DEPARTMENT: Department of Arts & Culture
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Debbie Racca-Sittre
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: All Council Districts
SUBJECT: Briefing on the Cul-Tú-Art Plan
SUMMARY:
The Cul-TÚ-Art Cultural Plan is a coordinated planning document that is comprised of six focus areas including: Film and Centro de Artes which have already been completed, Public Art and Arts Funding Guidelines which are currently being coordinated, a Music Plan, and Cultural Districts Framework which will be completed in the fall of 2018. The Department of Arts & Culture is in the final stages of a public process that has assessed and informed the plan to determine how the City will invest its Art Funding dollars to meet the community vision for implementation of future cultural programming while ensuring cultural equity is achieved.
The Arts Funding Guidelines component of the Cul-TÚ-Art Plan will focus on funding allocations being distributed with an equity lens. The guidelines will provide: Base Operational Support, Capacity Building, and Cultural Specific Support to non-profit arts agencies. The Arts Funding Guidelines will go to City Council for consideration in February 2018.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The Cul-Tú-Art Plan is intended to guide the City of San Antonio’s investments in arts & culture delegate agencies and public art to provide equitable opportunities that encourage San Antonio’s arts community, residents and visitors to thrive in a culturally inclusive environment that celebrates San Antonio’s identity. The San Antonio Arts Commission is serving as the Steering Committee for the Plan.
The department partnered with the Mayor’s Office, San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the SABER Institute, and Texans for the Arts to kick-off the cultural planning process on October 11, 2017. The kick-off included a review of the state of the current creative economy, a visioning session, as well as a workshop on arts advocacy.
A professionally administered survey of a representative sample of three key stakeholder groups: residents, visitors and arts patrons has been completed with over 3,000 respondents. The department attended community meetings in each of the ten council districts to collect additional information regarding arts and culture. Additionally, the Cul-TÚ-Art plan is being informed by benchmarking with other cities and outlining a baseline of current art services which has been developed by staff and a consultant. The department hosted community workshops to collect feedback on the community survey, cultural equity, public art strategies, and arts funding guidelines. The Arts Funding Guidelines component of the Cul-TÚ-Art plan will replace the current Arts Funding Guidelines which were last adopted by City Council in 2014. The FY 2017-2018 Budget approved $6.3 million to 49 agencies.
ISSUE:
The Cul-Tú-Art Plan is intended to guide the City of San Antonio’s investments in arts & culture delegate agencies to provide equitable opportunities that encourage San Antonio’s arts community, residents and visitors to thrive in a culturally inclusive environment that celebrates San Antonio’s identity. The Arts Funding Guidelines component of the Cul-TÚ-Art Plan will focus on funding allocations being distributed with an equity lens. The guidelines will provide: Base Operational Support, Capacity Building, and Cultural Specific Support to non-profit arts agencies. The guidelines will allow for greater collaboration, diversity, equity, and accessibility. The Arts Funding Guidelines will be presented to City Council for consideration in February 2018.
ALTERNATIVES:
City Council could choose to not move forward with this planning effort. As a result, the department would continue to operate under its current policy guidelines and following a plan that is outdated and does not have a focus on equity.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The FY 2017 and FY 2018 Department of Arts & Culture budget includes a total of $150,000.00, to support the Cul-Tú-Art Planning efforts. These funds will be used for research and data collection, hosting the kick-off and community/stakeholder meetings, graphic design for the plan, technical review and oversight from the equity consultant.