Executive Committee - January 24, 2011 - Meeting Minutes

SAN FRANCISCO ARTS COMMISSION
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Monday, January 24, 2011
3:00 p.m.
25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 70

Draft Minutes
 

Commission President P.J. Johnston called the meeting to order at 3:07 p.m.

1. Roll Call
   Committee Members Present 
   P.J. Johnston, President
   Greg Chew
   Leo Chow
   Sherri Young
    
   Commissioners Absent
   JD Beltran, Vice President
    
2. President’s Report
   President Johnston reported that during his trip to Washington, DC with Mayor Lee, he briefly advised the Mayor what the Arts Commission was considering to meet the requested budget cuts. He said that the Mayor was very familiar with the issues, the interests and the stakeholders from his years of community organizing, as well as from his experience as City Administrator overseeing Grants for the Arts among his many responsibilities there. President Johnston said that the Arts Commission would have to move forward on addressing the cuts while Mr. Cancel and senior staff continue their discussions with the Mayor’s office. While he hoped for a last-minute reprieve, he wouldn’t count on it. He saw this new administration continuing the previous administration’s realistic and sober approach to the budget, not willing to defer the problem, but tackling it head-on.
    
   There was no public comment.
    
3. Director’s Report
   Mr. Cancel wanted the record to reflect that he really appreciated President Johnston’s efforts during this trip on behalf of the agency, presenting the case for why the City should support a vigorous cultural community, acknowledging again how important the arts are to the residents and to the economy of San Francisco. He pointed out that tourism is the largest employer in the city, driven largely by the attraction of San Francisco as a cultural destination. He added that funding from the Hotel Tax comes mostly from the millions of visitors to San Francisco, and not from local residents. He argued that this was a net revenue gain to the City, yielding $130 million to the General Fund this year, helping to pay for schools, police and hospitals, as well as Grants for the Arts, the Cultural Centers, Cultural Equity Grants, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, etc., within the discretion of the City. He argued that the millions of visitors profit the city in many ways, including supporting affordable housing. He said that the cultural sector helps maintain San Francisco as a viable cultural destination.
    
   Mr. Cancel reported that after the great success in 2010 of the San Francisco-Shanghai sister city celebration, with the installation of Zhang Huan’s monumental Three Heads, Six Arms at the Civic Center Plaza, it was time to say goodbye to the sculpture. Director of Programs Jill Manton added that it is a magnificent piece and has had excellent feedback. She said that staff had been unable to extend the sculpture’s stay past the end of March, and described some of the complex requirements by numerous agencies involved, including U.S. Customs, the Chinese Consulate and the Mayor’s Office of Protocol. She also cited the high costs of security, including unexpected security for the World Cup and the Giants celebration. She agreed with Mr. Cancel that the sculpture had generated a great deal of positive publicity, and she thanked Commissioner Chew for helping to arrange for coverage of the shipping costs. Finally, she reported that fencing goes up on February 15, and the deinstallation is expected to take five days.
    
   President Johnston observed that if people are unhappy to see the sculpture leave, that means it was a success. He asked her to work with Public Art Project Manager Kate Patterson and the Mayor’s office, since the deinstallation will be happening near the time of the Chinese New Year parade and celebrations. Commissioner Chew agreed that he was sad to see the piece go, but said that people knew it was temporary. Ms. Manton added that it has stimulated the appetite for public art, and confirmed that there is an extensive photo archive of the piece.
    
   There was no public comment.
    
4. Arts Commission FY 2011-2012 Budget
   Mr. Cancel distributed charts showing the various sources of revenue and expenditures, in order to highlight the limited choices when a cut from General Fund expenditures is called for. He described the various funding sources, including General Fund, Hotel Tax Fund, work order (funds transferred from other City departments), Pops (from the Symphony) and Development (including grants from foundations, corporations, federal and state funders, and individual donations). He explained that expenditures for administration are paid by a combination of funding from the General Fund and an amout for overhead charged to each program. He explained that when he came to the agency, he introduced more careful analysis of the cost of running each program, and with the help of the Director of Finance, Kan Htun, calculated charges for overhead. Also, he pointed out that the authorizing legislation calls for the Street Artists Program to be completely revenue-neutral to the City, and that fees have increased partly because the overhead costs were not previously fully reflected in the budget. In response to a question, Mr. Cancel explained that the costs included the staff of two, the Board of Examiners, office space, information technology costs, etc., which had been previously underestimated.
    
   Mr. Cancel reviewed the agency’s organization chart, which indicates not only reporting relationships, but also funding sources for each position. In response to a question about the number of temporary positions in Cultural Equity Grants, Director of Grants San San Wong explained that this was the strategy recommended by Department of Human Resources to address the need for some staff in budget deficit years. Commissioners asked questions to clarify their understanding of the chart and the funding sources for various positions.
    
   Mr. Cancel explained that in previous years, in response to cuts in the General Fund and the Hotel Tax Fund, funding for various positions has been shifted to other sources when possible. When there is more money in the General Fund, more positions have been funded by it. With pressure on the General Fund, the agency has been able to maintain positions by shifting them to other funding sources, but there are no more serious options to do that by this fiscal year.
    
   Commissioner Chew asked about a Friends of the Arts as a potential source of funding. Mr. Cancel replied that the group had not yet been really launched, although some of the technical pieces are now in place. Ms. Shiffler pointed out that the Gallery’s fundraising helps support the Gallery Assistant’s position. President Johnston explained that the Gallery was able to use fundraising to support staff, and that grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and other sources were able to fill some gaps. While he hoped that a Friends organization might really sustain the agency, he thought it would be several years before fundraising went beyond merely plugging a few holes in the budget; in any case, it would not take care of the 2011-2012 budget.
    
   Mr. Cancel discussed the proposed options for meeting the cuts, as discussed at the January full Commission meeting. The Mayor’s office called for a 7.5% cut, plus a 10% contingency cut for the coming fiscal year, beginning July, 2011. He explained that the total target amount is $161,315. Option A takes 60% of that amount from Cultural Equity Grants (“CEG”), and 40% from the Cultural Centers. Option B proposes equally dividing the reduction between CEG and the Centers. The last set of options includes the 10% contingency cut, for a total of $376,401, which he described as a doomsday scenario, a very big number for the Arts Commission. He promised that he and President Johnston will vigorously pursue the argument that the cuts should not be taken, but said that the agency has to plan for the worst. He asked Ms. Wong and Ms. Nemzoff to describe the consequences of the proposed cuts.
    
   Ms. Wong presented a summary of the proposed cuts, an overview of the grants programs, and a description of the two programs that might be put on hiatus by the cuts. The proposal called for a one-year hiatus of either the Individual Artist Commissions or Creative Space grants. She explained that at the high end of the cuts, even after putting one of the programs on hiatus, there would still be an outstanding amount which would be taken across the rest of the grants.
    
   She reviewed the summary of the legislation and the grants programs, pointing out that 90% of the arts organizations registered with the California Cultural Data Project are eligible to apply. She reviewed the purpose of Creative Space grants, which benefitted some 235,000 audience members in 2010-2011, and explained that the projects funded let organizations make their spaces safe and code-compliant. She pointed out that this is one of only two grants programs in San Francisco with a dedicated focus on facilities, and that several larger venues will be closing for major improvements in the coming year, creating greater demand for performance, studio and exhibition space. In response to a question, she explained that Grants for the Arts has a small program limited to $3,000.
    
   She reviewed the Individual Artists Commissions program, explaining that related disciplines are funded in alternate years, and that in 2011-2012, funding would ordinarily go to performing arts (music, dance, theater). She reviewed statistics for the last year of performing arts funding, 2009-2010: 19 grants, approximately 250 artists, approximately 72,000 audience members. She added that all grantees were required to have at least one public activity.
    
   Commissioner Beltran pointed out that Creative Space Grants affect many more audiences and more events. As an individual artist, she thought the impact of the two programs was not the same, and that hopefully an individual artist would not rely on a single grant to keep their doors open.
    
   Ms. Wong added that even if the Individual Artists Commissions lapse for the year, there are many other programs elsewhere still funding indvidual artists, including Zellerbach, Creative Work Fund and others. She noted that performing arts usually gets a smaller number of applicants, and that the projects are usually collaborative. She said that analysis takes place after the midyear cut, and she was hopeful that some money might be added back into Organizational Project Grants.
    
   Commissioner Beltran added that when organizations get Creative Space Grants, that frees up money for them to grant to individual artists. In response to a question, Ms. Wong explained that individual artists receive $7,500 to $10,000, and that no single project can be funded by two different grant programs.
    
   The Committee also discussed the status of the Cultural Centers.
    
   There was no public comment, and the motion was approved unanimously as follows.
    
   Motion to approve proposed fiscal year 2011-2012 Arts Commission budget submission to the Mayor’s Office.

    
5. Public Comment
   There was no public comment.
    
6. Old Business
   Mr. Cancel and Ms. Wong discussed the evaluation of the grants program by Helicon, with a focus on cultural equity as a value, not limited to the Cultural Equity Grants program. Staff noted that this was an important issue nationally and internationally, and Ms. Manton cited her participation in an upcoming cultural delegation to Sweden. There was no public comment.
    
7. New Business
   There was no new business.
    
8. Adjournment 
   There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:47 p.m.

posted 12/1/14 spr

Language Accessibility

Translated written materials and interpretation services are available to you at no cost. For assistance, please notify Commission Secretary Sharon Page Ritchie, 415-252-2591, sharon.page_ritchie@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，Commission Secretary Sharon Page Ritchie, 415-252-2591, sharon.page_ritchie@sfgov.org.

Materiales traducidos y servicios de interpretación están disponibles para usted de manera gratuita. Para asistencia, notifique a Commission Secretary Sharon Page Ritchie, 415-252-2591, sharon.page_ritchie@sfgov.org.