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Arts and Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission_Special Projects Grant RecommendationsCity of Dubuque .marts & Cultural _Affairs Advisory Commission February 12, 2013 The Honorable Mayor and City Council City of Dubuque 50 W. 13th Street Dubuque, IA 52001 Re: Recommended changes to the Arts and Culture Special Project Grant Program Dear Mayor and City Council Members: Introduction The Arts and Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission and staff have been working over the course of the past year to better align the Special Project grant program with the City Council's goals and priorities, best practices in community art funding and the art needs of the Dubuque community. We have examined how we can use arts and culture to engage all community members, make our residents more participatory, and ensure that arts, culture, preservation and heritage programs and events are welcoming and inclusive to those outside of a traditional audience. One of the Safe Community Task Force's recommendations stated that "the city should devote resources to a human relations initiative that could include programs in the arts, cultural programs and other strategies that promote respect and understanding among residents." The Commission is confident that our recommended changes to this grant program will support this strategy. During regular Commission meetings and an August 2012 planning session, Commissioners discussed how arts and culture can enable Dubuque to progress as an inclusive community, remarkable for its social and cultural vibrancy with artistic, creative projects that utilize community engagement at their core. Staff has conducted extensive research into what other municipalities are currently doing in grant programs, community engagement strategies in arts and culture and current funding best practices in general. Staff held two focus groups in November 2012 to gather ideas about community engagement through the arts and determine how to translate those ideas into our grant special project grant program. Participants included those not previously surveyed about the arts grants, including those involved in other grant making throughout the city, those involved in the art community in some way, those whose constituents come from diverse groups, and business and civic leaders. Care was taken to include a gender, age, ethnic and socioeconomic variety of participants. Background The Special Projects grant program was first funded in FY 2005 with an annual budget of $35,000, the same amount that is now currently budgeted. The original purpose was to "encourage the development of new or expanded arts and cultural programs in the Dubuque community." Applicants addressed the art and culture goals of the City's comprehensive plan. Other than the following two changes, the program has existed in much the same format since its inception: Five 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. To date, the Special Project funding has supported $310,000 in special art projects throughout the Dubuque community and has leveraged another $710,992 in private support. The FY2014 Special Project grants will be 10th round of competitive grants for this program. Applications will be available on approximately February 20, 2013. Funding for selected projects will be made after July 1, 2013. Discussion Main issues considered by the Commission centered on: • The accessibility of the grants to a wide array of creative thinkers and groups in the community that were active but not necessarily a 501 c3 was important. How could the Commissioners be fair to small, grass roots organizations and the very necessary large, established organizations at the same time? How could we encourage creative thinking throughout the Dubuque community? We wanted to make sure that the 501c3 requirement was not burdensome and did not want to be in the business of encouraging groups to apply for the status that they really may not need to function as an effective group. Focus group attendees encouraged the idea. If the grant was open to more groups, we could widen the role of arts in the community. We also considered disparate arts groups under an umbrella organization, such as the Dubuque County Fine Arts. Under our present arrangement, only one such group would have been eligible to apply. We also recognized the challenges in having organizations as a fiscal agent. We consulted with the grant makers from the Iowa Arts Council, other municipalities and the legal and financial departments of the City for a way to do this while still ensuring the organizational capability of a group. • The goals of the present grant included pages from the City's Comprehensive plan, which was last updated in 2008. Applicants had a hard time relating to all of the items in the long range plan. The list was simply too long and ideas too broad. We decided to distill those goals into smaller, more focused goals to simplify the application as much as possible for all types of organizations who might apply and focus on the outcomes we wished to see. • With the recent economic data about the tremendous impact of the arts in Dubuque, we want to ensure that our events are well planned and attractive to a wide range of audiences and contribute to the reputation of Dubuque as an arts hub. • We also looked closely at how we as a commission rated and evaluated the grant applications themselves. Our rating criterion and rating sheets did not exactly reflect the way in which we had been evaluating applications. Applicants and focus group members reported that rating was not clear and that feedback from the Commission was needed to improve their applications in the future. We considered the challenges in being equitable to all types of organizations. We decided to tighten up our assessment tool making it closely aligned with the stated rating criteria. Because of that, we did not feel as if the minimum point restriction was needed because we usually have many more deserving applications than funds. • We heard that organizations would prefer to have a maximum grant award specified instead of having it open ended to make their planning more effective. Some smaller organizations recommended reducing the minimum grant amount. Again, we wanted to balance a significant special event with organization capability. • We wanted to better align our matching requirements so that we supported the organization without them being dependent upon the City for the development of special projects. In reviewing other grant programs across the county, we found that our current 25% match requirement was unusually generous. In analyzing past match amounts from organizations of all sizes, we felt that adjusting this percentage would not put a hardship on organizations and would leverage more investment from the organization and the community. We are also recommending that employee or volunteer costs for the project are limited to 25% of the total project cost based on our review of best practices. We are not interested in funding operational -type activities through the special project program. With just $35,000 to disburse, we want to maximize our impact. • We simplified the process as much as possible by eliminating some required attachments and supporting materials. • Staff anticipates providing additional assistance to applicants by conducting workshops, access to webinars and one -on -one assistance. Recommendation The Commission is making the following recommendations. 1. Change the Purpose of the grant to "The City envisions that Dubuque will be an inclusive community, remarkable for its social and cultural vibrancy. The City of Dubuque seeks to fund artistic, creative projects that utilize community engagement at their core. Engagement describes an active, two -way process in which one party motivates another to get involved or take action —and both parties experience change and growth. It promotes consistent community interaction that is a step beyond the conventional." 2. Establish the Goals of the Project Grants to be: • The project is innovative in using emerging art forms to increase enthusiasm and energy within the organization and its audiences. • The project increases personal participation, awareness and appreciation of quality arts and culture activities especially among groups of people who have not traditionally accessed the arts and culture offerings of your organization, including age, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, geographic, and socioeconomic related groups in Dubuque. • The project uses different strategies beyond traditional marketing and free - ticket programs to attract new audiences. • The project involves collaborators in planning, executing and sharing resources and ideas for the project. Collaborators can include other non - profits, artists, neighborhood groups, businesses, schools or individuals. • The project promotes the arts as a common ground for all members of the community. • The project fosters the celebration of cultural diversity and heritage and encourages presentations of minority artists and arts reflecting ethnic traditions 3. Establish rating criterion as : • Special Project Description: How well the project is explained. (10 points) Mission and Goals: How well the project addresses the organization's mission and the purpose and goals of the grant program. (15 points) • Artistic Merit: The potential of the project to advance the caliber of the arts in the community. (10 points) • Quality: How your project's concepts, leaders, artists, and collaborators demonstrate quality and best practices. (15 points) • Importance: The value to target audiences, the organization, the City of Dubuque and its residents and visitors. (10 points) • Access: The potential of the project to reach new and underserved audiences and increase availability to diverse groups. (15 points) • Evaluation: How the project will be evaluated. (10 points) • Feasibility: The likelihood the project will be successful based on careful event and financial planning. (15 points) 4. Change eligibility to : • Organizations incorporated in the State of Iowa as a City of Dubuque not -for- profit. • Affiliated groups with their own specific mission, governing structure and budget using the incorporated status of a City of Dubuque umbrella not - for - profit organization. • Organizations that are an established group acting as a not -for profit in the City of Dubuque. 5. Suspend the minimum point requirement of 75 out of 100. 6. Lower the minimum grant amount to $1500 from $2500 and establish a maximum amount of $8,500 per year instead of no maximum. 7. Adjust Matching requirements. Applicants must provide at least one dollar of cash or in kind match for every dollar requested. In other words, at least 50% of the grant can be funded by the City and 50% by the organization. Employee or volunteer costs for the project cannot be a grant requested item but can be used for up to 50% of the in kind match and account for no more than 25% of the entire project. Action The Council is respectfully requested to approve these recommendations. The Commission is very appreciative of the City Council's support of this grant program. We are pleased with the quality of the grant applications and the multitude of quality arts and culture projects that have been funded through this program and hope that these adjustments will increase those possibilities. We have taken the challenge seriously to utilize your goals and community engagement activities to formulate these recommendations. Thank you for the opportunity to work closely with the City of Dubuque in promoting arts and cultural activities in our community. Sincerely, Marina O'Rourke Chairperson Encl: cc: Jerelyn O'Connor, Neighborhood Development Specialist Jan Stoffel, Arts & Cultural Affairs Coordinator THE CITY OF DUB Masterpiece on the Mississippi City of Dubuque, Iowa ARTS AND CULTURE GRANT PROGRAM FOR SPECIAL PROJECTS FY 2014 FUNDING COMPETITION GUIDELINES PURPOSE AND GOALS The City envisions that Dubuque will be an inclusive community, remarkable for its social and cultural vibrancy. The City of Dubuque seeks to fund artistic, creative projects that utilize community engagement at their core. Engagement describes an active, two -way process in which one party motivates another to get involved or take action —and both parties experience change and growth. It promotes consistent community interaction that is a step beyond the conventional. Successful applications will address at least one of the following goals: • The project is innovative in using emerging art forms to increase enthusiasm and energy within the organization and its audiences. • The project increases personal participation, awareness and appreciation of quality arts and culture activities especially among groups of people who have not traditionally accessed the arts and culture offerings of your organization, including age, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, geographic, and socioeconomic related groups in Dubuque. • The project uses different strategies beyond traditional marketing and free - ticket programs to attract new audiences. • The project involves collaborators in planning, executing and sharing resources and ideas for the project. Collaborators can include other non - profits, artists, neighborhood groups, businesses, schools or individuals. • The project promotes the arts as a common ground for all members of the community. • The project fosters the celebration of cultural diversity and heritage and encourages presentations of minority artists and arts reflecting ethnic traditions. RATING CRITERIA 1. Special Project Description: How well the project is explained. (10 points) 2. Mission and Goals: How well the project addresses the organization's mission and the purpose and goals of the grant program. (15 points) 3. Artistic Merit: The potential of the project to advance the caliber of the arts in the community. (10 points) 4. Quality: How your project's concepts, leaders, artists, and collaborators demonstrate quality and best practices. (15 points) 5. Importance: The value to target audiences, the organization, the City of Dubuque and its residents and visitors. (10 points) 6. Access: The potential for the project to reach new and underserved audiences and increase availability to diverse groups. (15 points) 7. Evaluation: How the project will be evaluated. (10 points) 8. Feasibility: The likelihood the project will be successful based on careful event and financial planning. (15 points) ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS • Organizations incorporated in the State of Iowa as a City of Dubuque not - for - profit. • Affiliated groups with their own specific mission, governing structure and budget using the incorporated status of a City of Dubuque umbrella not - for - profit organization. • Organizations that are an established group acting as a not -for profit in the City of Dubuque. • Only one application per organized group will be accepted. INELIGIBLE APPLICANTS • For - profit organizations or individuals. • An applicant that has received funding for the past two consecutive years. • An applicant with an outstanding final report from a previous grant. REQUEST AMOUNT AND MATCH The budget for fiscal year 2014 is $35,000. • Minimum Request: $1,500 • Maximum Request: $8,500 • Applicants must provide at least one dollar of cash or in -kind match for every dollar requested. In other words, at least 50% of the grant can be funded by the City and 50% by the organization. • In -kind match refers to donated goods or services that have been contributed to the project. The dollar amount of in -kind match should be calculated at the verifiable fair - market value. • Employee or volunteer costs for the project cannot be a grant requested item but can be used for up to 50% of the in -kind match and account for no more than 25% of the entire project. ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES AND EXPENSES Including but not limited to: Culture and Historic Resources, Folk and Traditional Arts, Theatre, the Spoken Word, Literature, Dance, Music, Opera, Film, Visual Art, Digital Art, Installation Art, Murals, Public Art, Performance Art, and Sculpture. Eligible expenses must be dedicated specifically to the project and can include: • Employee or Volunteer Costs • Artists • Contractors • Supplies and Materials • Space and Equipment Rental • Travel • Marketing /Publicity INELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES AND EXPENSES • Anything occurring before July 1, 2013, or after June 30, 2014 • Projects not open to the public • General operating expenses • Social entertainment and reception expenses • Religious, political, and sports activities • Fundraisers or benefits • Competitions, contests, or awards programs to honor or recognize achievement including awards, trophies, or gifts • Uniforms • Capital or equipment outlay • Funds used to regrant REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS Applications will be reviewed and rated by the Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission at a monthly meeting. Funding recommendations will be forwarded to the City Council for review and approval. The City reserves the right to request additional information or make modifications to amount of grant awarded. All commission meetings are open to the public, but no public input will be accepted during the grant review meeting. TIMELINE • February 20, 2013 - Applications available online at www.citvofdubuque.orq /grants • March 19, 2013 - Application Workshops, Lacy Board Room, 3rd Floor, Carnegie -Stout Library, 360 W. 11th St., at noon or 5 p.m. • May 13, 2013 - Applications are due by 5 p.m. in either electronic or hard copy form. • May 28, and /or June 25,' 2013 - Applications are reviewed and rated by the Arts Commission. • July 2 or July 15, 2013 - City Council approval of grant awards • July, 2013 - Contracts signed, funding disbursed • September 30, 2014 - Closeout and Final Report due CITY STAFF ASSISTANCE Jan Stoffel, Arts and Cultural Affairs Coordinator for the City of Dubuque, will be the contact for any questions you may have before submitting your grant. She can be reached at (563) 690- 6064 or at janstoff(c'citvofdubuque.orq. Because the Special Project grant application and guidelines have changed significantly, organizations are strongly recommended to send one or more people familiar with the project to a workshop. Staff is open to meeting on a one -on -one basis or through phone consultation with applicants if further assistance is needed beyond the grant workshop. SUBMITTING • Applications can be emailed to Jan Stoffel, Arts and Cultural Affairs Coordinator, at janstoff(c�cityofdubuque.orq or hand delivered to the City Manager's Office, City Hall, 50 West 13t Street, Dubuque, Iowa, by 5 p.m. • Once an application is submitted, no changes or additions will be allowed. The deadline is strictly enforced. An organization, not city staff, is solely responsible for the content of its grant. • Determine early if you have trouble filling out the online application so that Jan Stoffel, Arts and Cultural Affairs Coordinator for the City of Dubuque, 563 - 690 -6064 or janstoff[ccityofdubuque.orq, can assist you in advance of the deadline. Please note that when using the online fillable application, cutting and pasting into the document may change the formatting from your original document. When you are finished with the application, save it on your hard drive and email as an attachment or print out for submitting. Please save a copy for your records. • Please send only the material requested. Letters of support or other documents not requested will be discarded. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The Applicant agrees to acknowledge the City of Dubuque support in appropriate signage, program materials, promotion, publicity and advertising activities, and in other printed and electronic forms of communication pertaining to this project. FINAL REPORT Applicants are required to complete a copy of the Final Report Form by the date specified in the grant contract. During review of the final report or request for reimbursement, documentation will be required which shows that an appropriate public acknowledgement of the City of Dubuque funds has been made, actual expenses of the project, and ways in which the project activities and timeline differed from the grant application. Applicants are encouraged to submit several good quality digital photos of the project for City public relations efforts. The forms will be provided with your contract. Fellable applications are available online at http:l/www.citvofdubuque.orp /grants. For more information, contact: Jan Stoffel, Arts and Cultural Affairs Coordinator, City Manager's Office, 50 W. 13th St., Dubuque, IA 52001, at (563) 690 -6064 or janstoff(c,cityofdubuque.orq. THE CITY OF DUB E Masterpiece on the Mississippi City of Dubuque, Iowa ARTS AND CULTURE GRANT PROGRAM FOR SPECIAL PROJECTS FY 2014 FUNDING COMPETITION APPLICATION Application must be completed in size 11 font Contact Information Name of applicant: Name of project: Name of executive director or chairperson: Phone: E -mail: Mailing address: Name of grant contact: Phone: E -mail: Mailing address: Request Summa Grant Amount Requested Cash Match In -kind Match Total Match Total Cost of Project % of Match Provided Eligibility Requirements My organization is incorporated in the State of Iowa as a City of Dubuque not - for - profit. (Please attach a copy of your articles of incorporation if not previously submitted.) My organization is an affiliated group with its own specific mission, governing structure and budget using the incorporated status of a City of Dubuque umbrella not - for - profit organization. (Please attach a copy of the articles of incorporation of the umbrella organization if not previously submitted.) My organization is established group acting as a not -for profit in the City of Dubuque. (Please attach a roster of the organizers or committee members, minutes of meetings, flyers, newsletters or other materials from the last six months showing the organization of your group.) Describe your organization and state its mission. 100 words 1. Explain your project. (10 points) 250 words 2. Explain how your project fulfills your mission and addresses the purpose and goals of the 1 grant program. (15 points) 300 words 3. Explain the potential of the project to advance the caliber of the arts in the community. (10 points) 200 words 4. Show how your project's concepts, leaders, artists, and collaborators demonstrate quality and best practices. List names, qualifications and level of expected involvement. (15 points) 300 words 5. Explain the value of your project to target audiences, your organization, the City of Dubuque and its residents and visitors. (10 points) 200 words 6. Explain the potential of the project to reach new and underserved audiences and increase availability to diverse groups. (15 points) 250 words 7. Explain how your project will be evaluated. (10 points) 200 words Feasibilit 8. Show evidence of careful event and financial planning by completing the following proposed project budget, expense detail, proposed income, and planning timeline. (15 points) BUDGET: Only list expenses associated with your proposed project. You must provide some cash resources in your match. Employee or volunteer costs for the project cannot be a grant requested item but can be used for up to 50% of the match but account for no more than 25% of the entire project. Artists should be fairly compensated for their work. Expenses must be incurred from July 2013 through June 30, 2014. 1, Expense Category Grant Funds Requested MATCH Total Project Costs Cash Resources In -kind Resources 1) Employee or Volunteer Time NA 2) Artists 3) Contractors 4) Supplies and Materials 5) Space & Equipment Rental 6) Travel 7) Marketing /Publicity 8) Other 9)Total 2 EXPENSE 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. PROPOSED include TIMETABLE: proposed the DETAIL: Please add specific information. List the rate per hour and the number of hours spent for employees and volunteers. List artist fees or rate per hour and number of hours spent. List non - artist contractor fees for services, including rate and hours spent. List cost of supplies and materials specifically for the project. List the costs of the equipment and space to be rented. List the cost of travel for individuals participating in the project including mileage and lodging. List expenses for marketing, publicity or promotion specifically dedicated to the project. List the costs of expenses not identified in other categories that are directly directed to project. PROJECT INCOME: List the source and amount expected of cash income. (Do not in -kind contributions in this chart.) the that Income Category Source /Description Expected Income 1) Earned Income (admissions, tickets, free will offering, etc.) $ 2) Cash Contributions (sponsorships, etc.) $ 3) Other Cash Revenue $ 4) Total Cash Income $ Provide a timeline with specific actions required to complete all of the activities of the project. Please include planning activities that take place outside of the grant period so entire scope of your planning activities is clear. Action Steps Completion Date Steps to Plan: Steps to Execute: 3 Assurances I hereby certify that, to the best of my knowledge, all of the information contained in this Application is true and correct. I understand that the City of Dubuque reserves the right to request modifications of this Application during the process of contract negotiation, and, as finally approved by City of Dubuque, the Application shall serve as the work plan of the organization and shall become part of the Contract with the City of Dubuque. The Applicant certifies: • Agreement to submit further documents as required by the City of Dubuque to determine project and organization eligibility; and • Agreement to submit a Final Report; and • Agreement to maintain any other specific records, as may be determined necessary by the City of Dubuque, to the overall evaluation of the project; and • Agreement to comply with all federal, state and local regulations governing the project and use of grant funds; and • Agreement that no costs incurred for the program prior to authorization by the City of Dubuque shall be reimbursable and that any funds not spent during the contract period for the project or after the project is completed will be forfeited; and • Agreement that the City of Dubuque will fund no more than 50% of the final project budget submitted in the Final Report; and • Agreement that in the case the project is not completed as planned, the amount of disbursed funds will be promptly remitted to the City of Dubuque. Name of executive director, chair, or other person certified to sign on behalf of the organization: Date: For more information, contact: Jan Stoffel, Arts and Cultural Affairs Coordinator 50 West 13th Street Dubuque, IA 52001 IanstoffCa7cityofdubuque.orq (563) 690 -6064 4 2014 Special Project Support Grant City of Dubuque Arts and Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission Reviewing Commissioner: Applicant: Project Title: Commissioners: Please score the application only on each of the following criteria by circling a single value. Please do not leave any criteria blank and do not assign more than one number per criteria. Please illustrate your scores with specific remarks that may be forwarded to the applicants, including ways in which the applicant could have improved their responses. The total number of possible points is 100. RATING CRITERIA: 1. Special Project Description: How well is the project explained? (10 points) Does not adequately explain the project. Adequately explains the project. Does an excellent job of explaining the project. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Rating Comments: 2. Mission and Goals: How well does the project address the organization's mission and the purpose and goals of the grant program? (15 points) Does not adequately explain how the project addresses the mission and at least one goal of the grant program. Adequately explains how the project addresses the mission and at least one goal of the grant program. Does an excellent job of explaining how the project addresses the mission and at least one goal of the grant program. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Rating Comments: 3. Artistic Merit: Is there potential of the project to advance the caliber of the arts in the community? (10 points) The project shows little potential to advance the caliber of the arts in our community. The project shows potential to advance the caliber of the arts in our community. The project shows significant potential to advance the caliber of the arts in our community. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Rating Comments: 4. Quality: How do the project's concepts, leaders, artists, and collaborators demonstrate quality and best practices? Names, qualifications and level of expected involvement are explained. (15 points) The application is unclear about The application is clear about The application is exceedingly how the project's ideas, leaders, artists, and collaborators will how the project's ideas, leaders, artists, and collaborators will clear about how the project's ideas, leaders, artists, and demonstrate quality and best demonstrate quality and best collaborators will demonstrate practices. It is unclear the names, qualifications and level of expected involvement of practices. It is clear the names, qualifications and level of expected involvement of quality and best practices. It is exceedingly clear the names, qualifications and level of collaborators. collaborators. expected involvement of collaborators. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Rating Comments: 5. Importance: Is the value to target audiences, the organization, the City of Dubuque and its residents and visitors explained? (10 points It is unclear what the project's value to target audiences, the organization, the City of Dubuque and its residents and visitors will be. It is clear what the project's value to target audiences, the organization, the City of Dubuque and its residents and visitors will be. It is exceedingly clear what the project's value to target audiences, the organization, the City of Dubuque and its residents and visitors will be. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Rating Comments: 6. Access: Is there potential for the project to reach new and underserved audiences and increase availability to diverse groups? (15 points) The project shows little potential to reach new and underserved audiences and increase availability to diverse groups. The project shows potential to reach new and underserved audiences and increase availability to diverse groups. The project shows significant potential to reach new and underserved audiences and increase availability to diverse groups. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Rating Comments: 7. Evaluation: How will the project be evaluated? (10 points) The project does not include an adequate evaluation tool. The project includes an adequate evaluation tool. The project includes an excellent evaluation tool. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Rating Comments: 8. Feasibility: What is the likelihood the project will be successful based on careful event and financial planning? (15 points) The project will unlikely be successful based on event and financial planning. The project will likely be successful based on event and financial planning. The project will most likely be successful based on event and financial planning. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Rating Comments: ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Commissioners are free to include general comments and suggestions for the applicant outside of the rated criteria. SCORING SUMMARY CRITERIA POINTS 1. Project Description 2. Mission and Goals 3. Artistic Merit 4. Quality 5. Importance 6. Access 7. Evaluation 8. Feasibility TOTAL POINTS