DEPARTMENT: Department of Arts & Culture
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Debbie Racca-Sittre
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: All Council Districts
SUBJECT: Arts Agency Funding Guidelines component of 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 Agency Funding Guidelines which are in the final stages, a Music Plan, and Cultural Districts Framework which will be completed in the fall of 2018. The Department of Arts & Culture led a public process that has assessed and informed the plan to determine how the City of San Antonio will meet the community vision for implementation of future cultural programming while ensuring cultural equity is achieved.
The Arts Agency Funding Guidelines component of the Cul-TÚ-Art Plan will focus on funding allocations being distributed with an equity lens. The guidelines will provide a policy and process for the City to fund qualifying San Antonio based non-profit arts agencies in the following categories: Festivals, Artist Re-granting, Base Operational Support, Cultural Specific Support and Capacity Building to qualifying San Antonio based non-profit arts agencies. The next arts funding application process for arts agencies begins immediately following the adoption of these guidelines.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The Cul-TÚ-Art Plan is intended to guide the City of San Antonio’s investments in arts and culture with an equity lens to 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 and has adopted a Vision Statement, Guiding Principles and a Statement on Cultural Equity. The Vision of the Cul-TÚ-Art Plan is that San Antonio will be internationally celebrated as a confluence of living arts & authentic cultures. Our City will inspire local participation, inclusion and pride in all its arts, and create economic conditions where artists and the arts thrive.
One of the traditional functions of the Department of Arts & Culture has been the distribution of funds to local non-profit arts organizations to enrich the quality of life in San Antonio for residents and visitors. The funds distributed through the Arts Funding process comes from Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT). By state law, up to 15% of the local HOT collections can be utilized to fund arts and cultural activities. However, this 15% allocation to the arts, per the Financial Policies adopted by City Council, takes place after debt service payment from the overall HOT collections occurs for the Convention Center Expansion Project. As required by the Esperanza Consent Decree that was approved by City Council on October 18, 2001, all arts funding guidelines that relate to the distribution of these funds through a public process must be reviewed in a public forum, adopted by City Council and thereafter adhered to. The Department of Arts & Culture was previously operating under Arts Funding Guidelines that were adopted by City Council in 2014.
A professionally administered survey of a representative sample of three key stakeholder groups, residents, visitors, and arts patrons, was 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 detailed stakeholder feedback workshops to collect feedback on the arts agency funding guidelines.
ISSUE:
Four key objectives of the Cul-TÚ-Art Plan are: 1) Cultural Equity, 2) Economic Development, 3) Accessibility, and 4) Innovation and Collaboration.
The Arts Agency Funding Guidelines component of the Cul-TÚ-Art Plan will focus on funding allocations being distributed with an equity lens. Major changes to the guidelines include: Creates certainty and reduces risk by increasing the funding cycle from 2 year to 3 years, removing competition from operational grants and stabilizing funding by capping increases/decrease from prior year at 25%. Creates a special cultural equity funding category for agencies whose mission is to preserve or promote specific women/minority cultures. The guidelines will allow for greater collaboration, board diversity, accessibility and accountability. To be eligible for funding, organizations must meet criteria in the areas of collaboration, diversity, professional artist payment policy, accessibility, audience engagement, artistic excellence, and administrative capability.
The guidelines will provide funding to non-profit arts agencies in the areas of: Festivals, Artist Re-Granting, Base Operational Support, Capacity Building, and Cultural Specific Support.
1. Festivals - This grant supports the objectives of Accessibility and Innovation & Collaboration and is an event-based grant available to non-profit arts organizations to further the presentation, production and preservation of arts and cultural programs that are unique to the San Antonio experience.
2. Artist Re-granting - The San Antonio Arts Commission, in its Vision for Cul-TU-Art prioritized “…create economic conditions where artists & the arts thrive.” This grant supports the objective of Economic Development and are available to non-profit arts organizations whose mission is the funding of local professional artist advancement. The goal of the Artist Re-granting program is to enhance both the creative vitality of our community and the awareness that San Antonio is an excellent destination for artists of all genres to live and work.
3. Capacity Building - This program supports the plan objectives of Economic Development and Equity, and is intended to assist arts organizations with administrative capacity, in various forms such as: technical knowledge, marketing assistance, marketing plans, strategic plans, and other development to perform effectively, efficiently and sustain this performance over an extended period.
4. Cultural Specific Support - This operational grant supports the plan objectives of Accessibility and Equity and is intended to provide funding for organizations whose specific mission includes promoting, preserving and enhancing the identity and character of a specific Cultural Community and/or cultural heritage and are the primary presenter of the work. These grants are calculated on a percentage of the organization’s operational expense budget and are only available to arts organizations whose mission is specific to women and minority communities.
5. Base Operational Support -- This operational grant supports the plan objectives of Equity, Accessibility, Collaboration & Innovation and will assist arts and cultural organizations with general operating expenses of arts programming for the citizens of San Antonio. Organizations funded in Base Operational Support must demonstrate high quality arts programming, operate with professional management and artistic staff, have a track record of stable operations, have a policy on payment of Professional Artists, provide a Board Diversity Plan or record of Board diversity, ensure their events are accessible to underserved populations, demonstrate a positive impact on the community through positive audience engagement, collaborate with other arts or community organizations and demonstrate artistic excellence and innovative programming. These grants are calculated on a percentage of the organization’s operational expense budget and are prioritized for small organizations.
If approved, the proposed Arts Funding Guidelines will inform the next Arts Funding process for non-profit arts agencies beginning March 2018.
ALTERNATIVES:
Should City Council choose not approve the new recommended Arts Funding Guidelines, the department will continue to operate under its current policy guidelines which are outdated and do not have a focus on equity.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This Ordinance has no fiscal impact as these guidelines will be used to award funding for arts agencies in the FY 2019 Budget as part of the Department of Arts & Culture allocation of Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff and the San Antonio Arts Commission recommend that City Council approve this ordinance adopting the Arts Agency Funding Guidelines, a component of the Cul-TU-Art Plan.