SAN FRANCISCO ARTS COMMISSION
COMMUNITY ARTS, EDUCATION AND GRANTS COMMITTEE MEETING
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
1:00 p.m.
401 Van Ness Ave, Suite 125

MINUTES

The meeting was called to order at 1:10 p.m.

1. Roll Call
Commissioners Present:
Charles Collins
Sherene Melania, Chair
Marcus Shelby
Janine Shiota

Commissioners Absent:
Abby Sadin Schnair

Staff Present: Tom DeCaigny, Judy Nemzoff, Barbara Mumby, Cristal Fiel

2. General Public Comment
Commissioner Melania called for public comment. There was none made. 

3. Community Investments Director Report
Community Investments Program Director Judy Nemzoff said that it was an exciting first day at the San Francisco Arts Commission’s new offices, and to inaugurate the space with the first Committee meeting. She then turned her report to Senior Program Officer Barbara Mumby, who updated the Committee on the upcoming grant deadline on Thursday, October 15. She said that overall, things were going smoothly, Although there were a few bumps with using the grant application form, there were not large concerns about the content of the grant applications. The next few weeks would be dedicated to grant processing and intake, which the program associates would perform while the program officers attend the Grantmakers in the Arts Conference next week. 

Ms. Mumby said that the next agenda item was a motion to approve additional panelists. The panelists identified below fill additional areas of expertise to create more diversity in the panelist pool. It included panelists who were new to the pool, and panelists who have served in the past. 

The Committee discussed the roll out of the grant panelists’ recommendations and how it would come in one cluster in the spring. The commissioners requested that they get more time to review the recommendation docket before it would go before the Committee for approval. 

Commissioner Collins asked when the recommendations would be released to the public. Ms. Mumby said that it had typically been when the agenda was posted. The applicants might get a sense of where they stood with the rest of the pool from attending the public panel meetings, but they would not know until the agenda was posted. 

Ms. Nemzoff announced that the San Francisco Arts Commission (“SFAC”) would soon release a request for proposals (“RFP”) for additional funds that were allocated to the SFAC from the Board of Supervisors’ Participatory Budget Process. She said that the projects ran the gamut of supporting neighborhood murals to infrastructure support for nonprofit arts organizations. There were a total of fourteen RFP program areas. 

Director of Cultural Affairs Tom DeCaigny said that the SFAC was fortunate to receive significant amount of dollars in the add-back process. He added that there were two areas of funding that did not come through the add-back process, but through the SFAC’s funds. The first was an RFP for an organization to take over administering the Arts Providers Alliance of San Francisco. SFAC staff would transition out of this role and instead, Arts Education Program Officer Liz Ozol would take on the role of grant maker. 

Mr. DeCaigny said that the other item not part of the add-back funding was a $50,000 RFP for a nonprofit organization to propose enhancing efforts around affordability assistance of artist displacement. The $50,000 came out of carry-forward funding from grants. These funds would help a nonprofit move forward in planning an endeavor to implement a project or program. He said that a nonprofit organization must apply, but this was not to say that the organization could not partner with a group of artists. 

Commissioner Melania asked if it would be better to use this carry-forward funding as emergency funds. Ms. Nemzoff said that the SFAC did not have a lot of nimbleness in funding to respond quickly as a City agency. These funds would be used by a nonprofit organization who could offer that nimbleness. Mr. DeCaigny said that his hope was that the RFP would incentivize nonprofits to look at long-term solutions. 

All the proposals would be reviewed internally by representatives from departments such as Grants for the Arts and the Office of Economic and Workforce Development,

Commissioner Shelby asked for the timeframe of the RFP roll out. Ms. Nemzoff said that the goal was to fast track the RFP process by releasing the guidelines in October, and having a three-week window to submit a proposal. The hope was that the recommendations would go before the Commission in December. 

Lastly, Ms. Nemzoff announced that the StreetSmARTS Program would be transitioning to the responsibility of the Public Art staff. StreetSmARTS murals go before the Visual Arts Committee for approval, so this was a logical transition for the program. The program was on hiatus as the Public Art staff would do research around living wage artists fees in preparation for the re-launch. Ms. Nemzoff said that the program would be continued to be grounded in graffiti and tagging abatement. The San Francisco Department of Public Works (“SFDPW”) funds the StreetSmARTS Program and provides this as an option for private property owners who are in violation of graffiti and tagging on their properties. 

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

4. 2015-2018 SFAC Review Panelists Pool
Ms. Mumby said that after the initial call for potential panelists, the grants team reviewed the pool and identified additional areas of expertise that were lacking, such as the Creative Space grant. The additional list included a wider range of skills. 

Motion: Motion to approve the following panelists to serve, as selected by staff, on SFAC review panels for the 2015-2018 Fiscal Years:

Salvador Acevedo, Principal, Contemporánea
Tamara Alvarado, Executive Director, School of Arts and Culture at MHP
Lincoln (LEDOH) Basaing, Artistic Director, Salt Farm Butoh
Lindsie Bear, Director, Nature and Environmental Publishing, Heyday
Vanessa Camarena-Arredondo, Executive Director, Studio Grand
Sidney Chen, Artistic Administrator, Kronos Quartet / Kronos Performing Arts Association
Christopher Dennis, Production Director, San Francisco Ballet
Ashara Ekundayo, Founder, Chief Creative Officer, Impact Hub Oakland
Erika Gee, Senior Planner, Chinatown Community Development Center
Corrina Gould, Title VII Coordinator, AICRC; Co-Founder, IPOC
Jessica Mele, Program Officer, Performing Arts, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Mina Morita, Artistic Director, Crowded Fire Theater Company
Kirthi Nath, Filmmaker, Cinemagical Media
Fuifuilupe Niumeitolu, Doctoral Candidate, Institute for the Study of Social Change, UC Berkeley
Madeleine Oldham, Director, The Ground Floor and Resident Dramaturg, Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Frances Phillips, Program Director, Arts and the Creative Work Fund, Walter & Elise Haas Fund
Joan Pinkvoss, Executive Director, Aunt Lute Books 
Ellen Richard, Interim Managing Director, Magic Theatre
Tomás Riley, Executive Director, CounterPulse
Jim Santi Owen, Musician, musical director, arts educator, funder
Adriane Tafoya, Registrar, Oakland Museum of California
Angela Wellman, Founding Director, Oakland Public Conservatory of Music

Moved: Collins/Shiota
Public Comment: There was none made.
The motion was passed unanimously. 

5. New Business and Announcements
Mr. DeCaigny announced that the Latino Heritage Month kick off at City Hall was the following night, and that the Pan-Pacific International Art Exhibit opened during the weekend. Also, the SFAC was hosting an arts education conference on Wednesday, October 21. It was a follow-up to the conference held last year about the Wallace Foundation report around out-of-school time arts education programming and promising practices. 

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

6. Adjournment
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 1:52 p.m. 

Posted on 10/27/15 CF 

Approved on 11/2/15 CF

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Language Accessibility

Translated written materials and interpretation services are available to you at no cost. For assistance, please notify Program Associate Cristal Fiel, 415-252-2218, 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, 415-252-2218,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, 415-252-2218, cristal.fiel@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 Cristal Fiel, 415-252-2218, cristal.fiel@sfgov.org.