Community_Arts_and_Education_Committee
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 COMMUNITY ARTS, EDUCATION, and GRANTS COMMITTEE
May 13, 2008
4:30 p.m.
25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 70
San Francisco
Minutes
The meeting was called to order at 4:35 p.m.
Commissioners Present: P.J. Johnston, Maya Draisin, Sherri Young
Staff Present: Luis R. Cancel, Judy Nemzoff, San San Wong, Robynn Takayama, Ebony McKinney, Lucy Lin, Weston Teruya
- Cultural Equity Grants Program Director Report
Commissioner Draisin and President Johnston expressed their appreciation for the work by the Cultural Equity Grants staff on the Native American Arts & Cultural Traditions Grants, and remarked on the quality of the artistic work as well as the engagement of the community in a more developed holistic process.
Cultural Equity Grants Program Director San San Wong announced plans for a reception for the Native American Arts & Cultural Traditions grantees to share their projects with each other and hear about their experience with the grant process. Ms. Wong extended the invitation to Commissioners.
Ms. Wong reported on the status of the feasibility study for the American Indian Community and Cultural Center which is spearheaded by an oversight committee of the San Francisco Mayor's Office Working Group on American Indian Concerns in partnership with the Arts Commission and the San Francisco Foundation. As part of the feasibility study, an artist survey was developed by a consultant with the oversight committee and in partnership with the newly forming Native Arts Alliance. Over thirty sites have been targeted for distribution of the survey.
Ms. Wong explained that the feasibility study aims to identify a sustainable business operating model. Some questions or issues to explore include: developing diversified income streams; providing health and social services; and possibly providing incubation of newer arts organizations. This holistic approach to include cultural practice, arts, health, services, and community needs is reflective of the traditions of urban Indians. She said that the City's investment in this effort is important.
Ms. Nemzoff added that the specific facility questions this feasibility study will address are relevant to the issues around the Cultural Centers.
President Johnston said an American Indian Community & Cultural Center would be an unprecedented building, and that it might encourage other centers, such as the Bayview Opera House, to become a multi-use building. The sub-committee over seeing the feasibility study is taking a conscious look at making it a cooperative to serve a need in the community. He also pointed out that such a community center has implications for oversight by other City departments. This could mean collaborating with other City departments that have greater resources.
Ms. Wong mentioned that the Mayor's working group is trying to identify another Native American liaison to replace the previous one who left.
Ms. Wong said that as part of the survey, there are interviews with other cultural centers that have been working, such as the Arab Cultural Center and the Hawaiian Cultural Center.
Ms. Nemzoff noted that two SFAC Cultural Center directors will be interviewed for this report.
Ms. Wong reported on the Cultural Equity Grants (“CEG”) program year-end statistics and summarized program results. Cultural Equity Grants disbursed 147 grants that totaled over $2.5 million. CEG initiated and implemented three new grant programs: Arts and Communities: Innovative Partnerships; the International Arts Festival; and Native American Arts & Cultural Traditions. The Arts and Communities grant program was tremendously successful and received great responses. Ms. Wong expressed that together with the core grant programs, the new programs rebuilt community trust. She concluded that the response towards SFAC has been positive.
Ms. Wong then brought the attention of the Committee to the two motions below. She said both projects have already been budgeted in this fiscal year. Ms. Wong explained that the first motion is to fund the San Francisco Bay Area Arts Town Hall, which was discussed at the last CAEG Committee meeting and at the last meeting of the full Commission. She stated that this is day two of registration and that 320 people have already signed up. She noted the tremendous range of the participating organizations in the planning committee. She referred to Community Arts and Education's Neighborhood Arts Festival that has tapped a need for the arts communities to come together.
President Johnston asked how the $15,000 contribution from SFAC compares to other funders.
Ms. Wong replied that the total budget for the event is over $30,000, so SFAC will be a big contributor. She said that the Center for Cultural Innovation has contributed all their staff time, and another partner, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (“YBCA”) has donated their entire facility complex. The professional labor costs associated with the event are high. President Johnston and Director of Cultural Affairs Luis Cancel both expressed their appreciation of the extraordinary donation of the entire complex by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts as a very large contribution to the project.
Commissioner Young made the following motion:
Motion to award a grant in the amount of $15,000 to the Center for Cultural Innovation for the management and implementation of the San Francisco Bay Area Arts Town Hall scheduled for June 9, 2008.
Motion passed unanimously.
Ms. Wong continued to the second motion, which she explained as a partnership between SFAC, Grants for the Arts (“GFTA”) and Center for Cultural Innovation (“CCI”) to provide technical assistance. The San Francisco Arts Task Force targeted the need for more assistance to artists as part of the vision of SFAC. They asked how the SFAC could help small and mid-sized organizations and organizations in historically underserved communities. Ms. Wong asked further how the SFAC can help those organizations develop capacity and also help individual artists develop entrepreneurship. She emphasized that this is a way to add value to the SFAC grants, and increase the potential for sustainability.
Ms. Wong discussed the qualifications of the Center for Cultural Innovation. Their published guide for artists, The Business of Art, has been used in classes and reviewed by the San Jose Office of Economic Development. CCI has worked with the City of San Jose on creative entrepreneurship. Other organizations, such as CompassPoint, do not have a specialization in the arts. She pointed out that CompassPoint works with older and larger-budget models where the innovative practice is missing.
Mr. Cancel asked Ms. Wong and CCI to meet with the Mayor's Office of Small Businesses to discuss the importance of individual artists as small businesses.
President Johnston asked if Ms. Wong has received input from individuals on the original Arts Task Force. He also asked why the funds were to be transferred to Grants for the Arts.
Ms. Wong replied that Grants for the Arts will administer the funds for the project. GFTA is contributing $50,000 and Cultural Equity Grants is contributing $60,000. of which $10,000 would be used to develop services for culturally specific, historically underserved and immigrant artists and communities. She said that in fleshing out the initiative, some members of the Arts Task Force could be contacted.
Commissioner Young made the following motion:
Motion to transfer funds in the amount of $60,000 to Grants for the Arts for the San Francisco Technical Assistance Initiative for the Arts which will be designed and implemented by the Center for Cultural Innovation.
Motion passed unanimously.
Ms. Wong reported that the Cultural Equity Grants Program is already working to develop next fiscal year's grant guidelines. The guidelines will be evaluated for user-friendliness, using an approach similar to the Native American Arts & Traditions grant guidelines. Any program design changes will be discussed in FY2008-09, with guideline changes implemented in the following cycle.
Ms. Wong discussed the California Cultural Database Project (“CCDP”), which is a collaborative project of over seventy funders, implemented by Pew Charitable Trusts. SFAC contributed funds to the project in Fiscal Year 2005-06. She explained that CCDP is a database which allows organizations to enter information once for use in many grant applications. It also provides a powerful tool for statistics, and subsequently will be valuable in research and policy development.
Commissioner Draisin asked about reevaluation of the panel process.
Both Ms. Wong and Mr. Cancel agreed that this is an important subject that deserves further discussion. Mr. Cancel added that it should be part of the Arts Commission's strategic plan, and that this committee is the place to have that conversation.
President Johnston expressed the need to capture everything the committee wants to accomplish.
Commissioner Young asked how soon the California Cultural Database Project will be implemented. She said it sounded contradictory to making the grant process user-friendly.
Ms. Wong replied that there is assistance for applicants to transition from paper applications, such as a supportive help desk through the CCDP. She added that there are many benefits for organizations to use this service. A benefit of the CCDP for CEG is the ability to extract information about organizations to inform the infrastructure grantmaking process. She has been thinking about a similar service for individual artists because the Arts Commission is one of the bigger funders of individual artists. Ms. Wong concluded that the information gathered will be useful to understand the CEG funding pool in the bigger funding ecology.
- Community Arts and Education Program Director Report
Ms. Nemzoff thanked Commissioners for their support of the Neighborhood Arts Festival. She said that because of the success of the Festival, she wants to develop an outreach arm for the CAE program.
Mr. Cancel said that the panel at San Francisco State was strong. President Johnston added that the history of the Neighborhood Arts Program needed to be shared.
Ms. Nemzoff said that the panel at Manilatown was successful and that Supervisor Tom Ammiano was able to share his history with the I-Hotel.
Ms. Takayama said the speed dating and doctor session programs were successful in bringing in new people to the agency and their popularity tapped into a need in the community. Mr. Cancel said he'd like to see those programs repeated in six months. Ms. Takayama said she is creating a survey with SurveyMonkey to learn how to improve the programs.
President Johnston asked for a presentation on the Neighborhood Arts Festival at the next full Commission meeting.
Ms. Nemzoff explained the Programs in the Community (“PIC”) grant program, which supports artists working in social service settings through funds received from Grants for the Arts. This year, CAE had $85,000 less to grant. Ms. Nemzoff explained that the PIC grants funds had been increased in the previous two years with funds from the annualized increase of one million dollars. This year, these funds were not allocated to the PIC program.
Ms. Nemzoff reported that the maximum grant request was $20,000 and the panel recommended funding organizations at 75% of their request.
Ms. Nemzoff shared her concerns about the PIC program. She noted that the PIC funds are going to multi-million dollar social service agencies to do important work, but that there was only one first-time applicant which received funding, and four grantees that hadn't received funding from SFAC before. Her concerns included organizations becoming increasingly dependent on these funds and not diversifying their support, and the grants not being accessible to new applicants.
Mr. Cancel said that the program is competitive.
Ms. Nemzoff proposed the idea of instituting a “rest period” where returning grantees take one year off after receiving funding three years in a row. President Johnston said that the Commission would need to have a policy discussion about this.
Commissioner Draisin asked how aware the Mayor was of the funded PIC programs. Commissioner Johnston said the Mayor was probably not aware of SFAC's support of these programs. He added that if SFAC had a public affairs staff person, the person would mine through these programs and pitch stories to the press about the important work these programs are accomplishing by showing the programs in action.
Commissioner Sherri Young made the following motion:
Motion to approve the Programs in the Community (“PIC”) grant to the following organizations, recommended by the PIC review panel, pending written confirmation from Grants for the Arts:
Lighthouse for the Blind & Visually Impaired, $15,000
San Francisco Women Against Rape, $15,000
Eldergivers, $15,000
Shanti Project, $15,000
Urban Services YMCA, $15,000
Institute on Aging, $15,000
Central City Hospitality House, $15,000
San Francisco General Hospital Foundation for Cancer Awareness Resources and Education, $15,000
Edgewood Center for Children & Families, $15,000
La Raza Centro Legal, $12,188
Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco, $15,000
Motion passed unanimously.
Ms. Nemzoff explained that Grants for the Arts gives funds to CAE to administer the Neighborhood Festival program. The application does not ask for the applicants' organizational budget.
Commissioner Sherri Young made the following motion:
Motion to approve Neighborhood Festival grants pending written confirmation from Grants for the Arts:
Uprising Community Plus, Inc for Andrew's Boarding and Boarding Care to support the Bayview Hunters Point 4th of July Picnic, $3,000
Sunset District Neighborhood Coalition to support the Sunset Community Festival, $3,000
Au Co Vietnamese Cultural Center to support the Visitacion Valley Au Co Mid-Autumn Festival, $3,000
San Francisco Parks Trust for Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema to support the Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema, $3,000
CounterPULSE for Marigold Project to support the Dia de los Muertos Festival of Altars, $3,000
Potrero Hill Neighborhood House to support the Potrero Hill Festival, $3,000
Community Development Institute for South of Market Community Action Network to support the SoMAFest, $3,000
YMCA/Urban Services to support the Bayview Hunters Point Unity Parade and Rally, $3,000
Richmond District Neighborhood Center to support the Richmond Districts Children's Art Fair, $3,000
OMI Cultural Participation Project to support the OMI International Family Festival, $3,000
Motion passed unanimously.
- WritersCorps Report
Ms. Heller reported that WritersCorps will hold its annual literary festival on Thursday, May 22, at the San Francisco Public Library, Main branch. Mr. Cancel will speak, as will the City Librarian, Luis Herrera. Thirty youth from eight sites will read from new books and other publications. The program's new book will be distributed to the Commissioners at the June full Commission meeting, when two teachers will also be honored for their five years of service.
On June 3, WritersCorps will be the featured Community Program at the San Francisco Giants game against the New York Mets. Poets will be performing at home plate during a pre-game ceremony. Director Luis Cancel is hosting a reception and will attend the game.
Next year is the 15th anniversary of WritersCorps. During the summer, Ms. Heller will be providing more detail about the forthcoming HarperCollins release (Tell the World: Teen Poems from WritersCorps ), the multi-media exhibition at the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, and the Sherman Alexie reading and benefit with City Arts and Lectures.
- Arts Education Report
The Arts Education Funders Collaborative, SFAC, and Arts Providers Alliance's collaboratively run website www.sfinsideout.net went live on May 13, 2008. It includes searchable job postings, a blog, a searchable arts provider database, events, resources and arts education publication links.
There will be a forum on May 22 about the statistical impact of the arts on violence prevention for leveraging grant money.
- Cultural Center Report
Ms. Nemzoff reported that the Hotel Tax Fund allocation was sent to the directors of the Cultural Centers in April, 2008. At that time, Deputy Director Nancy Gonchar had expressed concern that the allocation was distributed early in the City's budgeting process and was therefore subject to change. Ms. Gonchar and Chief Accountant Kan Htun provided a new allocation amount which was distributed just two days before this meeting. Today, Ms. Nemzoff found out that the allocation has changed again.
Mr. Cancel said the Controller's Office instructed SFAC to hold back $113,000 from the FY2008-09 allocation; instead of the initially projected increase in funds, there is a decrease.
Commissioner Draisin asked if this allocation is considered final. Mr. Cancel said he doesn't consider it final until June 1.
Mr. Cancel said his goal for the Cultural Centers is to build their strength as institutions and to make them more responsible for the spaces they are in. He wants to put them in a position where they will be able to attract other sources of funding. As a first step towards this goal, he recommended making the Cultural Centers responsible for their own energy costs. He said this would give the Center directors a greater sense of responsibility for the energy usage in the buildings, especially as the City is on an energy conservation campaign. He added that this responsibility to pay for energy usage will be added to the Cultural Centers' annual lease.
Commissioner Draisin asked if cultural center facilities manager Tom Petersen has talked to the Center directors about conservation.
President Johnston added that this would be a drastic change for the Centers to take on suddenly. He suggested SFAC try to tap into opportunities in the Mayor's Office around environmental issues.
Mr. Cancel said that adding this responsibility to the Centers will make them stronger, more viable cultural facility managers.
Commissioner Draisin said the centers should receive information on how to bring energy costs down.
Ms. Nemzoff reminded the Commissioners that there will be a presentation of the management plans and budgets from the six Cultural Centers at the next CAEG meeting.
Mr. Cancel said SomArts has been told that they need to begin the search for a permanent director, and conclude by the end of August at the latest.
- New Business
There was no new business.
- Adjournment
As there was no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:15 p.m.
5/28/08 RT
