Agenda Index City of Vancouver

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO:

Vancouver City Council

FROM:

Director, Office of Cultural Affairs

SUBJECT:

2002 Arts Partners in Organizational Development Grant Allocation

 

RECOMMENDATION

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS:

COUNCIL POLICY:

Approval of grant recommendations requires eight affirmative votes.

PURPOSE

This report recommends approval of the City's contribution to the Arts POD program for six cultural organizations based in Vancouver, approval of a grant for a collaborative organizational development workshop and for an audience development initiative.

BACKGROUND

Organizational Development grants
The Organizational Development category of the 2002 Cultural Grants provides for the City's contribution to the Art Partners in Organizational Development program, and additional funds for collaborative Organizational Development initiatives related to staff training, operational issues, long-term planning or audience development initiatives.

The Arts Partners in Organizational Development program (Arts POD) was initiated in 1989 as a jointly funded partnership of the Vancouver Foundation, United Way, Department of the Secretary of State and the City of Vancouver to help arts and community non-profit groups deal with common organizational problems and thus to function more effectively.

The program continues to be a jointly funded partnership. In 1997 the arts component of the program (Arts POD) grew to include the BC Arts Council alongside the City, the Vancouver Foundation and the Department of Canadian Heritage. The Capital Regional District (Victoria, Oak Bay, Esquimalt, Saanich) joined the program this year.

Arts POD is administered by the Vancouver Arts Stabilization Team (VAST), whose specialty is organizational development work in the arts sector. Staff note that the Government of Canada is establishing a national arts stabilization program in recognition of the value of organizational development work in the sector. The program should be in place in 2003, and, accompanied by the work VAST is doing, will enhance the organizational development resources available to Vancouver arts groups.

DISCUSSION

A. ARTS POD requests

Requests are assessed on the basis of eligible activities and costs, documented need, clear activity plan and long term benefits to the organization as a whole. Copies of the 2002 ArtsPOD brochure describing the program, including eligibility and evaluation criteria, are attached as Appendix A.

Although the program is province-wide, City funds are allocated only to Vancouver-based organizations, while the other funders contribute both to Vancouver groups and non-Vancouver groups. The contributions to the Arts POD funding partnership are set out below.

Arts POD funding partners:

City of Vancouver

$15,000

Capital Regional District

10,000

Vancouver Foundation

25,000

B.C. Arts Council

25,000

Dept. Canadian Heritage

25,000

TOTAL

$100,000

Of the 23 grant requests received for all of BC, 10 came from Vancouver organizations who requested a total of $52,500. City funds are used only for organizations active in Vancouver, with additional support being provided from the other funding partners.

The following Vancouver cultural organizations are recommended for Arts POD grants. Where organizational assessments are indicated, these will be managed by the Vancouver Arts Stabilization Team, and involve an outside consultant usually working for a flat fee.

TABLE 1

Organization

Purpose

Request'd

Approved

City share

Children's Arts Umbrella Society

Plan for individual donor campaign following completion of their strategic plan

$8,000

$5,000

$3,500

First Van. Theatre Space Society (Fringe Festival)

Human resources plan for expanded operations, identified as need in assessment stage.

9,000

2,500

2,000

Full Circle: First Nations Performance Soc.

Organizational assessment

$2,500

$2,500

$2,000

Pro Musica Soc.

Problem definition, to clarify future options for small, board-run organization.

1,000

1,000

500

Public Dreams Society

Fundraising plan, follows up on recent strategic plan.

5,000

5,000

3,500

Van. International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art

for development of strategic plan.

10,000

5,000

3,500

Total

$ 35,500

$ 21,000

$ 15,000

Requests from the following organizations are not recommended at this time:

Cineworks Independent Filmakers Society

$ 5,000

Helen Pitt Gallery

$ 2,000

Roedde House Preservation Society

$ 4,000

Vancouver East Cultural Centre

$ 3,000

B. Other Organizational Development requests:

Two requests for collaborative organizational development initiatives have been received:

Electric Company Theatre Society

Electric Company has applied for a $6,000 grant to assist with a joint organizational and artistic development initiative by five of Vancouver's collective and creation-based theatre companies, including itself and Radix Theatre, Neworld Theatre, Felix Culpa, and Boca Del Lupo. The initiative will take the form of a five-day intensive workshop covering such topics as management strategies for collectives, budgeting for development, new revenues, marketing, sustainable development, approaches to collaboration, and touring.

The workshop will be open to interested participants outside the core group, and its proceedings will be documented and available to other arts organizations. In addition to City funding and the companies' own in-kind resources, assistance is being sought and will likely be secured from the Canada Council. Noting that some parts of this well-conceived initiative relate to artistic rather than organizational development issues, staff recommend a grant of $3,500.

Rumble Productions Society

Rumble production and Touchstone Theatre have jointly applied for $7,500 to launch an audience development initiative driven by their co-presentation of PuSh -- a new international performance series. The series consists of three innovative productions from Quebec, Alberta, and Australia, to be presented in early 2003. Rumble and Touchstone have built core audiences interested in new work, open to non-traditional formats and the use of audio-visual media. PuSh will provide these companies with the opportunity to pool their expertise and resources to target new, as well a shared audiences through substantial marketing and outreach, to increase box office revenues, and foster new corporate sponsorships. A grant of $4,500 is recommended for the audience development component of this series.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

The budget for the Organizational Development component of the 2002 Cultural Grant budget is $23,000, with $15,000 designated for Arts POD grants and $8,000 for other organizational development initiatives, including arts administration training and collaborative projects, and audience development initiatives. Approval of the recommendations in this report will leave no unallocated balance in this category.

CONCLUSION

Office of Cultural Affairs staff recommend approval of an Arts Partners in Organizational Development grant of $15,000 to the Vancouver Arts Stabilization Team for subsequent distribution to six cultural organizations as indicated in Table 1, a grant of $3,500 to the Electric Company Theatre for a collaborative organizational development workshop and a grant of $4,500 to Rumble Productions for a joint audience development initiative.

APPENDIX A

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