ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: March 19, 1996
Dept. File No. AN
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: Director of the Office of Cultural Affairs
SUBJECT: 1996 Cultural Grants -
Operating and Project Grant Allocations
RECOMMENDATION
THAT Council approve 87 Operating Grants totalling $1,342,000 and
27 Project Grants totalling $ 51,000, as listed in Appendix A,
for a total of $1,393,000, including conditions on grants, where
noted; source of funds to be the 1996 Cultural Grants budget.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Community Services submits the foregoing
for CONSIDERATION.
COUNCIL POLICY
City Council confirmed the criteria used in assessing Cultural Grant
applications on February 3, 1987, and approved the current Cultural
Grant categories (Operating, Project, Grants Equal to Rent and
Incentive grants) on December 14, 1989.
On November 22, 1994, City Council approved a new two-step grant
approval process whereby staff recommendations not in dispute are
approved first (and are the subject of this report), while
applications being reconsidered are given a second review and are
presented for Council approval at a later date.
Approval of grant recommendations requires eight affirmative votes.
SUMMARY
As listed alphabetically in Appendix A, staff recommend approval of 87
Operating Grants and 27 Project Grants for a total of $1,393,000 to
114 organizations. Not included in this list of recommendations are
six applicants who have requested reconsideration, as indicated in
Appendix B. Their applications will be considered by Council on April
25.
The recommendations presented for Council's consideration in this
report, together with the recommendations for applicants requesting
reconsideration, amount to $1,398,800, leaving an unallocated balance
of $18,085 as detailed in Table I. All recommendations include any
advance instalments already approved by Council.
Appendix C provides a summary of all 1996 Operating and Project grant
recommendations by activity (those considered in this report, as well
as those that will be reconsidered later), compared to grants in
previous years.
In addition, a package of the front pages of all the applications,
with staff comments, was sent to each member of City Council in
advance.
PURPOSE
This report recommends 1996 Cultural Grant allocations in the
Operating and Project categories for all applications that have
not been referred to the reconsideration process.
DISCUSSION
Requests and Recommendations
In approving the 1996 Cultural Grants budget ceiling on February 1,
1996, Council allocated $1,361,885 for Operating Grants and $55,000
for Project Grants, for a total of $1,416,885. For this year, 143
Operating and Project grant requests amounting to $1,950,405 were
received.
Staff initially recommended approval of 120 grant requests received
this year: 89 Operating grants and 31 Project grants. Applicants were
notified of these recommendations, and six have requested
reconsideration: three not recommended for grants, and three
recommended for grants. In addition, any grant recommendations in
this report not approved by Council will be referred to the
reconsideration process, so that applicants may have the opportunity
to speak to Council's concerns.
At this time, therefore, staff are recommending approval of the 114
grants totalling $1,393,000, which are not undergoing reconsideration
(listed in Appendix A).
A summary of the Director's funding recommendations for all
applicants, together with the unallocated balance in the Operating and
Project Grants budgets is provided in Table I, following.
TABLE I
FUNDING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ALL APPLICANTS
Current Requests for Total Unallocated
Recommend. Reconsider. Recommend. Balance
Operating $1,342,000 $2,800 $1,344,800 $17,085
Project
$ 51,000 $3,000 $ 54,000 $ 1,000
TOTAL $1,393,000 $5,800 $1,398,800 $18,085
Criteria
The City's Cultural Project and Operating grant programs focus on
supporting non-profit artistic and cultural organizations that
primarily benefit the residents of Vancouver. Funding is not
available for touring and travel activities, nor for cultural
industries such as book publishing, sound recording and film-making.
In reviewing cultural grants, staff assess each applicant on two
different levels:
1. evaluating an organization's basic eligibility,
administrative competence, financial status and
program quality, and
2. considering the applicant in the context of
similar types of organizations, and of the
cultural community as a whole.
In looking at the role an organization plays in the community, one
question is the extent of its involvement with other cultural
organizations and the community at large. Broad community access,
including access for young audiences and diverse communities is also
important. Another question is that of "niche." How distinctive is
the artistic programming of a producing or presenting company? Is a
cultural service organization addressing a need not currently
addressed in the community?
Overview of Recommendations
A summary of this year's recommendations for new grants, increases,
decreases, no grants or grants at the same level, compared to those in
previous years is provided in Table II, following.
TABLE II
OVERVIEW OF RECOMMENDATIONS
Operating and Project Grants
No. of No.of No.of No.of
Groups Groups Groups Groups
1996 1995 1994 1993
Not recommended
23 30 22 27
Decreased grants 8 12 14 10
Grants held at same level
62 44 60 41
Increased grants
34 44 27 57
New grants
16 16 13 14
TOTAL 143 146 136 149
The most common reasons for recommending no grant are that an
organization fails to meet eligibility criteria, that there are
serious questions about the financial feasibility of a proposal, or
that the City is funding another organization involved in very similar
activities.
A decrease or no grant has been recommended if there is a problem with
the quality of an applicant's programming, if the organization has
significantly reduced its level of activity in Vancouver this year, or
if there are more appropriate sources of support for an applicants
activities.
An increase has been recommended where there is evidence of increased
activities and costs, especially related to community outreach, new
artistic directions, and organizational improvements in young,
developing arts groups.
Recommendations for new grants - all in the Project category - reflect
the two priorities identified by the Vancouver Arts Initiative:
support for innovation and new directions, and for the cultural
activity of distinct communities.
CONCLUSION
This report, and the reconsideration report to be considered on April
25th, are the main reports on Operating and Project grants scheduled
for 1996. A limited number of Project grants will be reviewed, if
appropriate, throughout the year. Reports on the other Cultural Grant
programs are scheduled for later in the year: Grants Equal to Rent in
July, Organizational Development and Cross-Cultural grants in the
fall.
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