FY 2012 Special Project Arts and Cultural Affiars ProgramCity of Dubuque
.Arts & CuCturaC Affairs Advisory Commission
June 28, 2011
The Honorable Mayor and City Council
City of Dubuque
50 W. 13 Street
Dubuque, IA 52001
Re: Arts and Culture Grant Program for Special Projects
FY 2012 Funding Competition -- Applications and Recommendations
Dear Mayor and City Council Members:
Introduction
The Arts and Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission has reviewed nine applications from
Dubuque organizations requesting $65,685 in funds from the FY 2012 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 eighth round of competitive grants for this program. Three years ago, the City
Council approved the commission's recommendation to limit funding in this program to
no more than two consecutive years per organization and that applications had to score
at least 75 points out of 100 to be considered for funding. The Commission established
a minimum point threshold to ensure that only high quality projects are recommended
for funding.
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
January. 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 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 24 meeting and determined
funding recommendations at their June 28 meeting.
Recommendation
Grant applications which met all eligibility requirements and received a 75 point or
above average score in rank order are:
Fly -By -Night Productions 97.3
Bell Tower Productions 92
Dubuque Museum of Art 89.1
Grand Opera House 87.4
Rising Star Theatre Company 86.8
Multicultural Family Center 82.6
The Commission is recommending that the top 6 ranked applicants be funded at their
full grant request. Recommended grant awards are:
Fly-By-Night Productions, Crowns $7,025
Bell Tower Productions, Behold My Shorts $3,545
Dubuque Museum of Art, Edward Curtis $7,445
Grand Opera House, Pops Orchestra $2,500
Rising Star Theatre Company, It's a Family Affair $3,900
Multicultural Family Center, Hispanic Heritage Festival and $5,175
Native American Heritage Month Celebration
An executive summary of each project recommended for funding is attached.
The Commission also received applications totaling $36,095 from the Dubuque County
Historical Society, Dubuque Initiatives and the Julien Film Festival. Although these
projects all had merit, they did not rate over the 75 point threshold required for funding.
The Commission feels that its strategy undertaken three years ago to require those
organizations that had applied two years in a row to sit out for a year and to formalize
scoring of the applications to require 75 points to be funded had been successful. This
strategy was undertaken to encourage a wide range of creative projects from varied
non - profits, including first -time applicants, and to keep the quality and artistic merit of
those projects high.
Action
The Council is requested to approve the six FY 2012 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.
Sinc-rely,
Geri Shafe
Chairperson
Encl.
Executive Summary of Projects
FY 2012 ARTS AND CULTURE GRANT PROGRAM FOR SPECIAL PROJECTS
Executive Summary of Projects Recommended for Funding
Fly -by -Night Productions $7,025
Crowns
Fly-By -Night Productions will present the fully- staged African - American play, CROWNS
by Regina Taylor for two performances February 3 -4, 2012, at Five Flags Theater in
celebration of Black History Month. The cast will be comprised of 7 local African -
American actors. CROWNS is a celebratory play with song, in which hats become a
springboard for an exploration of black history and identity as seen through the eyes of
a young African - American girl sent down South to live with her grandmother after her
brother is killed in Brooklyn.
Bell Tower Productions $3,545
Behold My Shorts
Bell Tower Productions will produce the world premier of "Behold My Shorts," the play
version of Dubuque author Robert Byrne's highly successful book. The show will be
presented as a special event, part of the Bell Tower's 10 Anniversary, for three
performances on March 2, 3, & 4, 2012.
Dubuque Museum of Art $7,445
Edward Curtis
Dubuque Museum of Art plans a unique exhibition which combines historic images of
Native American children from the renowned Edward S. Curtis collection, The North
American Indian, with an emerging technology- 3D printing. In partnership with local
artist Scott Hendron, the Museum will highlight their outstanding collection of rare
photogravure images from Curtis' work which captures numerous Native American
tribes at the beginning of the last century. Focusing of Curtis' images of children, the
Museum will host an exhibit of 30 original photos, and Hendron will render four of the
images into 3D forms using the emerging technology of 3D printing.
Grand Opera House $2,500
Pops Orchestra
The Grand Opera House will establish a resident pops orchestra that draws its
personnel from the area's most experienced, talented and dedicated professional
musicians with experience in the field of standard popular music, to perform repertoire
drawn from the musical theater and popular American songs of the 20 century. A
series of 4 concerts will be performed annually.
Rising Star Theatre Company $3,900
It's a Family Affair
Rising Star Theatre Company (RSTC) is introducing a new family show, Joseph and the
amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, into their season, allowing people of all ages to
participate in and enjoy an RSTC experience. The new "It's a Family Affair" production
will be presented at The Five Flags Theater July 15 -17 and July 21 -23. This new
offering will be added to the RSTC season each July and will involve participants from
age 2 -102 in all production aspects.
Multicultural Family Center $5,175
Hispanic Heritage Festival and Native American
The Multicultural Family Center plans to partner with regionally local performers
(dancers, musicians, storytellers, etc.) to host two educational and interactive cultural
festivals in Dubuque. The first event, Dia de la Raza, will be a Hispanic Heritage
Festival held in the Colts building on Saturday, October 8 from 5 -10 p.m. The second
event will be a Native American Heritage Month Celebration held in November at either
the Five Flags Theater or the Colts Building.