francisco Arts Infrastructure
This item was continued at the discretion of the Chair.
There was no public comment on this item.
- Outreach Update
Maria X. Martinez offered a recap of the Town Hall meeting: A one-hour panel discussion, followed by one hour of community discussion, and ending with an hour of workshops, produced a great number of ideas and interest from the approximately 150 attendees. One comment from an attendee stood out in Ms. Martinez’ memory: “Freedom of imagination precedes freedom of speech.”
Ms. Martinez offered that district meetings should be scheduled in September, if possible, and suggested that the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services and individual Supervisors’ offices should be involved in planning the outreach event. Debra Walker will distribute the sign-up sheets from the Town Hall to the District-appointed member of the Task Force to assist in recruiting volunteer help with the event.
It was further noted that there was a noticeable lack of youth participation at the Town Hall and the Youth Commission was suggested for specific outreach efforts and for ideas for further outreach to youth.
Public Comment:
Karen Ames noted that the Supervisors often have a regular column in their neighborhood press and suggested that we approach them for publicity in same.
- New Business
Chair Walker reminded that foundations will be the topic in next agenda, as well as a specific discussion of the funds potentially to be directed by the Task Force.
Jewelle Gomez will substitute for Richard Newirth at the next meeting.
Renee Hayes suggested that we invite CompassPoint to give a presentation.
Public Comment:
Tom Radulovich, BART Director, suggested that transportation agencies such as the MTA, Caltrans, etc. spend money on arts and could add to the conversation. Director Radulovich suggested that the Arts at BART director and a panel of other agencies could make a presentation that might bring a regional perspective to the discussions of the Task Force.
There was no further public comment on this item.
- Public Comment
There was no additional public comment.
- Adjournment
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:32 p.m.
9/2/05 DW/RG/spr
