SAN FRANCISCO ARTS COMMISSION

COMMUNITY ARTS, EDUCATION, AND GRANTS COMMITTEE

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

2:30 p.m.

25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 70

 

MINUTES

 

The meeting was called to order at 2:42 p.m.

 

1. Roll Call

 

Commissioners Present:

John Calloway

Chuck Collins

Roberto Ordeñana

Sherene Melania, Chair

Kimberlee Stryker

 

Commissioners Absent:

None

 

Staff Present: Tom DeCaigny, Judy Nemzoff, Robynn Takayama, Melissa Hung, Lucy K. Lin, Beatrice Thomas, Cristal Fiel

 

2. Cultural Equity Grants Program Director Report

 

Director of Cultural Affairs Tom DeCaigny announced San San Wong’s resignation from the Arts Commission as of June 29. Former Cultural Equity Grants Director Wong accepted a post as a grants officer at the Barr Foundation in Boston. Director DeCaigny would assume the role of acting director for Cultural Equity Grants (“CEG”) until an interim director was put in place. Director DeCaigny would work closely with staff to manage the transition. He has also met with Ms. Wong to strategically assess the following: her role and the position’s job description, staff structure, and how the all of the grant programs fit into the broader landscape. After lengthy discussions, it was determined that the hiring of an interim program director would allow for time to look agency-wide at the grants strategy during the upcoming strategic planning process. He expects to make a permanent hire in 2013. The past month has been dedicated to encumbering funds and finishing contracts for grants, which were delayed due to the Controller’s report.

 

Commissioner Calloway supported the idea of a one-year interim program director and wanted to know if there would be restrictions on that person applying for the permanent position. Director DeCaigny explained that the interim director hire would be a one-year temporary position that would be followed by an open call for a permanent civil service position. An interim director would be welcome to apply for the permanent position and engage in the same competitive process and testing procedures, like any other applicant.

 

Commissioner Melania inquired about the hiring procedure and timeline.

 

Director DeCaigny replied that he was working with Deputy Director Rebekah Krell to get the appropriate requests into the Department of Human Resources, which then had to be approved through the Controller’s office. Ideally, he would like to see a hire by Labor Day, but admitted that this may be an ambitious timeline given the City’s approval process. He assured the commissioners that HR matters were a top priority for the agency and moving forward with the upcoming grant cycle.

 

3. FY13 San Francisco Arts Commission Grants Strategy

Director DeCaigny reported that he had been having regular planning meetings with staff for two to three hours a week. The meetings have addressed: recommendations from the Controller’s report, leadership transition, the upcoming grant cycle, and the strategic planning period.

 

Director DeCaigny spoke of the importance of hearing and understanding the needs of the agency’s constituency when entering into major planning for leadership transition and a planning year. He anticipated a highly collaborative strategic planning process that would engage stakeholders in the community and in the grantmaking arena. To that end, the Cultural Equity Grants staff in collaboration with Director DeCaigny would begin to investigate potential shifts in grant strategy, assessing the current need in the community, and streamlining the process for grant applicants. General efficiencies would be implemented in the current grantmakng process on both the staff and applicant sides. Some of the efficiencies included: reduced narrative length, e-mail application submission, and elimination of the draft narrative. These efficiencies would also serve to reduce burden on the limited staff capacity due to transition.

 

Director DeCaigny explained that he and Ms. Krell have been in close conversation with the Controller’s office. Staff has been working very hard to address the Controller’s report and its recommendations. This included bringing the agency’s grant programs and funding in alignment with CEG legislation and better tracking funds supporting grants that lived outside of CEG’s legislative funding mandate: Native American Arts and Cultural Traditions (“NAACT”), Art in Communities: Innovative Partnerships (“ACIP”), Innovations in Strengthening the Arts (“ISA”) and Arts for Neighborhood Vitality (“ANV”). These four grants program were key in fulfilling CEG’s mission of supporting arts activities in diverse local communities, and measuring arts innovations in community-building in other areas such as health and social services.

 

In preparation for the interim year of leadership transition and strategic planning, and to ease staff capacity issues during the transition, CEG staff made the following recommendations: reduce the number of grant deadlines; place the Creative Space grant (“CRSP”) on hiatus for one year; limit eligibility for ACIP to Realization applications for the six grantees awarded funding for Exploration grants; and combine the process and review of Cultural Equity Initiatives (“CEI”) Level 1 and Level 2 grants, potentially rolling the resulting funding pool into CEI, a core grant area that serves organizations deeply rooted in historically underserved communities. Director DeCaigny stated that these recommendations in no way implied a lack of commitment to supporting arts partnerships with other sectors or improvements to arts facilities, but represented the least disruptive way to continue and streamline grantmaking, as well as minimize impact on constituents in a year with an interim director position.

 

CEG Program Associate Beatrice Thomas explained that their current strategy was to bundle grant deadlines into consolidated periods that took place in the fall and winter.

 

Commissioner Ordeñana asked staff to talk through the reasoning behind placing CRSP on hiatus. Ms. Thomas explained that in combing through the CEG legislation, staff found that grant programs may be placed on hiatus based on community and staffing demand. Upon evaluation, it was revealed that CRSP represented the smallest pool of applicants, had the lowest funding allocation, and required the same, if not, more administrative resources.

 

Commissioner Collins offered cautionary advice on being clear on enabling legislation to make these decisions and making sure appropriate legalities had been addressed. He acknowledged that issues of program capacity without a full-time permanent director was a clear reason for making adjustments, but stressed the importance of addressing community impact and clear communication that these were not permanent changes.

 

Director DeCaigny assured the commissioners that the agency was committed to serving and engaging the community in any permanent changes to the program and that these measures were solely an effort to respond to the current lack of a key leadership position. He explained that Ms. Thomas was working on a notification outlining the changes for applicants and grantees.

 

Commissioner Melania called for public comment.

 

Public Comment:

 

Vinay Patel stated that this was a good opportunity to have discussions around the effectiveness of CRSP because space was a big issue for arts communities.

 

Director DeCaigny responded that their next step will be vetting these recommendations with the City attorney and making sure the City’s policymakers are well informed.

 

Jameel Patterson stated that there was a lack of funded activities for young people. He explained that the Arts Commission could help come up with relevant activities for urban youth such as breakdancing and hip-hop. He cited the Bayview neighborhood as a place that lacks opportunities for youth to express themselves creatively within their home communities, which led to increased violence and negative behavior.

 

Commissioner Calloway responded that the Arts Commission supported some activities in the Bayview, but inquired about strategies to capture new applicants.

 

Mr. Patterson explained that the Arts Commission needed to do a better job of informing people of the process or opportunities where they could access that information.

 

Commissioner Collins agreed with Mr. Patterson and stated it was critical for the Arts Commission to think about how involvement of youth was engendered.

 

Commissioner Calloway stressed that outreach and making grants accessible was key.

 

Director DeCaigny affirmed that youth engagement was critical and would be a big piece in the agency’s planning process. He acknowledged the Arts Commission’s youth programs and the Community Arts and Education (“CAE”) core strategy to engage youth around arts and agreed that outreach was important in order to give access to other communities.

 

Commissioner Stryker suggested that the committee meetings be held in cultural locations within the community and was met with great support.

 

THE FOLLOWING ITEM WAS MOVED FROM ITEM 5 TO ITEM 4

 

4. The ARTery Project Mini-Grants

CAE Program Manager Robynn Takayama informed the Committee that the remaining leftover POPS account funds from last year’s approved budget for The ARTery Project would be used to award honorariums to artists who would participate in Urban Solution’s 2 Months of 2 Blocks of Art. The art walk was scheduled to take place on September 28 and October 19. CAE staff found that the greatest impact these funds would have toward Central Market revitalization efforts would be to partner with other organizations, hence programming during 2 Block of Art. Ms. Takayama stated that the recommended project proposals went through a competitive process with a call for proposals and a panel composed of Sean San Jose from Intersection for the Arts, Judy Young from Vietnamese Youth Development Center, Tomas McCabe from Black Rock Arts Foundation, and CAE Program Director Judy Nemzoff.

 

Ms. Nemzoff stated that this was a pilot project that would possibly continue in the spring with funds awarded to the Arts Commission by the National Endowment for the Arts. The panel found that projects that rose to the top were as simple to execute as possible and greatly reflected the richness and diversity of the community.

 

Motion: Motion to approve artist honorarium payments for the participation upon selection in 2 Months of 2 Blocks of Art in the amount listed below:

 

Reynaldo Cayetano, Inks of Truth $500

Julian Dash, Holy Stitch $1500

Natalie Hopner, Conspiracy of Venus $1000

Isaac Frankle, Shovelman $500

Adi Oruganti, HOK Architects $1500

Yeye Suárez, Yeye Suárez Ensemble $1500

Todd Berman $500

Jaden Rose Davies, Solar Flare $1000

Caroline Dahl $500

Garrett Kobsef $1000

Temistocles Fuentes Betancourt, Grupo Experimental Nago $1500

Caroline Chung, Citizens Jazz $500

Fred Anderson $1000

Charles Gadeken $1500

Tisha Kahl, Theatre Flamenco of San Francisco $1500

 

Moved: Calloway/Ordeñana

Commissioner Melania called for public comment. There was none made.

The motion was unanimously approved.

 

Explanatory Document: The ARTery Project Mini-Grant Project Ranks and Scores

 

THE FOLLOWING ITEM WAS MOVED FROM ITEM 6 TO ITEM 5

 

5. WritersCorps Report

WritersCorps Program Manager Melissa Hung told the committee that the WritersCorps teaching artists program was a three-year model where the teaching artists received professional development and training while developing their teaching skills and pursuing literary accomplishment. Ms. Hung said this motion was to approve two new incoming teachers, five returning teachers, and one training coordinator.

 

Commissioner Ordeñana asked about the application process for teaching artists.

 

Ms. Hung stated that applicants should show literary accomplishment and strong teaching experience. There were two rounds of interviews with Ms. Hung, training coordinator Judith Tannenbaum, and Ms. Nemzoff, and final approval from the Director DeCaigny.

 

Motion: Motion to authorize the Director of Cultural Affairs to enter into contract with the following teaching artists to work in the WritersCorps program for 2012-2013:

 

Sandra Garcia, $35,500

Rose Tully, $35,500

Roseli Ilano, $38,500

Harold Terezon, $38,500

Anhvu Buchanan $40,000

Minna Dubin $45,000

Carrie Leiser Williams $40,000

Judith Tannenbaum, 56,000

 

Moved: Ordeñana/Collins

Commissioner Melania called for public comment. There was none made.

 

The motion was unanimously approved.

 

Explanatory Document: WritersCorps Teaching Artists FY2013 biographies

 

THE FOLLOWING ITEM WAS MOVED FROM ITEM 4 TO ITEM 6

 

6. Community Arts and Education Program Director Report

Ms. Nemzoff gave a presentation that reviewed the successes and challenges of CAE in FY2011-2012. First, through the StreetSmARTS program, funded by the Department of Public Works (“DPW”), eleven different StreetSmARTS artists were commissioned to complete 20 new murals. Ms. Nemzoff stated that the program found it challenging to recruit property owners, given the high fees they had to pay to participate. Overall, the program in its third year had been a tremendous success, according to Ms. Nemzoff and Arts Education Program Manager Tyra Fennell.

 

Commissioner Melania stated that she was excited to see how the program has developed. She asked if there were any follow-up statistics about the successes of the program.

 

Ms. Nemzoff stated that Ms. Fennell had visited all the walls completed from the past three years and found that there was only one wall that was badly vandalized. She stated that DPW was pretty pleased with the results of the program.

 

Ms. Nemzoff reminded the committee that the Arts Commission served as the administrative hub to the Arts Providers Alliance of San Francisco (“APASF”), a group of volunteer arts providers and arts organizations that provided five professional development workshops per year, an annual arts education resource fair, and an annual retreat. Ms. Nemzoff stated that a success of APASF was its ability to maintain 72 active members.

 

Commissioner Collins asked if APASF worked with the Beacon program.

 

Ms. Nemzoff stated that she would have to follow up to answer that question. She stated that APASF worked closely with San Francisco Unified School District (“SFUSD”) and site coordinators.

 

Director DeCaigny stated that to his knowledge, APASF coordinated closely with Beacon three years ago. He said that it would be a great partnership to revisit if it has not continued.

 

Ms. Nemzoff said that the DPW-funded Where Art Lives program had five teaching artists and served eleven different sites this year. At the end of the program, teaching artists worked with the students at four different sites to create four murals.

 

Ms. Nemzoff stated that Ms. Fennell helped to program some events at the Bayview Opera House Ruth Williams Memorial Theater (“BVOH”) that reflected the needs of the community. One event included the premiere screening of filmmaker Kevin Epps’ film, “Straight Outta Hunters Point 2”. Ms. Nemzoff said that this sort of programming would continue next year.

 

Commissioner Collins asked if there was programming in mind once the new Bayview library branch opened.

 

Ms. Nemzoff stated that there was a tentative plan to have a WritersCorps teacher at the Bayview library branch.

 

Ms. Nemzoff moved on to review the WritersCorps program. This year, even though WritersCorps was short-staffed, the program still managed to have six teaching artists who served over 900 youth. She stated that the biggest challenge this year was the loss of fiscal sponsorship of the program.

 

Commissioner Collins asked if WritersCorps had ever been successful with connecting to KQED writers’ broadcasts.

 

Ms. Hung stated that WritersCorps had approached KQED in the past without a lot of success. She added that the students have been published in teen publications, but she would love if the committee knew and could provide more connections to professional publication outlets.

 

Ms. Nemzoff moved on to review The ARTery Project. She stated that the highlights of this year included: Noontime Dance at U.N. Plaza, where three different dance instructors taught dance for three consecutive weeks; and the Discover Central Market Decaux kiosks poster series, which was a series of six evergreen posters that captured the lively arts and cultural community of the neighborhood.

 

Commissioner Collins asked if the Arts Commission had been developing relationships with Twitter, Zynga, and other companies moving into the neighborhood.

 

Ms. Nemzoff stated that the Arts Commission did not have a relationship with those companies at that time. She added that the Northern California Community Loan Fund (“NCCLF”) has been doing feasibility studies to identify arts organizations that were prepared to move into vacant buildings along Central Market. She mentioned that the issue of space was very critical to arts organizations and NCCLF was helping to address how to get arts organizations ready to manage facilities.

 

Ms. Nemzoff moved on to update the committee on the BVOH renovations. She stated that Walter Hood’s designs had passed Phases I and II of the Arts Commission’s Civic Design Review Committee. San Francisco Architectural Heritage was also impressed with and approved the design work of the building. The organization held the easement for the building and as such had the authority to advise and make recommendations on renovations to historical elements of the building. Ms. Nemzoff explained that the designs and construction still needed to go through the Preservation Commission, and construction documents and processes still needed to be finalized with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (“SFMTA”).

 

As far as closure of the building, Ms. Nemzoff and Ms. Takayama had talked to BVOH executive director Barbara Ockel about plans for moving programming and office temporarily offsite.

 

Commissioner Collins asked if they had a discussion with Recreation and Parks Department about space.

 

Ms. Nemzoff stated that they had approached SFUSD, but SFAC and BVOH were still looking into their options. She added that they were also approached by the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (“OEWD”) to use a vacant storefront near Mendell Plaza, because OEWD was looking for creative ways to see programming in that space.

 

Ms. Nemzoff said that the Arts Commission would require the tenant organization, BVOH, Inc., to enter into consultation for board development and staff capacity building. The CAE staff was prepared to put resources toward programming in the outside space until the tenant organization could step up to regular programming and maintenance.

 

Director DeCaigny commented that he wanted to follow up with the committee about the conception of a “Friends of the Arts Commission” nonprofit. He said that there was a timely rationale to move forward with setting up a nonprofit as it related to the strategic plan, Art Care, and the Cultural Centers’ capital projects.

 

Ms. Nemzoff stated that the Arts Commission would receive capital funds to fix the roof at Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (“MCCLA”) and complete the HVAC installation that the Public Utilities Commission (“PUC”) paid for last year.

 

Commissioner Stryker asked if it was possible to leverage these capital improvements and have solar panels installed from PG&E.

 

Ms. Nemzoff said this was possible. In the past, the Arts Commission had looked into this issue, but was rejected because the roofs were in bad shape. She stated that the Arts Commission would work with the Department of Real Estate (“DRE”) to create a comprehensive map of capital needs. She added that there were also significant funds for capital improvements to the Cultural Centers. In year one, funds would go toward MCCLA improvements. In year two, funds would support a new roof and electrical upgrades at African American Art and Culture Complex (“AAACC”).

 

Furthermore, with money from the Mayor’s Office on Disability (“MOD”), SOMArts Cultural Center (“SOMArts”) would complete ADA accessibility renovations, including building in an elevator for access to the second floor studios. SOMArts planned to use this opportunity to leverage funding for the restoration of the building front. At MCCLA, MOD funds would support renovations for accessibility to the Mission Grafíca studios.

 

Commissioner Collins asked what the turning point was to make all these improvements happen at that particular time.

 

Ms. Nemzoff believed it was two things: (1) the Arts Commission has been able to better tell the story of the significance of the Cultural Centers to leverage support; and (2) broadly, there has been a renewed interest and investment in supporting neighborhood arts.

 

Commissioner Collins said that it would be important to capture the significant changes and progress.

 

Commissioner Melania called for public comment.

 

Public Comment:

Mr. Patterson of the Bayview Hunters Point community recommended transforming the Bayview Opera House into a cultural center and town center. He said that Third Street could be a street of social engineering. Mr. Patterson said it was music to his ears that art was at the forefront of reinvigorating the city because it was what could develop the city.

 

Explanatory Document: Presentation of Community Arts and Education FY2012 in Review

 

7. Public Comment

There was no public comment made.

 

8. Old Business

Commissioner Melania inquired about the status of the SFUSD assessment on Prop H funds. Director DeCaigny stated that staff would update the committee at the next meeting.

 

Commissioner Calloway commented that he would like to understand the role of the Arts Commission in regards to the Prop H ballot measure for 2014.

 

Director DeCaigny said that as a Commission, SFAC would have opportunity to submit a letter to the Ballot Simplification Committee. He said that the Commission could partner with SFUSD to look at the impact Prop H funds have had on arts education in and out of school. He said that the arts education portion of the SFUSD’s findings for Prop H funds would inform the role of SFAC in the future.

 

Commissioner Calloway informed the committee that the annual Young at Art Festival would move from the de Young Museum to Asian Art Museum and Civic Center for 2013.

 

Commissioner Melania called for public comment. There was none made.

 

9. New Business
There was no new business.

 

10. Adjournment

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:55 p.m.