Fiscal Year 2024 Arts & Culture Operating Support Grant Funding RecommendationCity of Dubuque
City Council Meeting
Action Items # 03.
Copyrighted
July 5, 2023
ITEM TITLE: Fiscal Year 2024 Arts & Culture Operating Support Grant Funding
Recommendation
SUMMARY: City Manager recommending City Council concurrence with the Arts &
Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission recommendation to fund the
FY2024 Operating Support grant applications.
SUGGESTED Suggested Disposition: Receive and File; Approve
DISPOSITION:
ATTACHMENTS:
Description Type
MVM Memo City Manager Memo
Memo to MVM re FY 2024 Arts & Culture Operating
Support Grant Funding Recommendation
Scoring and Funding Scenario for FY 2024 Arts &
Culture Operating Support Grant Program
Staff Memo
Supporting Documentation
THE CITY
DUOF
B TEE
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: FY 2024 Arts & Culture Operating Support Grant Funding
Recommendation
DATE: June 28, 2023
Dubuque
All -America City
IN
2007.2012.2013
2017*2019
Economic Development Director Jill Connors is recommending City Council
concurrence with the Arts & Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission recommendation to
fund the FY2024 Operating Support grant applications as following:
Bell Tower Theater
$15,943.00
Colts Youth Organization
$22,343.00
Creative Adventure Lab, Inc.
$19,859.00
Dubuque Arboretum & Botanical Gardens
$21,707.00
Dubuque Area Arts Collective
$336.00
Dubuque Arts Council
$3,245.00
Dubuque Chapter of SPEBSQSA / Music Men Barbershop Chorus
$395.00
Dubuque Chorale
$1,733.00
Dubuque County Fine Arts Society
$12,107.00
Dubuque County Historical Society
$21,349.00
Dubuque Museum of Art
$21,846.00
Dubuque Symphony Orchestra
$22,343.00
Fly -By -Night Productions
$926.00
Heritage Works
$10,511.00
Julien Dubuque International Film Festival
$15,029.00
Key City Creative Center
$4,427.00
Multicultural Family Center
$3,911.00
Northeast Iowa School of Music
$12,856.00
Rising Star Theatre Company
$2,954.00
The Grand Opera House
$20,356.00
Voices Productions
$15,824.00
TOTAL FY 2024 Operating Support Funds to be Awarded
$250,000.00
I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council
approval.
Y
Mic ael C. Van Milligen
MCVM:sv
Attachment
cc: Crenna Brumwell, City Attorney
Cori Burbach, Assistant City Manager
Jill Connors, Economic Development Director
Dubuque
THE CITY OF
Dnix�v.v,i
E
All-Anerl � Ny
nx: uUB
'I V
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
2007,2012.2013
2017*2019
TO: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Jill Connors, Economic Development Director
Economic Development Department
1300 Main St
Dubuque, IA 52001
Office (563) 589-4393
TTY (563) 690-6678
http://www.cityofdubuque.org
SUBJECT: FY 2024 Arts & Culture Operating Support Grant Funding
Recommendation
DATE: June 27, 2023
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide the funding recommendation from the
Arts & Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission (Arts Commission) for grant awards to arts
and culture organizations through the City's FY 2024 Arts & Culture Operating Support
Grants program, requesting concurrence with the funding recommendation for City
Council approval.
BACKGROUND
$250,000 was approved City Council for FY 2024 for the Arts & Culture Operating
Support Grant Program. This program offers limited, unrestricted support to eligible arts
and cultural nonprofit organizations operating within Dubuque city limits that
demonstrate a commitment to serving the community through access to arts, arts
education, and cultural heritage experiences.
Per standard operating procedure, this funding is awarded annually through a
competitive application process with applicants responding to program guidelines and
application questions previously reviewed and approved by the Arts Commission and
transmitted to City Council.
Applications were reviewed and scored by a three -person reviewer panel independent
of the Arts Commission. Scoring was then considered by and a recommendation
supported by the Arts & Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission (Arts Commission). Staff
for the City's Arts Commission has overseen the process throughout.
DISCUSSION
Operating Support grant applications were accepted between March 10, 2023 and April
28, 2024. In FY 2024, funding awards are based on the organization's total operating
expenses from their most recently completed fiscal year. The maximum funding an
organization can receive is calculated at 6% of the operating expenses not to exceed
$30,000. Twenty-four (24) applications were received. Twenty-one (21) applicants were
eligible for funding per the program guidelines. The request for funding across eligible
applications in FY 2024 was $358,303.68.
All eligible applications were reviewed and scored by volunteer reviewers with
knowledge of the arts, actively participating in the arts, and possessing professional
experience in fields such as nonprofit, business, or education. The following volunteers
served as the review panel, independently reading and scoring all applications against
the previously approved 15-point rubric:
• Hilary Dalton, Office Manager & Community Liaison, American Customer
Care
• Carla Heathcote, Graphic Design Program Lead/Instructor, Northeast Iowa
Community College
• Cynthia Granse, retired business professional
Scoring and organizational operating budget worksheets were reviewed and used by
staff to inform the funding scenarios provided to the Arts Commission for consideration.
The accompanying scoring and funding scenarios document, listing applicants
anonymously by competitive ranking, was reviewed by the Arts Commission during a
Regular Meeting on Tuesday, June 27, 2023.
If all applications were funded at the maximum possible award based on the max
percentage of the score received, for example, if an application receives an average
score of 14, or 93.3%, an award would be 93.3% of the request, a program budget of
$335,774.75 would be needed and was not considered as a viable option. The following
funding scenario based on the results of the competitive scoring and fully utilizing the
program budget, was calculated as follows:
• Option A: Equal reduction of all maximum awards based on score
o Calculated award amounts based on max funding possible times percent
of the competitive score
o Reduced all maximum awards based on score equally by 25.5%
o Reduced all awards by $7.18 to evenly distribute the remaining requested
funding overage across all applicants
o Rounded awards to the nearest whole number
o Total awards = $250,000.
Following a discussion of all scenarios, the Arts Commission voted to recommend
Option A as it:
• Aligns with previously utilized methods of calculating funding allocations using a
tiered funding structure that decreases awards based on scoring.
• Provides all eligible applicants with some level of funding.
• Fully utilizes the program budget to maximize community impact.
Thus, the Arts Commission's FY 2024 Operating Support grant funding
recommendation, listed in alphabetical order by organization name, is as follows:
Bell Tower Theater
$15,943.00
Colts Youth Organization
$22,343.00
Creative Adventure Lab, Inc.
$19,859.00
Dubuque Arboretum & Botanical Gardens
$21,707.00
Dubuque Area Arts Collective
$336.00
Dubuque Arts Council
$3,245.00
Dubuque Chapter of SPEBSQSA / Music Men Barbershop Chorus
$395.00
Dubuque Chorale
$1,733.00
Dubuque County Fine Arts Society
$12,107.00
Dubuque County Historical Society
$21,349.00
Dubuque Museum of Art
$21,846.00
Dubuque Symphony Orchestra
$22,343.00
Fly -By -Night Productions
$926.00
Heritage Works
$10,511.00
Julien Dubuque International Film Festival
$15,029.00
Key City Creative Center
$4,427.00
Multicultural Family Center
$3,911.00
Northeast Iowa School of Music
$12,856.00
Rising Star Theatre Company
$2,954.00
The Grand Opera House
$20,356.00
Voices Productions
$15,824.00
TOTAL FY 2024 Operating Support Funds to be Awarded
$250,000.00
The FY 2024 Operating Support funding cycle runs from July 1, 2023 through June 30,
2024. Grant recipients are required to submit a final report by August 31, 2024.
BUDGETIMPACT
There are no new budget impacts. The FY 2024 approved budget includes $250,000 for
Arts & Culture Operating Support Grants.
RECOMMENDATION/ ACTION STEP
I respectfully request concurrence with the Arts & Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission
recommendation to fund the aforementioned FY2024 Operating Support grant
applications for approval by City Council.
CC: Laura Merrick, Communications and Grants Administration Assistant
Jenny Larson, Finance Director
FY24 OPERATING SUPPORT GRANT PROGRAM FUNDING STRATEGIES
1
15.00
100.00
$
21,408.96
$
21,408.96
$
15,943.00
2
15.00
100.00
$
29,145.90
$
29,145.90
$
21,707.00
3
15.00
100.00
$
1,252.68
$
1,252.68
$
926.00
4
15.00
100.00
$
5,952.36
$
5,952.36
$
4,427.00
5
15.00
100.00
$
30,000.00
$
30,000.00
$
22,343.00
6
15.00
100.00
$
30,000.00
$
30,000.00
$
22,343.00
7
14.67
97.78
$
2,388.72
$
2,335.64
$
1,733.00
8
14.67
97.78
$
30,000.00
$
29,333.33
$
21,846.00
9
14.67
97.78
$
21,732.66
$
21,249.71
$
15,824.00
10
14.33
95.56
$
4,568.94
$
4,365.88
$
3,245.00
11
14.33
95.56
$
30,000.00
$
28,666.67
$
21,349.00
12
14.33
95.56
$
21,121.74
$
20,183.00
$
15,029.00
13
13.67
91.11
$
18,950.64
$
17,266.14
$
12,856.00
14
13.67
91.11
$
30,000.00
$
27,333.33
$
20,356.00
15
13.33
88.89
$
4,472.34
$
3,975.41
$
2,954.00
16
13.33
88.89
$
30,000.00
$
26,666.67
$
19,859.00
17
12.33
82.22
$
560.16
$
460.58
$
336.00
18
12.33
82.22
$
6,397.02
$
5,259.77
$
3,911.00
19
11.67
77.78
$
20,907.06
$
16,261.05
$
12,107.00
20
11.33
75.56
$
18,685.92
$
14,118.25
$
10,511.00
21
10.67
71.11
$
758.58
$
539.43
$
395.00
$
358,303.68
$
335,774.75
$
250,000.00