LTC 098-2006 Cultural Arts Council Grants Changes
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MIAMI BEACH
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
NO. LTC # 098-2006
LETTER TO COMMISSION
FROM:
Mayor David Dermer and Members olthe City cop~O~
Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manager \.r-"-6
April 6, 2006 U
TO:
DATE:
SUBJECT: Cultural Arts Council Grants Changes
This Letter to Commission is to inform you of changes made to this year's cultural grants
program. As you may know, each year the Cultural Arts Council (CAC) and staff review the
cultural grants program to see how it might be improved and strengthened. This evaluation
includes feedback from panelists, grantees, and colleagues. This information, together with
recommendations voiced by Council Members and staff at the CAC's July 2005 retreat, led
to a number of recommendations that were subsequently approved by the CAC.
For the FY 06/07 cultural grant program cycle, the CAC has approved two significant
changes designed to increase competition, eliminate any potential inequities and maximize
the impact of grant dollars. It is anticipated that these changes will result in fewer but larger,
more significant grants with greater return for Miami Beach's residents and visitors.
The first change involves the process for the allocation of grant funds. In previous years, the
available grant funds were divided up amongst the various grant programs prior to the panel
meetings. Individual panels for each program scored the applicants in that program and
recommended funding accordingly, awarding all of the grant funds allocated to them. As a
result, if one category had several strong applications, none could receive full funding since
allotted funds had to be divided proportionately; similarly, if there were no high-scoring
applications in a given category, some weak applications were funded simply because the
money was there to spend. To eliminate this inequity, the CAC has amended the program
so that all applicants compete for the same pool of funds. Therefore, funds will no longer be
pre-allocated by discipline, leveling the playing field by having all applicants compete against
each other. Therefore, funding recommendations will be removed from initial panel
meetings. Once all applications in all categories have been scored by the panel, the
applications will be ranked from high to low and funded from the top down until all funds are
dispersed. For example, an application with a score of 95 would be recommended to
receive 95% of requested funding; a score of 92 would receive 92%, and so on until the
money runs out. As a result only the strongest applications, regardless of category, will be
funded.
This change necessitates another. In prior years two CAC members sat on each panel
alongside two to four community "experts" with their own criteria and approach to judging
and scoring. Some panels were very generous with scores while others were far more
critical. Now that all applicants compete for the same pool of funds, in the interest of
fairness it is important that all applicants be judged by the same panel. The eleven
members of the CAC have agreed to undertake that responsibility, insuring that each
application is treated in a fair and consistent manner, and that the grants awarded are in
keeping with the mission and goals of the CAC and City.
While these changes may be seen as placing more emphasis on quality product and less on
artistic support, the CAC is underscoring its commitment to artistic development in two key
ways. It is distinguishing between creating art and presenting art by restricting Artistic
Disciplines applicants to artists/performers only, moving others formerly in this category to
the Cultural Presenters program. Further, funding in Artistic Disciplines is now limited to
project-specific grants supporting only new work or work being presented for the first time in
Miami Beach. Maximum request amounts are based on project budgets rather than
organization budgets to encourage smaller organizations to undertake larger projects in the
City.
Finally, a new program, Cultural Heritage, has been instituted to support arts programming
at resident organizations not primarily arts-oriented but devoted to presenting, preserving
and/or protecting the diverse cultural heritage of Miami Beach. The CAC firmly believes that
these changes will increase the impact of the cultural grants program by being more
responsive to the needs of our resident and visitor audiences.
JMG\HF\MAS\gf
c: Hilda Fernandez, Assistant City Manager
Max A. Sklar, Tourism and Cultural Development Director
Gary Farmer, Cultural Affairs Program Manager
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