January 12, 2010
COMMUNITY ARTS, EDUCATION, and GRANTS COMMITTEE
January 12,2010
4:00 p.m.
25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 70
San Francisco
Minutes
The meeting was called to order at 4:09 p.m.
Commissioners Present: Maya Draisin, Sherri Young, John Calloway, Sherene Melania
Staff Present: Cultural Equity Grants Program Associate Lucy K. Lin, Cultural Equity Grants Program Associate Beatrice L. Thomas, Community Arts and Education Program Director Judy Nemzoff, Arts Education Program Manager Tyra Fennell, WritersCorps Program Associate Melissa Hung, and Community Arts and Education Program Associate Robynn Takayama
- Cultural Equity Grants Program Director's Report
Ms. Lucy Lin reminded the panel that she would be delivering the Cultural Equity Grants Program ("CEG") report instead of Director of Grants San San Wong, who was presenting at an arts conference in Sacramento. Ms. Lin informed commissioners that grant panel reviews had commenced for Cultural Equity Initiatives-Level One ("CEI-L1"). These grants fund small to mid-size organizations rooted in historically underserved communities seeking organizational support and development. The first panel met January 7-8 and reviewed eleven applications for organizations with budgets between $100,000 and $1 million. She invited the commissioners to observe the last panel, who would be reviewing nine organizations with budgets of $100,000 and under on Friday, January 15, 2010, starting at 9:00 a.m. The review process is a total of 30 minutes per application and includes a ten-minute interview with each applicant.It was also noted that the three Organization Project Grant ("OPG") workshops were complete and considered a success, with 20 to 30 participants per session. The deadline for OPG draft narratives has passed and CEG staff received seventeen drafts, to which they will provide feedback. OPG is one of CEG’s most competitive programs in terms of the large number of applications that are submitted. In preparation for what CEG anticipates being a large pool of applicants, three panel review periods have been tentatively identified - March 11-13, March18-20, and March 23-25. Panels and applicants will be clustered according to discipline and budget size.
Ms. Lin went on to announce that the Native American Arts and Cultural Traditions grants program is approaching and that the guidelines are available on the CEG website. The first in a series of three grant application workshops starts on January 13, 2010. The commissioners received a copy of the guidelines and were encouraged to pass along this information to their friends, colleagues, and potential applicants. Additionally, commissioners received the bios of new Native American grants program panelists as supplemental materials for the motion before them. The review panel will be a combination of returning panelists and new panelists. Community Arts and Education Program Director Judy Nemzoff reminded commissioners that the funding for the Native grants came from the Native American Cultural Center. She suggested that CEG create an opportunity to have an open dialogue about the program and share some of the outcomes with the commissioners. She suggested April or May as potential times. Commissioner Melania asked if the workshops were open to anyone who would be applying and if CEG staff had an idea of the numbers they were expecting. Ms. Lin confirmed that the workshops are free and open to the public, but explained that it was too early to predict attendance numbers due to the last minute influx of applications which occurs closer to the deadline. Commissioner Young wanted to know if the applicants had to be Native Americans. Ms. Lin explained that the program consists of grants for individual Native American artists and Native American-led organizations or projects.
Commissioner Melania made the following motion:
Motion to approve the following individuals as grants application review panelists for Cultural Equity Grants:
Ron Rowell, Consultant
Evelyn Orantes, Cultural Arts Developer, Oakland Museum of California
Tia Oros Peters, Executive Director, Seventh Generation Fund
Motion passed unanimously. - Community Arts and Education Director's Report
Commissioner Draisin asked Ms. Nemzoff to respond to the letter sent by the Arts Providers Alliance of San Francisco ("APASF") in response to the first draft of the SFAC strategic plan. Ms. Nemzoff emphasized the importance for CAE to maintain its relationship with APASF and the San Francisco Unified School District ("SFUSD") and stated that Director of Programs Jill Manton was working on the strategic plan and taking into account the letter from the community. Ms. Nemzoff thanked Ms. Takayama for her work with a core team of SFAC staff who are working on the revisions.Commissioner Draisin said she hoped the plan included input from a broad swath of the community.
Commissioner Calloway said he felt strongly that it is important to support the education aspect within CAE. He told commissioners to be aware of the impact the SFUSD cuts would have on music teachers in particular and arts programs in general. He said the SFUSD proposed budget cuts are putting arts education in survival mode.
Commissioners expressed concern about the budget cuts to the SFUSD and the impact on the Arts Education Master Plan. Ms. Nemzoff suggested she invite Rob Daniels, supervisor for the Visual and Performing Arts Office to attend a CAEG committee meeting to explain the budget and revenue sources that support the arts in the SFUSD.
Commissioner Melania said that afterschool programs were also getting cut and asked about the progress of the Arts Education Master Plan assessment. She said you can’t sing glory of a program without assessment.
Ms. Nemzoff said that the SFUSD was beginning the assessment but the budget limitations made it difficult to sustain the assessment position. The advisory committee of the Arts Education Master Plan recognized that assessment must be in place to advocate for Proposition H funds when the proposition goes before the voters in five years. She added that assessment was a stated priority for Director Cancel as well.
- WritersCorps Report
Ms. Hung said WritersCorps continued its long-term, core work in six public schools along with special workshops at branch libraries that include media making, collage journaling, and urban fiction writing.She said teachers had started to work on the site anthologies and the apprentice anthology would be a travel poetry book from the locals’ perspective.
Ms. Hung described WritersCorps’ spring literary series, which would be held at local museums. WritersCorps partnered with the youth programs at Museum of the African Diaspora, Contemporary Jewish Museum, ZEUM, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
Ms. Nemzoff delivered disappointing news that the Library had cut $20,000 from WritersCorps’ budget for the current fiscal year. She said CAE planned to make the cut through salary savings.
Ms. Nemzoff said she was concerned about funding for WritersCorps for the next fiscal year and hoped that WritersCorps’ core partners would maintain funding at the current year’s allocation.
- Arts Education Report
Ms. Fennell described the successful turnout for the StreetSmARTS artist information session, which drew over 50 graffiti artists. She said that five property owners had committed to the program and Mohammed Nuru from the Department of Public Works ("DPW") promised additional funding. She then shared the presentation she showed at the information session with the commissioners.Commissioner Draisin asked how success would be measured and leveraged for additional funding, and whether DPW would measure how much money had been saved. Commissioner Melania suggested staff develop a way to document a decline in tagging.
Commissioner Young asked if the property owners picked the artist who would paint the mural. Ms. Fennell said the property owner would choose the artist and they would work together on the design.
Commissioner Calloway asked about liability. Ms. Fennell said the property owner would carry liability insurance.
Commissioner Melania suggested inviting vendors from the Street Artists Program to the StreetSmARTS launch party and inviting the community to participate in making a mural.
Ms. Nemzoff said that artists at the information session wanted opportunities to work with youth and she would ask DPW for increased funds to support this as well as funds to expand StreetSmARTS.
Commissioner Young asked if SFAC would help the property owners communicate with the artists. Ms. Fennell said the artists raised several issues around what kind of support the property owners may have to provide, like use of a bathroom, storage, and water.
Commissioner Young asked what the property owners’ obligation would be. Ms. Fennell said staff was defining this. She suggested a commitment to leaving the mural up for a set period of time. Ms. Takayama said another concern of the artists was that many legal murals had been painted over by DPW. She suggested that the DPW and SFAC logos be included in the mural.
Ms. Nemzoff said artists were concerned with anonymity if they showed previous work that did not have permission from the property owner as their work sample.
Ms. Fennell then announced her work on developing an advocacy discussion that could attract a diverse audience. In collaboration with the Young at Art festival, the Arts Education Program would present a moderated conversation with a major sports figure who has a background in the arts. The name will not be released until the commitment is confirmed. The event will be held May 13, 2010 at the Koret Auditorium and there may be a fundraiser at Morton’s Steak House following the conversation for supplies for the Where Art Lives murals or other programs to be identified.
Ms. Nemzoff said this event was timed for the budget season to make the argument to support the arts. She said she hoped to launch a series of conversations called "Arts Impact."
Commissioner Draisin suggested she consider Ted Talks for a successful model of recorded conversations.
Commissioner Draisin asked if there was public comment.
Jessica Mele, advocacy chair with the Performing Arts Workshop, said she wanted to offer feedback on the strategic plan discussed at the December executive committee meeting. She applauded the process of strategic planning but wanted to see the arts education portion fleshed out. She said that the one program goal mentioned for arts education only reflected in-school arts education. She said that was out of step with what the SFUSD, city agencies and community-based organizations had been focusing on, which include afterschool and community work.
She also noted that the Arts Education Program seemed to be oriented towards direct service, which would be a shift away from being policy-oriented for the program. She added that because this would change the way the broader arts education community interacted with the Arts Education Program, this shift should at least be acknowledged.
Ms. Mele noted that a number of new initiatives would be implemented by the Arts Education Program which is made up of a staff of only two people. She said that some of the new initiatives, like StreetSmARTS and the voucher program, offered opportunities for the Arts Education Program to build relationships with arts providers who have been doing that kind of work and together they could leverage community resources during a time of scarcity.
Ms. Mele said she would like to see the arts education advocacy part of the strategic plan developed in more detail, especially since there is so much advocacy and policy work happening in the field, particularly in San Francisco. Examples would include defining what role the Arts Education Program would play in the SFUSD’s strategic plan or Arts Education Master Plan, and determining how these initiatives fit with the SFAC’s role in the community.
Ms. Mele said that individuals from across the country contact SFAC’s arts education manager when seeking information on the arts education field in San Francisco. She added that the policy section failed to adequately describe the potential for influence that the Arts Education Program could have in and beyond San Francisco.
Ms. Mele concluded by saying she would be excited to see a revamped plan.
- Cultural Center Report
Ms. Nemzoff said that in response to the December committee meeting, staff wanted to assign a Cultural Center to each committee member. The guidelines for what this would entail would be drafted for review at the next committee meeting, but in general, Ms. Nemzoff said the commissioners would lead the discussion on that Center’s reports and also announce that Center’s events to the full Commission.Ms. Nemzoff and Commissioner Draisin suggested the following assignments: Commissioner Calloway was assigned to the African American Art and Culture Complex, Commissioner Calegari was assigned to the Bayview Opera House, Commissioner Young was assigned to Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, Commissioner Draisin was assigned to Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center and Queer Cultural Center, and Commissioner Melania was assigned to SOMArts Cultural Center.
Ms. Nemzoff said she asked Ms. Takayama to take leadership on revamping the Cultural Center reporting procedures.
Ms. Takayama said the goals of revamping the reporting system were to best represent the work at the Cultural Centers, streamline reporting so that CAEG committee members stay abreast of strengths and areas for growth at the Centers, obtain data that would aid SFAC in defending the Hotel Tax Fund during budget time, and integrate the California Cultural Data Project report.
She outlined the timeline for the revisions to the reporting mechanism which included receiving feedback from the commissioners, discussion with the Center directors, implementation by SFAC staff, and another round of feedback.
Ms. Takayama reminded commissioners that in February, the midyear report would include a report form for review and a presentation at the February committee meeting.
The midyear report form had been revised to include social media fields to adhere to the agency’s transition to requesting this information from all individuals and organizations the agency works with; cut out narrative questions in lieu of a programming presentation at the CAEG committee meeting; asked centers to quantify number of artists served, collaborations, productions, and rentals; clarified the revenue target section (which is a legislated requirement); integrated the California Cultural Data Project budget line items; and requested at least twelve photos at events rather than marketing materials.
The February presentation by the Cultural Center directors would include highlights of their programming in 2009 from July to December. The commissioner assigned to the Center would report about anything that stood out in the midyear report.
Ms. Takayama then asked the commissioners for feedback to the plan. Commissioner Calloway said he would like to know what he should focus on as he reviews the reports. Ms. Takayama said she would create a document so that all the commissioners review the reports with the same standards.
Ms. Nemzoff said this was a challenging time for the arts with major cuts at key foundations. She added that the Cultural Centers wouldn’t be immune from these cuts and told the commissioners that Director Cancel sent a statement read by Director of Programs Jill Manton at the recent full Commission meeting, which said that a portion of cuts to SFAC would come from the Cultural Center funds.
Commissioner Young said that budget cuts were difficult and other line items should be cut instead of the Cultural Centers. Commissioner Draisin said the dilemma is that the cuts could come only come from staff or grants.
- Adjournment
As there was no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:40 p.m.
1/21/10 RT
