Title
Fiscal Year 2024 Community Arts Support Grant Allocations (Ordinance S-50059)
Description
Request to authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to execute all necessary agreements between the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture (POAC) and approved applicants for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-24 General Support Program and Project Support Program grants in an aggregate amount of $1,450,346, as well as $225,000 for the Rental Support Program. Further request authorization for the City Controller to disburse all funds related to this item.
Report
Summary
The annual Community Arts Grants Program invests in nonprofit art and cultural organizations and groups to strengthen the community's access to cultural programming. Applications for the Community Arts Grants Program opened mid-February and were due April 3, 2023. Staff held multiple virtual orientations and met with prospective applicants to discuss questions about eligibility, what makes a competitive application, and the review and approval process. One hundred and thirteen applications were received, 110 were determined eligible for review by panels comprising laypersons, artists, arts professionals, and educators to ensure a thorough and unbiased review, and then scored for funding.
Through the agency's equity strategy, the POAC ensures outreach to all city areas and targets applicants from all disciplines, budget sizes, underrepresented populations, and City Council districts. Every year we see an increase in orientation and meeting participants, applicants, and applicants awarded. There is a ten percent increase in eligible applications from FY 2023 to FY 2024.
The Community Arts Grants Program includes three grant categories:
General Support Grants (GSG) provide core operating support to arts and cultural organizations of all sizes that have a primary mission to create, produce, or provide arts and cultural programming to enhance the quality of lives for Phoenix residents. All GSG applicants are required to have a prior year income of at least $4,000 and complete a full application to be reviewed by a grants panel.
GSG Goals
- Support arts and cultural opportunities among residents of all ages through education and outreach programs and opportunities for personal artistic expression and participation.
- Encourage broad-based, community-wide participation in arts and cultural activities resulting from diverse programming accessible to all residents.
- Sustain a community of organizations that are responsibly governed and managed, financially sound, and assist organizations that have reached a critical stage in artistic or institutional development by encouraging the identification of internal needs critical to the sustainability or growth of the organization.
Project Support Grants (PSG) promote and encourage the breadth of arts and cultural programming in our community by supporting large and small projects throughout the City of Phoenix. The program supports guest artist fees/expenses, production fees, and marketing expenses for arts and culture projects that engage Phoenix residents, including but not limited to art workshops, pop-up performances, and collaborations with artists. All PSG applicants must complete a full application to be reviewed by a grants panel.
PSG Goals
- Support arts and cultural projects across the City of Phoenix, especially artistic collaborations with full representation from all persons at the intersection of any age, race, culture, class, religion, sex, national origin, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression.
- Fund projects that support the artistic and cultural work of young people or projects which introduce youth to arts and culture in the City of Phoenix.
- Invest in projects that support and celebrate individual artists impacting the community.
The Rental Support Program (RSP), which had been on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, provides facility rental and security support to those cultural organizations that help revitalize the Phoenix downtown corridor through their presentations at the Herberger Theater Center, the Orpheum Theatre, and Phoenix Symphony Hall. POAC administers RSP in partnership with the Phoenix Convention Center that funds the program. Only organizations that have successfully applied and been awarded a GSG or PSG application may be considered for this program. RSP is unlike other funding, where applicants are to “make the case” for support. An organization’s merit is already verified through the annual review process for the GSG and PSG programs.
Fiscal Year 2024 Recommendations and Allocations
The Community Arts Grants Program has a total budget of $1,450,346 from the General Fund and $225,000 from the Phoenix Convention Center, which includes a one-time allocation of $100,000 to offset new security protocols at the Orpheum Theatre and Symphony Hall (Attachment A). Of the $1,450,346, GSG and PSG funding totaling $1,380,346 is allocated for 108 grants to 108 applicants (two out of the 110 applications scored too low by the review panel and not recommended for funding). The remaining $70,000 is allocated for twenty grants of $3,500 each in two subsequent special PSG cycles (Flash Grants) to artists and arts and culture organizations to present programming in under-invested areas in the city to ensure greater equitable geographic distributions of grant funding. The last Flash Grant cycle in FY 2023 yielded 14 grants, funding one project in Council District 1, six in District 3, and seven in Council District 5. Ultimately, FY 2024 General Fund dollars will yield 128 grant awards.
GSG applicants do not make specific funding requests. A review panel reviews like-sized budgeted organizations. Organizations receive award allocations determined by the ranking it receives in the panel. PSG applicants can receive up to $5,000 to fund their proposed project. POAC will work with the Phoenix Convention Center in the summer on the review and calculations of the RSP funding.
Concurrence/Previous Council Action
The Phoenix Arts and Culture Commission reviewed and approved the FY 2023-24 Community Arts Grants Program allocation recommendations at its meeting on June 13, 2023.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Inger Erickson and the Office of Arts and Culture.