Community Arts, Education and Grants Committee - April 8, 2014 - Meeting Minutes

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

2:00 p.m.

25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 70

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The meeting was called to order at 2:12 p.m.

 

Charles Collins,

Sherene Melania, Chair

Abby Sadin Schnair

Marcus Shelby

Janine Shiota

 

None

 

Staff Present: Rebekah Krell, Judy Nemzoff, Lucy Lin, Beatrice Thomas, Tyra Fennell, Cristal Fiel

 

Commissioner Melania said that if the commissioners had specific topics they would like to have policy discussions around or follow up with, please let her know so she could plan accordingly.

 

Commissioner Shelby said he wanted to follow up with the discussion around the anti-graffiti legislation that was presented at the April Full Commission meeting by District 5 Supervisor London Breed’s legislative aide Conor Johnston. Community Arts and Education (“CAE”) Program Director Judy Nemzoff said that staff would include it in next month’s committee agenda and do a presentation on the Arts Commission’s anti-graffiti efforts Where Art Lives and StreetSmARTS. Commissioner Schnair clarified that the legislation was presented at the Executive Committee before it was presented at Full Commission.

 

Commissioner Melania called for public comment. There was none. 

 

Interim Director of Cultural Equity Grants (“CEG”) Lucy Seena K. Lin reported on and presented data from the Native American Arts and Cultural Traditions Grant (“NAACT”) applicant pool and review process. She reminded Commissioners that CEG had supported this grant for the past six years. Applicants could apply to four grant categories: Building Sustainable Arts; Mini-grants; Individual Artists; and Presenting the Art. The review process was comprised of six panel members and two facilitators. 

 

Ms. Lin gave a brief overview of this year’s applicant pool. There were thirteen total applicants of which nine (60 percent) were funded and two were first-time applicants. The most funded projects were categorized as multidisciplinary. She reported that review panelists decided to recommend $83,500 in funding based on the quality of the proposals in meeting the criteria. This was less than the $96,000 available for fiscal year (“FY”) 2013-2014 funding. Panelists felt strongly about observing a standard of quality indicated in the final ranking but agreed that they would like to see increased efforts in outreach and a deepening of technical assistance for new applicants prioritized in this grant.

 

Commissioner Collins explained that serving on the panel gave him a visceral understanding of the tremendous amount of work that is involved in presenting and completing these applications, for staff and applicants. He said that he was overwhelmed by the amount of work panelists had to put in and spoke highly of the panelists and their deep insight into native communities, locally and nationally. In regards to the work being supported, Commissioner Collins realized that the need was much greater than the funding available. He highly recommended that all Commissioners participate in a panel. 

 

Ms. Nemzoff stated that this would be the first year that the panel chose not to allocate all of the available funding.

 

Commissioner Collins explained that there was too wide a gap between the high and low scoring applications. The panel did not feel it would be fair to award the low scoring applications.

                        

Ms. Lin added that in the ranking there was a gap of twenty points between applications that indicated a sharp drop in quality, which determined the funding cut-off. The remaining funds would roll over into next year’s funding pool.

 

Commissioner Melania noted the Committee tries to have one Commissioner on each panel.

 

Ms. Nemzoff emphasized the importance of having the appropriate representation and diversity on a panel. She explained the complexity of panel composition and the time investment needed to create balanced and fairly represented panels. She also mentioned that to get proper representation, a panelist might need to be brought in from out of state.

 

Ms. Lin pointed out a trend of decreasing applicants to this grant category, which led to the panelists’ desire to prioritize outreach and technical assistance.

 

Commissioner Shiota asked why there were fewer applicants.

 

Program Associate Beatrice Thomas noted that in previous years the NAACT program had a staff position dedicated to establishing and nurturing relationships with the Native community. When the program was streamlined, that position was lost. She said that this was an area where creative problem solving was needed to make up for that absence.

 

Commissioner Melania suggested working with programs like Galleria de la Raza that have existing Native programs. 

 

Commissioner Shelby suggested asking past grantees of the program to spread the word about the grant.

 

Ms. Melania agreed that there needed to be more technical assistance.

 

Ms. Shiota brought up the potential of creating a technical assistance grant that would help artists hone their grant skills or would support artist outreach.

 

 

Motion to approve recommendations to award nine grants totaling $83,500 in the 2013-2014 cycle of Native American Arts & Cultural Traditions (“NAACT”) grants to the following organizations and individuals, and to authorize the Director of Cultural Affairs to enter into grant agreements with each organization and individual for the amounts listed:

 

Brava Theater Center/Brava! For Women in the Arts, $7,500


Cultural Conservancy, $15,000


Galeria de la Raza, $15,000


Instituto Familiar de la Raza, $1,000


Katie Dorame, $7,500


Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu, $7,500


Seventh Native American Generation, $15,000


Wicahpiluta Candelaria, $7,500


Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, $7,500

 

Explanatory Documents: 14NAACT Guidelines; 14NAACT Rankings Packet

 

 

Ms. Nemzoff said that the Arts Commission received funding from District 10 Supervisor Malia Cohen to support 3rd on Third growing as a community project. The Arts Commission issued a request for proposals in the fall and awarded funding to the Bayview Opera House, Inc. (“BVOH, Inc.”) through a competitive process. Ms. Nemzoff said that since 3rd on Third is a pilot project, the Arts Commission had held a contingency fund to make sure the project was achieving what the Arts Commission hoped it would achieve. The motion before the committee was to release the funds in contingency in a timely way. She then turned it over to Barbara Ockel, executive director of BVOH, Inc.

 

Ms. Ockel said that they have added a youth attraction to each event and invited schools nearby to participate in the afternoon, extending the hours of 3rd on Third. She said by 5 p.m. there were already a lot of people which then attracted even more people. On average, there have been about 500 to 600 participants at each event because there were so many different components part of 3rd on Third. They were working on tracking better attendance at the events, such as conducting a survey at February’s event. She said that a majority of the participants live in the Bayview, but a percentage of them have never been in Bayview prior to the event. Some feedback that the organizers have gotten is that it felt like it was turning into a kid event. Ms. Ockel said that the youth attraction was just one element of 3rd on Third, and the objective was to make it friendlier and engage businesses. She said that when there were kids running around, the neighborhood felt safer and brought more foot traffic.

 

Commissioner Shiota asked about the general cost per event. Ms. Ockel said that each event cost around $10,000 more or less, given all the components and participation. Some of the activities in 3rd on Third had been funded directly by the organization, such as the Performing Arts Workshop activity that was funded by the Community Arts in Bayview grant they received from the Arts Commission. 

 

The Committee discussed whether the project could be funded through the one percent for art program with developers. Commissioner Schnair said that the process was different in different locations and that it could get rather complicated. CAE Program Manager Tyra Fennell questioned if Lennar could be interested in investing in 3rd on Third, and/ or other large developers in the Bayview. 

 

Ms. Fennell said that the June event would be the one year anniversary of 3rd on Third, and they would give out awards to community partners who have been helping with the event. 

 

 

Motion to increase the 2013-2014 grant agreement to the Bayview Opera House, Inc. for 3rd on Third by $12,000 for a total grant not to exceed $57,000

 

Moved: Schnair/Shelby

Public Comment: None.

 

There was no public comment.

 

Commissioner Shelby said that he had a performance at Zellerbach Auditorium in Berkeley with Cal Shakes on Friday, May 2. He would follow up with more information via email. 

 

Commissioner Melania said that Presidio Dance Theatre would have a Cinco de Mayo performance at the San Francisco Opera House. Also, they would premiere The Little Lantern on June 6. She would follow up with details via email. 

 

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 3:04 p.m.

 

CF 5/1/14 draft minutes posted

CF 5/5/14 minutes adopted

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Translated written materials and interpretation services are available to you at no cost. For assistance, please notify Program Associate Cristal Fiel, 415-252-3145, cristal.fiel@sfgov.org.

 

我們將為閣下提供免費的書面翻譯資料和口譯服務。如需協助 Program Associate Cristal Fiel, 415-252-3145, cristal.fiel@sfgov.org.

 

Materiales traducidos y servicios de interpretación están disponibles para usted de manera gratuita. Para asistencia, notifique a Program Associate Cristal Fiel, 415-252-3145, cristal.fiel@sfgov.org.