Vancouver City Council |
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: March 10, 2003
Author: A. NiwinskiPhone: 604-871-6007
RTS: 3196CC File No. 2051
Council: March 25, 2003
TO:
Vancouver City Council
FROM:
Director, Office of Cultural Affairs
SUBJECT:
2003 Cultural Grants: Operating and Project Grant Allocations
RECOMMENDATION
THAT Council approve 77 Operating Grants amounting to $1,292,000 and 28 Project Grants amounting to $98,900, as listed in Appendix A, for a total of $1,390,900, including two conditional grants as noted. Source of funds to be the 2003 Cultural Grants budget.
COMMENTS
The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of the foregoing.
COUNCIL POLICY
Council established the annual civic grants program in March 1978. City Council confirmed the criteria used in assessing Cultural Grant applications on February 3, 1987, and approved the Operating, Project, Organizational Development and Theatre Rental grant categories on December 14, 1989, and Diversity Initiatives on July 28, 1998.
On November 22, 1994, Council approved a two-step grant approval process whereby undisputed staff recommendations are approved first (and are the subject of this report), while applications under reconsideration are given a second review and are presented to Council at a later date.
Approval of grant recommendations requires eight affirmative votes.
SUMMARY
As listed in Appendix A, this report recommends approval of 105 Operating and Project grants totalling $1,390,900. The recommendations include any advance installments already approved by Council on January 14, 2003. The two conditional grants are identified on page 5 of Appendix A.
Not included in Appendix A is one applicant requesting reconsideration, as identified in Appendix B. This application will be considered by Council in a separate report scheduled for April 24, 2003.
Appendix C provides detailed guidelines for the Operating and Project grant programs.
Appendix D consists of the front pages of the applications, with staff recommendations and comments for increases, decreases, no funding and conditional grants (Limited Distribution; on file in City Clerk's Office).
PURPOSE
This report presents staff recommendations for 117 grant applications. It covers all Operating grant requests for 2003, and Project grant requests received for the first of two annual deadlines.
BACKGROUND
This year, 80 Operating and 40 Project grant applications were received. Two Operating grant requests were referred to the Project grant category, and three Project applicants withdrew. The remaining 78 Operating requests and 39 Project requests that staff reviewed amounted to $1,937,800.
Operating grants are designed to help large and small arts organizations develop the stability they need to provide ongoing quality programming. Project grants are intended for emerging arts groups, one-time initiatives, and organizations that work on a project-by-project basis. Staff recommendations are based on clearly articulated eligibility and evaluation criteria for the two programs (detailed in Appendix C), including: artistic merit and distinctiveness, community impact and accessibility, organizational and financial competence, and financial need.
Request for Reconsideration Process:
The Request for Reconsideration process was approved by Council in 1994 to ensure a consistent process for reconsidering grant recommendations at the request of applicants, allowing adequate time for organizations to make a case and for staff to provide Council with a written response. Council may also want to refer grant requests to the Reconsideration process. Under current policy, grants referred to the process are assessed on the basis of two established grounds: (1) that eligibility criteria have not been properly applied and/or (2) that the financial situation of the applicant was not properly evaluated or understood at the time of the grant review.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
On February 27, 2003, Council approved an interim 2003 Cultural Grants budget ceiling that designated $1,295,000 for the Operating category and $135,900 for the Project category, for a total of $1,430,900.
As summarized in Table 1, initial staff recommendations were for 77 Operating grants and 28 Project grants, amounting to $1,390,900, leaving a total of $40,000 for the second Project grant deadline in June.
After applicants were notified of these recommendations in writing, one organization ( which was not recommended for a grant in this round) requested reconsideration (see Appendix B). This organization is not included in the recommendations presented for Council's approval in this report, but has been referred to the Reconsideration process, which staff will report on in late April. In addition, any recommendations in this report that Council wishes to reconsider may also be referred to the Reconsideration process. Table 1 summarizes the financial implications of staff recommendations for all 117 grant requests received, of which 105 are recommended for funding.
Table 1
Recommendations for 2003Operating & Project Grants
No. of Requests
Total Requested
Total Recommend.
No. Recommen.
Unallocated Balance
Operating
78
$1,661,500
$1,292,000
77
$3,000
Project
39
$276,300
$98,900
28
$37,000
Total
117
$1,937,800
$1,390,900
105
$40,000
DISCUSSION
Key considerations in the staff recommendations in this report were the importance of supporting community access to a range of cultural experiences throughout the city, the need to strengthen the organizational infrastructure of the non-profit arts community, and the value of providing assistance to innovative and culturally diverse organizations, including a number of emerging groups.
While the City's capacity to fund new applicants is limited, five are recommended for project funding this year: Alibi Unplugged Script Reading Series Society, Cristal Pite Dance, Full Figure Theatre for the busTin'ouT festival, Screaming Weenie Productions and the Vancouver Afro Rhythms Society. Staff comments on grant recommendations to these applicants, as well as for increases, decreases, no grants and conditional approval, are provided in Appendix D (Limited Distribution; on file in City Clerk's Office).
A summary of staff recommendations for all 117 applicants compared to those in previous years is provided in Table 2.
Table 2
Overview of Recommendations
for Operating and Project Grants
2003*
2002
2001
2000
1999
Total No. of Groups
117*
135
138
129
131
Not recommended
12
17
24
13
22
Recommended:
105
118
114
116
109
decreased from last year
6
8
8
14
9
held at same level
47
54
50
52
70
increased over last year
40
40
38
33
15
new or not funded last year
12
16
18
17
15
* First Project deadline only: the final numbers for 2003 are therefore incomplete.
CONCLUSION
This is the main report on Operating and Project grants scheduled for 2003. A report covering applications received for the second Project grant deadline will be presented to Council in July. Reports on other Cultural Grant programs, including Diversity Initiatives, Arts Partners in Organizational Development and 2002/2003 Theatre Rental grants (which are the primary source of civic support for regular users of the
Civic Theatres) will be presented later in the year.
LINK TO APPENDICES A TO C (APPENDIX D ON FILE IN CITY CLERK'S OFFICE)
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