Report from California Arts Council's 3/1/24 Public Meeting

California Arts Council 3-1-24 Meeting

Notes prepared by Teri Ball, Program Manager, CFTA

Summary notes –
CFTA has been tracking the program changes and voting items on our webpage, #FundCAArts as the programs and now guidelines are proposed and voted on. With this meeting that portion of the process concludes, and the next step will be appropriations which will be determined at a future meeting. We encourage everyone to stay involved and informed. Please contact Tracy Hudak, Director of Field Engagement, should you have any comments or concerns that you’d like us to be aware of, at  Tracy@caforthearts.org 

During the meeting the final set of guidelines for the Statewide and Regional Networks was approved as recommended by the Programs Policy Committee, including the change to cap eligible applicants to those with total annual revenue of $5 million dollars.  Complete details on this discussion and vote are included below.

Full agenda and 03/1/24 meeting packet are available on the CAC website.

It was noted in the meeting that applications are currently being accepted for Grant Review Panelists, applications can be submitted on the CAC website. The deadline is March 8.

The meeting began with a call to order land acknowledgement, and establishing a quorum. The meeting took place at The Center for Healthy Communities in Oakland. Alameda County Arts Commission Executive Director Rachel Osajima, and Oakland City Cultural Affairs Division Manager Roberto Bedoya each offered welcoming statements. CAC Vice Chair Leah Goodwin, presided over the meetings in the absence of Chair Roxanne Messina Captor. Vice Chair Leah Goodwin read a report from Chair Messina Captor and Executive Director Brazell provided a report.  The text of their remarks will be available in the meeting packet on the CAC website.  New members of the CAC Staff were introduced.

Note on Minutes from Director Brazell:
Director Brazell noted that of the four minutes October, December and February are fairly straightforward but November, where there were no voting items, read more like a transcript. The purpose of the minutes being that there is a record of the meeting, primarily around voting items including the items being voted on, discussion had, who voted on what and what passed. This sets forward the staff’s role in executing the Council’s policy decisions. It was noted that there is a new format for minutes and for recording of minutes, which hopefully will be more clear going forward.

Voting Item 8: Minutes from Previous Meetings:
The minutes from the Council Meetings on 10/25/23, 11/17/23, 12/12/23, and 2/1/24 were presented individually, discussed. The November minutes were tabled for further discussion because they were not included in the Council’s electronic package for the meeting.  The other three sets of minutes were approved.

Item 9– Presentation by Favianna Rodriguez of the Center for Cultural Power
Presented on the folk and traditional arts programs administered in partnership with the California Arts Council. 

Item 10 - Presentation by Amy Kitchener of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts
Presented on the folk and traditional arts programs administered in partnership with the California Arts Council.

Item 11 - General Public Comment There was a period of General Public Comment. that included numerous statements from members of the field from across the state. Without enumerating the contents of all of the comments, it is worth noting that multiple Council members noted during the meeting the impact that the Public Comment has.

Voting Item 12: 2024 Grant Programs Guidelines - Statewide and Regional Networks
Prior to the vote there was a presentation by CAC staff providing an overview of the Statewide and Regional Network program.

The Program Committee then presented an overview of the Proposed Guidelines.
Key technical updates include:
1) Clarifying the definition of a “network” and “an arts service organization;”
2) Requiring data collection, outreach and survey efforts to support the CAC’s 2025 program priorities;
3) Further delineating services and activities that might be provided with SRN funding.
4) limit the annual budget to organizations under $5 million
*It was noted in the opening remarks that the budget amount would exclude any amount they have that is “pass-through” or regranting funds. However, later in the meeting CAC staff confirmed that this was not how the TR would be determined.  That TR did include pass through and fiscally sponsored funds.
- During the discussion it was suggested that the revenue be based on a 3-year average instead of a single year.  The committee said they were open to this idea, but ultimately the staff pointed out that this is a change that would need to go through the Decision Support Tool to examine the implications and how it would work. Therefore since the Guidelines have to be passed today this change cannot be made at this point.
- It was noted in part that $5 million was selected because there was a gap after that before the next group of grant recipient total revenues
- It was clarified by staff that TR does include pass-throughs and fiscal sponsorships. (Contrary to what had been stated earlier.) It was asked if this change could be made by staff as a technical change, and the answer was it would need to be explored.
There was a motion to amend the guidelines to add “outreach and communications” to the list of areas that must be demonstrated by the applicant in terms of their accessibility and additionally that the list of disabilities in that section be deleted. The motion passed 7-0.
It was then noted that the section under Staff assistance that the language is not inviting and could be discouraging.  That this language should be adjusted, and that there should be a discussion about how the outreach is described so it makes it seem more inviting to people. That the language just talks about what CAC staff cannot do, as opposed to talking about the support or assistance that is offered.
It was also noted that the Guidelines say that large print format is available upon request, but staff confirmed that there really is no ability to provide any written copy of the Guidelines. It was suggested that this sentence should be deleted, and maybe replace it with a note about how accessibility assistance can be obtained.
Staff pointed out that wording changes like this can be made as technical changes by staff, and do not necessarily need to be addressed in motions or amendments.
The motion then was then restated and put to a vote: to accept the recommendation of the Programs Policy Committee, as amended, to approve the Statewide and Regional Networks Guidelines including the policy change to restrict applicants from applying for the SRN grant if they total revenues equal or greater to $5 million in the most recently completed fiscal year.  The motion passed 7-0.

Item 13 Presentation by Julie Baker of California for the Arts on their Legislative policy agenda
The presentation will be included in the meeting packet online.

Item 14 Committee Reports:
Report from the Equity Committee was presented and is included in the meeting packet. It was suggested that this report be passed on to the new committee members to continue this work, and not lose ground on the work that has been done.