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Arts and Culture Funding Special ProjectsCity of Dubuque .marts & Cultural. alts Advisory Commission June 30, 2008 The Honorable Mayor and City Council City of Dubuque 50 W. 13t" Street Dubuque, IA 52001 Re: Arts and Culture Grant Program for Special Projects FY 2009 Funding Competition--Applications and Recommendations Dear Mayor and City Council Members: Introduction The Arts and Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission has reviewed eight applications from Dubuque organizations requesting $43,575 in funds from the FY 2009 Arts and Culture Grant Program for Special Projects. This memo transmits the Commission's funding recommendations. Background There is $35,000 budgeted for the Arts and Culture Grant Program for Special Projects. This is the fifth round of competitive grants for this program. Last year, the City Council approved the commission's recommendation to limit funding in this program to no more than two consecutive years per organization. Discussion The Special Projects grant program was designed to encourage the development of new or expanded arts and cultural programs in the Dubuque community. The Arts and Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission solicited applications for the grant program in March. Media releases were issued, applications were available on the City of Dubuque's website, all known arts and cultural organizations were notified of the grant opportunity, and two grant workshops were conducted. The Commission received twelve grant applications totaling $43,575 in requests. The Commission reviewed and ranked the applications based on the established criteria. • Priority funding will be given to new or expanded programming • Degree to which proposed project furthers the cultural arts goals of the City of Dubuque's Comprehensive Plan • Degree to which proposed project reflects careful planning and can be implemented in a timely manner • Impact of project on broader Dubuque Community • Organizational experience and capacity of applicant The Commission reviewed the applications at their May 27 meeting and determined final funding recommendations at their June 24 meeting. Recommendation The Arts and Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission recommends that the City Council approve the following grant awards for the FY 2009 Arts and Culture Grant Program for Special Projects in ranked order: Four Mounds Foundation $4,565 The Art and Antique Roadshow Dubuque Arts Council $2,500 Love a Piano Fly-By-Night Productions $8,558 Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Dubuque Symphony Orchestra $10,000 Classical Madness Free Community Concerts Bell Tower Productions $3,129 Kids Take the Stage Youth Theater Classes Dubuque County Historical Society $6,248 At the Lead Mines Historic Interpretation of the Landscape An executive summary of each project recommended for funding is attached. The Commission also received applications from the Dubuque Museum of Art for School Year 2009 Museum Arts Trek Programming and Step by Step for sculpture at 759 Bluff Street. Although these projects all had merit, they did not rate as high as the six projects recommended for funding. Action The Council is requested to approve the six FY 2009 Arts and Culture Grants for Special Projects and authorize the City Manager to sign the grant agreements. The Commission is very appreciative of the City Council's support of this grant program. We are extremely pleased with the quality of the grant applications and the multitude of quality arts and culture projects that have been funded through this program. We are very pleased to be working closely with the City of Dubuque in promoting arts and cultural activities in our community. Sincerely, Amy Weber Chairperson Encl. FY 2009 ARTS AND CULTURE GRANT PROGRAM FOR SPECIAL PROJECTS Executive Summary of Projects Recommended for Funding 1. Four Mounds Foundation $4,655 Project: The Art and Antique Roadshow The Art & Antique Roadshow is a free community event that celebrates art, history, music and culture at the Four Mounds Estate. The-estate turns 100 years in 2008 and Four Mounds is celebrating by inviting the community to come for the day. The event runs from 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday, September 13, 2008. 2. Dubuque Arts Council $2,500 Project: I Love a Piano The Dubuque Arts Council has created a partnership with Five Flags Theater to present a new series of touring Broadway Revues and shows. The Envision 2010 list of suggestions from the community included may requests for more professional touring theatrical productions to be available for our community. So the Dubuque Arts Council began an active search for productions that can be affordably prices for the tri-state market. The first program selected is "I Love aPiano" -anew musical that looks at America through the perceptive and hopeful eyes of Irving Berlin. 3. Fly-By-Night Productions $8,558 Project: Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead Fly-By-Night Productions (FBNP) will partner with The Loras College Players to stage two plays, each considered masterpieces of Western Theatre: Hamlet by William Shakespeare and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard. For 8 performances with the same cast for both plays, the shows will run in repertory, October 30-November 8,.2008, alternating HAMLET for the first performance then ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD the next performance and so on. The plays will take place in St. Joseph's Auditorium at Loras College. Running both plays in repertory with the same cast for both is innovative and new as this has never been attempted in the Dubuque area. While these two plays stand on their own and are often produced separately, the concept of producing them as one event heightens the theatre experience for participants and audience alike. This is aonce-in-a-lifetime theatre event, which we will market as such to a broad Dubuque area audience. 4. Dubuque .Symphony Orchestra $10,000 Project: Classical Madness Free Community Concerts Classical Madness was ayear-long process designed to create excitement about the orchestra and classical music in general as well as determine the four favorite classical musical selections of tri-state area residents. The four winning pieces will now form the repertoire for two free community concerts performed by the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra at the Five Flags Theater in September 2008, which marks the beginning the Symphony's 50t" anniversary year. These free concerts area "gift" from the orchestra to the community for their support over the past five decades. 5. Bell Tower Productions $3,129 Project: Kids take the Stage Youth Theater Classes Grant funding will provide for a significant expansion of the Bell Tower's Kids Take the Stage Youth Theater Classes with the addition of three new classes. Starting in the Fall of 2008 and continuing in the Spring 2009, Bell Tower Productions will add: The Magic of Musical Theater, asix-week program for kids in the Fourth, Fifth & Sixth Grades taught by Sue Flogel; Improvisation, aone-day workshop with two sessions for junior high and high school-taught by award-winning performers Comedy Sportz; and Advanced Acting, a six week programs for kids in Sixth, Seventh and Eighth grades taught by Sue Riedel. Since the youth theater classes started in 2005, more than 850 kids have taken part in this program. Bell Tower Productions hopes to build the foundation to make these three new classes a permanent part of their schedule. This means an expansion of the ages served to include kids in seventh through twelfth grades and space for at least 180 additional kids each year. 6. Dubuque County Historical Society $6,248 Project: At the Lead Mines Historic Interpretation of the Landscape The historic interpretation project will create and interpret the historic landscape and "lead mines" surroundings of the Mathias Ham House historic site. The project is an essential step in the Ham House's long range interpretive plan, "At the Lead Mines," developed over the past several years.