|
CITY OF VANCOUVER ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT |
Date: |
March 19, 2004 | |
Author: |
Lorenz von Fersen | |
Phone No.: |
604.871.6005 | |
RTS No.: |
04056 | |
CC File No.: |
2151 | |
Meeting Date: |
April 8, 2004 |
TO: |
Standing Committee on City Services and Budgets |
FROM: |
Director, Office of Cultural Affairs |
SUBJECT: |
2004 Celebration Grant Recommendations, Spring Deadline |
RECOMMENDATION
THAT Council approve Celebration Grants to the 15 organizations listed in Tables 1 and 2, totalling $51,250. Source of funds to be the 2004 Celebration Grant program budget.
CITY MANAGER COMMENTS
The City Manager recommends approval, noting that in the program's first year Celebration Grants have helped 18 organizations to present celebrations, festivals and parades enjoyed by more than 200,000 residents and visitors. These events contribute to a sense of community among residents of diverse cultures, ages and interests and were held in neighbourhoods across the City. The Advisory Committee's suggestion that staff seek Council's views on support for community based sports events will be included in the report-back to Council requested in the recently-approved Special Events Policies and Procedures Report from the General Manager of Engineering Services.
COUNCIL POLICY
Council approved creation of the Celebration Grants program in October 2002 in order to support community-based celebrations in Vancouver. In July 2003, Council added a "service grants" component to assist large community parades by offsetting up to 50% of their civic service costs up to a specified maximum sum.
Approval of grant recommendations requires eight affirmative votes.
PURPOSE
This Report recommends grants to 15 organizations, discusses the evaluation and selection process used, and appends a description of all applications (limited distribution) and the program guidelines (Appendix B). Further, the program's advisory committee recommends Council receive staff comment on potential support for community-based sports events.
BACKGROUND
Council established the Celebration Grants program as a means of assisting community-based cultural festivals, celebrations and parades. Two forms of assistance are provided:
Cash grants: targets costs of enhancing cultural programs, delivering city-wide publicity, and engaging operational expertise.
Service grants: targets City service costs (police and engineering) of major parades which otherwise meet the program criteria.
Since the program's inception in spring 2003, 19 events were approved, one was cancelled, and two (Vaisakhi Parade and Earth Day at Everett Crowley Park) will take place in April 2004. The program supported neighbourhood celebrations such as the Wales Street Heritage Fair in Killarney/Fraserview and Canada Day events in Crab Park and Hastings Park. Large scale events included the August Moon festival in the Renfrew Ravine; the Winter Lantern procession around False Creek; and the Chinese New Year and Pride parades. Over 200,000 residents and visitors attended these events. Organizers recognized the value of Celebration Grants by thanking the City in their printed programs, by displaying the City logo on posters and ads, and by publicly thanking Council during their events.
In advance of this year's March 1 application deadline, brochures were widely distributed to community agencies and organizations and ads were placed in the Georgia Straight and Vancouver Courier. These invited the public to an evening information meeting and directed readers to the web site giving the grant guidelines. A total of 29 applications for cash grants were received, an increase of 45% from than last year's spring deadline total. The requests totalled $140,075.
The annual program budget is $101,500, with $76,000 available for cash grants, divided over two deadlines. Up to $47,500 was available for cash grants at the March deadline; the balance is held for the September deadline. A budget of $25,500 is available for city service grants for major parades. One request for $9,000 was received.
All applications were screened for technical issues or site requirements by staff from Cultural Affairs, Park Board and Engineering. This screening precedes the formal application and approval process required by Park Board or the FEST Committee before any grants are actually disbursed. There were no major technical issues requiring revisions to the proposals. Staff note that many requests came from first-time applicants who are just starting to develop the potential of their events. More intensive staff interaction to orient and advise applicants before the deadline may be beneficial.
The applications were then evaluated by a five member program advisory committee of individuals familiar with community-based special events, supported by OCA staff. The panellists rated the submissions for the best fit between the application and the Celebration Grant program goals and criteria. This report reflects the consensus of the committee members. The members were:
Sidney Sawyer |
Manager, Community Programs, VanCity Community Foundation |
Bob Eberle |
Associate Professor, Theatre Dept. UBC; advisor - Park Board's Neighbourhood Matching Fund and DTES Community Play |
Terry Hunter |
Community artist; Producer, DTES Community Play; Executive Director, Strathcona Artists at Home festival |
Gwen Kallio |
Arts consultant and publicist; former Co-ordinator, Artist-in-Community project and former Director of Vancouver Storytelling Festival |
Nancy Li |
Multicultural consultant; facilitator - Chinatown Revitalization; ESL instructor |
DISCUSSION
Funding is recommended for 15 applications, with priority given to projects that:
· Identified unique opportunities for the public in their event programmes;
· Demonstrated strong community support and involvement;
· Presented a clear event plan and budget.
During the evaluation process, the program advisory committee reviewed an application from the Stanley Park Bike Festival and noted that sports events are not eligible for Celebration Grants. However, the Committee also noted that community-based not for profit events like the Bike Festival offer the public an opportunity to participate in sports and recreation activity while highlighting education, safety, transportation and the environmental issues. Partnerships between sports and recreational events of this type may help in achieving City policy objectives and the Committee therefore recommended that the specific needs of such organizations be considered by Council.
Table 1
Cash Grants
Organization |
Requested |
Recommended |
Cedar Cottage N.H. Intertribal Powow |
$5,000 |
$3,000 |
Chilean Cultural Institute of Canada |
$5,000 |
0 |
Crab - Water for Life Society |
$1,675 |
$1,500 |
Cyprus Community of BC |
$5,000 |
0 |
Downtown eastside Safety Society |
$5,000 |
$3,000 |
DR. Sun Yat-Sen Garden Society |
$5,000 |
$3,000 |
Dunbar Resident's Association |
$750 |
$750 |
Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture |
$5,000 |
0 |
Fiji Indian Association of BC |
$20,000 |
0 |
Hastings Park Conservancy |
$5,000 |
$4,000 |
Hellenic Canadian Congress |
$5,000 |
$3,000 |
Jewish Community Centre |
$5,000 |
0 |
Latin Summer Fest (Latinos in Action Van. Found'n) |
$3,200 |
$3,000 |
Little Mountain Neighbourhood House |
$4,000 |
0 |
Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House |
$2,500 |
$2,500 |
Outdoor Recreation Council of BC |
$5,000 |
0 |
Renfrew Ravine C'tee (Joyce Stn. Area Planning C'tee |
$5,000 |
$5,000 |
S.U.C.C.E.S.S. |
$5,000 |
0 |
South Asian Family Association |
$5,000 |
$3,500 |
South Van NH (Wales St. Heritage Fair) |
$3,000 |
$1,500 |
Stanley Park Bike Festival Society |
$5,000 |
0 |
Summer Sundays Society |
$5,000 |
0 |
Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre |
$1,500 |
0 |
Vancouver Community Festival Society |
$5,000 |
0 |
Vancouver Metis Association |
$4,950 |
$2,000 |
Vancouver Multicultural Society |
$3,000 |
0 |
Vancouver Pride Society |
$5,000 |
$5,000 |
Vancouver Wooden Boat Society |
$5,500 |
1,500 |
West Coast Childcare Resource Centre |
$5,000 |
0 |
Total |
$140,075 |
$42,250 |
The Service grant recommended below is the maximum contribution available to the organization to meet the cost of police and engineering services. The grant is capped at 50% of actual City service costs. The final City contribution may therefore be lower than the maximum shown.
Table 2
City services Grants
Organization |
Requested |
Recommended |
Vancouver Pride Society |
$9,000 |
$9,000 |
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The 2004 Celebration Grants program budget approved by Council is $101,500. Funds are dedicated to a cash grant component of $76,000 and a service grant component of $25,500. If the Recommendation is approved $42,250 in cash grants will be allocated, leaving a balance of $33,750 available for the fall deadline. Further, approval of $9,000 for one service grant at this time will leave a balance of $16,500 for future requests from major parades.
CONCLUSION
The Celebration Grant program has had a successful first year and significantly improved the capacity of community organizers to present events for Vancouver residents and visitors. The program has proven to be sufficiently flexible to meet the needs of local neighbourhood or community-specific cultural festivals, larger celebrations attracting city-wide audiences, and major parades serving residents and visitors. Many of the organizations are first time applicants and staff will continue to adapt the program to make it more accessible while encouraging organizations to become more sustainable over time. The excellence and dedication of the community advisory committee members has made notable contribution to the success of the program to date. The committee's recommendation that City support for community-based sporting events warrants further examination will be addressed in a forthcoming report-back to Council. The Director, Office of Cultural Affairs recommends Council approval of this report.
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