Community Arts, Education and Grants Committee - September 9, 2014 - Meeting Minutes
SAN FRANCISCO ARTS COMMISSION
COMMUNITY ARTS, EDUCATION, AND GRANTS COMMITTEE
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
2:00 p.m.
25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 70
MINUTES
The meeting was called to order at 2:08pm.
1. Roll Call
Commissioners Present: Sherene Melania, Abby Sadin Schnair, Marcus Shelby, Janine Shiota
Commissioners Absent: Charles Collins
Staff Present: Tom DeCaigny, Cristal Fiel, Gisela Insuaste, Barbara Mumby, Judy Nemzoff, Liz Ozol, Robynn Takayama, Tyese Wortham
2. Community Investments Program Director’s Report
Community Investments (“CI”) Program Director Judy Nemzoff welcomed the new CI staff to the Arts Commission and introduced them to the Commissioners. She said that Senior Program Officer Barbara Mumby had a background in grants and contracts management from First 5. Ms. Nemzoff explained that Ms. Mumby would oversee the grants staff and facilitate the grantmaking and new strategies around evaluation and guidelines with American Center for Learning Societies (“ACLS”) Public Fellow Ahn Thang Dao-Shah.
Ms. Mumby reported that the Cultural Equity Initiatives (“CEI”) panel review would be on October 6 and 7, 2014, and that there were about 30 applications to review.
Director of Cultural Affairs Tom DeCaigny stated that the Arts Commission usually awards three $100,000 CEI Level One awards and ten to fifteen $25,000 CEI Level Two awards.
Mr. DeCaigny explained that allocations would be determined by grant size, including specially dedicated funding pools, such as the special fund or cultural equity endowment, and other factors. Mr. DeCaigny added that in alignment with the strategic plan, ACLS Fellow Ms. Dao-Shah would review the guidelines to determine their user-friendliness, the usefulness of the data captured, the feasibility of CEI as a general operating and multi-year grant structure, and other factors. He said that Ms. Dao-Shah would bring in staff and the community to examine the historical data to determine a grants strategy based on issues such as depth vs.breadth.
Ms. Nemzoff commented that she and Program Officer Robynn Takayama were working on aligning the cultural centers with the best practices recommended by the controller’s office. She also mentioned that WritersCorp would be in seven sites this year: Juvenile Justice Center, Sanchez Elementary, College Trak, San Francisco Main Public Library, International Studies Academy, Mission High School, and Oasis for Girls.
Arts Education Program Officer Lizol Ozol reported that the annual arts education resource fair would be at the Asian Art Museum on September 17. She added that on October 28 she would be organizing the Wallace Foundation event on best practices in afterschool programming held at the African American Arts and Culture Complex (“AAACC”). Ms. Ozol announced that she would be launching the new arts education website soon, which would be a directory of all individual artists and arts organizations that provided in-school and afterschool programs.
Ms. Nemzoff explained that the Arts Commission made an open call for artists and organizations to be part of the directory. Artists had to submit a letter from a classroom teacher or principal with whom they were working as part of the application process. She said that she would send Commissioners the website link: http://artsedguidesf.org/
Mr. DeCaigny explained that the arts education website originally received its funding from a collaborative of arts education funders, including the Walter & Elise Haas Fund. The collaborative had disbanded but had decided that this would be the last project funded. Funds were now available through a fiscal sponsor account.
Commissioner Sherene Melania welcomed all new staff to the Arts Commission and looked forward to getting to know everyone.
- SFAC Review Panelists
Commissioner Melania gave the following motion:
Motion to approve the following panelists to serve, as selected by staff, on SFAC review panels for the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 Fiscal Years:
Ani Rivera, Executive Director, Galeria de la Raza
Ashara Ekundayo, Chief Creative Officer & Omi Gallery Director, Impact Hub Oakland
Idris Ackamoor, Co-Founder, Cultural Odyssey
Juan G. Berumen, Adjunct Professor, University of San Francisco
Lex Leifheit, Executive Director, SOMArts Cultural Center
Miguel Salinas, Program Officer in Local Grantmaking, Packard Foundation
Tamara Alvarado, Executive Director, School of Arts & Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza
Vanessa Whang, Director of Programs, Cal Humanities
Wayne Hazzard, Executive Director, Dancers’ Group
Ms. Nemzoff reminded Commissioners that they should contact her or Ms. Mumby to recommend panelists to add to the pool.
Mr. DeCaigny stated that this list allows staff to draw from a pool of panelists to serve on panel reviews over two fiscal years as suggested by the City Attorney. He said that this strategy ensured that the Arts Commission was not recreating a policy body that made award decisions.
Moved: Shelby/Schnair
Public Comment: None.
The motion was passed unanimously.
Explanatory Document: FY2014-2016 Panelist Bios September
- Cultural Centers Report
Ms. Takayama gave an overview presentation of the AAACC’s Management and Programming Plan and Budget (“MPP”) (see explanatory document “FY14-15 MPP Presentation September”). The Interim Executive Director Mohammed Bilal was originally brought in when former Executive Director Kimberly Hayes took a leave of absence and returned to the interim director role when Ms. Hayes resigned for health reasons. As interim director, Mr. Bilal had brought on six new board members, including James Kass from YouthSpeaks and Marc Bamuthi Joseph from Yerba Buena Gardens Festival. Other staffing changes included former Visual Arts Coordinator Melorra Green being hired at SOMArts Cultural Center (“SOMArts”) as the Curator for Inquiry and Impact, and Youth Programs Director Nicola Figgins resigning from her position. Ms. Takayama said that the AAACC and the Bayview Opera House, Inc. (“BVOH, Inc.”) were part of nonprofit compliance monitoring and would receive technical assistance from CompassPoint this year.
Commissioner Shiota asked if there were overarching reasons for the staff changes. Commissioner Schnair asked if the new board members have been helpful in fundraising. The committee invited Mr. Bilal to answer the commissioners’ questions.
Mr. Bilal said that he and Ms. Green had a long conversation about the SOMArts position and agreed that it was a good opportunity for her. He added that he, Ms. Green, and SOMArts Executive Director Lex Leifheit were in conversation about ways in which the two Cultural Centers could work together. Mr. Bilal said that Ms. Figgins accepted a job with the City and County of San Francisco noting the better opportunities for retirement, which was important to her as a mother.
Ms. Nemzoff said that Ms. Hayes notified the SFAC that she had to resign for personal and health reasons and that it just so happened that two other members of staff had professional opportunities around the same time.
Mr. Bilal said that his specialty was in fundraising and he helped bring in over five million dollars to the previous nonprofit that he worked at.
Commissioner Shelby expressed his excitement for the interim executive director and new board members and the potential for a bright future at the AAACC.
Mr. DeCaigny asked if there was a timeline for the search for a permanent executive director. Mr. Bilal said that he met with three board members yesterday and the board was leaning towards making Mr. Bilal the permanent executive director. He said that when the position was open one and half years ago, he and Ms. Hayes were the two final candidates. When Ms. Hayes went on medical leave, she chose Mr. Bilal as interim because of this history.
Ms. Takayama moved on to present BVOH, Inc.’s MPP (see explanatory document “FY14-15 MPP Presentation September”). Following the presentation, Commissioner Melania asked how the renovation and building closure had affected enrollment for the organization’s programs. Ms. Takayama said that the monthly Third Street Corridor activation, 3rd on Third, helps the Center keep their numbers high. She said that programming for 3rd on Third had been really successful. For the Center’s Dare to Dream youth arts education programming, the teaching artists had been going directly to sites, as opposed to the students going to the Center. Ms. Nemzoff said that the organization could not serve as many youth because of the building closure. However, the organization had been hosting programs at other Third Street corridor sites such as Radio Africa, Old Skool Café, and Auntie April’s. They also planned to activate their temporary storefront, which was directly across the street from the Opera House and had been working with Old Skool Café on a community garden at Mendell Plaza.
Ms. Takayama then gave an overview of Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts’ (“MCCLA”) MPP (see explanatory document “FY14-15 MPP Presentation September”). Ms. Takayama noted that the figure for professional development funds for each staff member needed clarification. Ms. Melania asked about MCCLA’s organizational chart, as she saw there was a lot of staff turnover at the Center and independent contractors. Ms. Takayama clarified that most of the staff were employed, but only on a part-time basis. Ms. Nemzoff said that there were no changes to the organizational chart and that Ms. Rodriguez was still the only full-time employee.
Ms. Takayama then gave an overview of SOMArts’ MPP (see explanatory document “FY14-15 MPP Presentation September”). Commissioner Shiota asked whether Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center (“APICC”) had submitted their MPP because they were not listed in the action item. Ms. Nemzoff said that APICC had not yet submitted their MPP, but the motion would be revised with APICC as sub grantee once their MPP was ready to be presented to the committee. Ms. Nemzoff said that because the MPP deadline was a rolling basis, she could not anticipate when APICC would turn in their MPP.
Commissioner Schnair said that it was important for her to see board contributions and to see growth with all the Centers. She wanted to see that the Centers were growing their revenue streams as opposed to waiting on the grant funds from the SFAC to dispense. She was impressed to see that the Centers were working together and hoped to see more of that. She commended Ms. Takayama and Ms. Nemzoff for pulling together a presentation with the MPPs, as it was a lot of information to read through and process.
- Commissioner Melania gave the following motion:
Motion to approve the proposed FY2014-2015 Management and Programming Plan and Budget for African American Art and Culture Complex (“AAACC”) for an amount not to exceed $623,165: $521,477 to AAACC, and $101,688 to sub-grantee Queer Cultural Center (“QCC”), pending budget revisions from QCC.
Moved: Schnair/Shiota
Public Comment: Mr. Bilal added that there was around $70,000 spent on artists, which included commissions and space rental. African American Shakespeare Theater Company used the theater space eight out of twelve months of the year.
The motion was passed unanimously. - Commissioner Melania gave the following motion:
Motion to approve the proposed FY2014-2015 Management and Programming Plan and Budget for SOMArts Cultural Center for an amount not to exceed $614,690.Moved: Schnair/Shiota
Public Comment: SOMArts Executive Director Lex Leifheit noted that SOMArts included the in-kind of the building in their budget, which made the percentage of artist fees seem low. Ms. Takayama added that each of the Cultural Centers was instructed on how to include in-kind for the building into their budgets, but only some of the Centers integrated it this year.
The motion was passed unanimously.
- Commissioner Melania gave the following motion:
Motion to approve the proposed FY2014-2015 Management and Programming Plan and Budget for Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts for an amount not to exceed $550,067.Moved: Shelby/Schnair
Public Comment: None.
The motion was passed unanimously.
- Commissioner Melania gave the following motion:
Motion to approve the proposed FY2014-2015 Management and Programming Plan and Budget for Bayview Opera House, Inc. for an amount not to exceed $327,836.Moved: Shiota/Shelby
Public Comment: None.
The motion was passed unanimously.
Explanatory Documents: AAACC MPP FY2015; SOMArts MPP FY2015; MCCLA MPP FY2015; BVOH MPP FY2015; September MPP Presentation
- Public Comment
Ms. Leifheit congratulated Mr. DeCaigny for being named as one of the 50 most influential arts leaders in the nation by blogger Barry Hessenius. Commissioner Shelby added that there was a nice article in the San Francisco Chronicle that profiled Mr. DeCaigny.
- New Business and Announcements
Commissioner Shelby announced that he would be performing at the AAACC with a neighborhood organization. Commissioner Melania said that there would be a grand reopening of the Officers Club in the Presidio. Ms. Insuaste announced that WritersCorps was celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2015 and to stay tuned for the roll out of programs in the new year.
- Adjournment
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned in memory of Joan Rivers at 3:22 p.m.
TMW 9/23/14 draft minutes
TMW 10/9/14 minutes adopted
Language Accessibility
Translated written materials and interpretation services are available to you at no cost. For assistance, please notify Program Associate Tyese Wortham, 415-252-2558, tyese.wortham@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 Tyese Wortham, 415-252-2558, tyese.wortham@sfgov.org.
Materiales traducidos y servicios de interpretación están disponibles para usted de manera gratuita. Para asistencia, notifique a Program Associate Tyese Wortham, 415-252-2558, tyese.wortham@sfgov.org.
Ang mga materyales na nakasalin sa ibang wika at ang mga serbisyong tagapagsalin sa wika ay walang bayad. Para sa tulong, maaring i-contact si Program Associate Tyese Wortham, 415-252-2558, tyese.wortham@sfgov.org.
