Tuesday, March 10, 2015

1:00 p.m.

25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 70

________________________________________

 

 

Sherene Melania, Chair

Abby Sadin-Schnair

Marcus Shelby

Janine Shiota

 

Charles Collins

 

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

 

There was none made.

 

Community Investments Program Director Judy Nemzoff introduced new Program Associate Alex Tan. Mr. Tan was formerly the program director of the Multicultural Center at University of California, Berkeley, where he founded an art gallery and served as the lead curator of the space and worked with artists from historically underserved communities. Prior to joining the San Francisco Arts Commission (“SFAC”), Mr. Tan was program director for Jewish Youth for Community Action. 

 

Ms. Nemzoff reminded the committee that the first annual SFAC grants meeting would occur on Thursday, April 2 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the African American Art & Culture Complex. She said that this would be an opportunity to look at the outcome of the focus groups and the data research that American Council of Learned Societies (“ACLS”) Public Fellow Dr. Anh Thang Dao-Shah has compiled. Prior to the grants meeting, Dr. Dao-Shah would present her findings before a group of private philanthropists at the Arts Loan Fund. 

 

Ms. Nemzoff said that the SFAC had posted a job opening for a program officer with the Community Investments team. The job posting would be up through March 23 and the ideal candidate would be someone with strong grantmaking skills and knowledge of the San Francisco arts community. She reminded the committee that WritersCorps’ 20th anniversary celebration on was on March 26 at the Contemporary Jewish Museum. It would be a multigenerational reading with teaching artists, students and special guest NoViolet Bulawayo. The committee also discussed nonprofit arts organization and longtime SFAC grantee Root Division’s move to Central Market neighborhood. The organization had a ten-year lease for their new location. 

 

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

 

Senior Program Officer Barbara Mumby announced that the grants team just completed the last grant panel for the fiscal year. For the Organization Project Grants, there were a total of 78 applicants and 58 percent of the pool was recommended for funding. She said there would be a comprehensive review of the entire grant cycle at an upcoming committee meeting. 

 

The committee took Yerba Buena Gardens Festival as a separate motion, and Commissioner Shelby recused himself because he was an artist-in-residence with the organization. 

 

Commissioner Melania gave the following motion: 

 

Motion: Motion to approve recommendation to award Yerba Buena Gardens Festival for funding in the 2014-2015 cycle of Organization Project Grants (“OPG”) and to authorize the Director of Cultural Affairs to enter into grant agreement for $15,000. 

Moved: Shiota/Schnair 

Recused: Shelby

Public Comment: There was none made.

 

Commissioner Melania gave the following motion: 

 

Motion: Motion to approve recommendations to award 43 grants totaling $586,485 in the 2014-2015 cycle of Organization Project Grants (“OPG”) to the following organizations, and to authorize the Director of Cultural Affairs to enter into grant agreements with each organization for the amounts listed:

Anne Bluethenthal and Dancers (ABD Productions), $13,000 

Arab Film Festival, $13,000 

Aunt Lute Books, $13,000 

Carolina Lugo’s & Carolé Acuña’s Ballet Flamenco, $13,000 

Center for the Art of Translation, $13,000 

Chinese Historical Society of America, $13,000 

Circo Zero / Zero Performances, $13,000 

Circuit Network, $13,000 

Contraband / Mixed Bag Productions, $13,000 

CounterPULSE, $15,000 

Crowded Fire Theatre Company, $15,000 

CubaCaribe, $15,000 

Cultural Odyssey, $15,000 

Cutting Ball Theatre Company, $13,000 

Dancers’ Group, $15,000 

Del Sol Performing Arts Organization, $15,000 

Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network, $5,500 

Embodiment Project, $15,000 

Epiphany Productions, $15,000 

Fictional Artists’ Contemporary Theatre / San Francisco (FACT/SF), $13,000 

Flyaway Productions, $15,000 

Genryu Arts, $15,000 

ICTUS, $13,000 

Jess Curtis/Gravity, $13,000 

Joe Goode Performance Group, $15,000 

Litquake, $15,000 

Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, $15,000 

Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu, $15,000 

PlayGround, $13,000 

Post:Ballet, $13,000 

Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project, $13,000 

SAFEhouse for the Performing Arts, $13,000 

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, $15,000 

San Francisco Cinematheque, $15,000 

San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music, $15,000 

San Francisco Green Film Festival, $13,000 

San Francisco Hip Hop DanceFest, $15,000 

San Francisco Independent Film Festival, $13,000 

Shadowlight Productions, $13,000 

Sixth Street Photography Workshop, $13,000 

Still Here, $3,335 

Switchboard Music Festival, $13,000 

Theatre Flamenco of San Francisco, $15,000 

Topsy Turvy, $6,650 

Moved: Schnair/Shiota

Public Comment: There was none made.

 

Ms. Mumby said that all the applicants in the Native American Art & Cultural Traditions (“NAACT”) grant category were recommended for funding. The panel felt that Dancing Earth Creations had applied for the wrong category, and recommended reduced funding because of this. 

 

The committee took Yerba Buena Gardens Festival as a separate motion, and Commissioner Shelby recused himself because he was an artist-in-residence with the organization.

 

Commissioner Melania gave the following motion:

 

Motion: Motion to approve recommendation to award Yerba Buena Gardens Festival for funding in the 2014-2015 cycle of Native American Arts & Cultural Traditions (“NAACT”) and to authorize the Director of Cultural Affairs to enter into grant agreement for $7,500.

Moved: Schnair/Shiota

Recused: Shelby

Public Comment: There was none made. 

 

Commissioner Melania gave the following motion:

 

Motion: Motion to approve recommendations to award 10 grants totaling $87,500 in the 2014-2015 cycle of Native American Arts & Cultural Traditions (“NAACT”) 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:

Seventh Native American Generation, $15,000

Cultural Conservancy $15,000

Dancing Earth Creations, $10,500

Ross Cunningham, $7,500

Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu, $1,000

Instituto Familiar de la Raza, $1,000

American Indian Film Institute, $7,500

Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu, $7,500

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

Cultural Conservancy, $7,500

Queer Cultural Center , $7,500

Moved: Schnair/Shiota

Public Comment: There was none made.

 

Commissioner Shelby announced that he was working on a project revolving around the prison industrial complex and the schools to prison pipeline. He would have a series of discussions at the Red Poppy on Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m. The project was funded by the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival and he would be working with playwright and actress Anna Deveare Smith.

 

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 1:50 p.m.

 

 

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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, 415-252-3145, 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.

 

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, 415-252-3145, cristal.fiel@sfgov.org.