Sacramento Arts Commission Special Meeting on CARES Act Grants - July 20, 2020
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Sacramento Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy Commission Special Meeting - July 20, 2020
The Sacramento Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy Commission held a special meeting on July 20, 2020, to discuss and approve the panel process for the CARES Act funded Creative Economy Recovery Grants and to determine the level of funding for City Cultural Assets and current General Operating Support (GOS) grantees. The meeting featured a presentation from City Diversity Manager Ame Barnes on equity tools, and the commission took two formal votes. The meeting was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Consent Calendar
- No items were on the consent calendar.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were received during the meeting.
Discussion Items
- CARES Act Grant Panel Process: Raymond Gargano, Arts Program Coordinator, presented the proposed panel process for reviewing Creative Economy Recovery Grants. The grants opened July 8 and close July 22, 2020. A total of $7.5 million is available (original $5 million plus an additional $2.5 million added by Council). The panel would consist of 17 members, including commissioners, community members, and mentors, divided into seven categories with lead readers. The panel would review applications, score them, and make funding recommendations by August 17, 2020. The commission discussed the need for equity integration, outreach efforts (including multilingual workshops, radio/TV interviews, and social media campaigns), and concerns about low application numbers in some categories.
- Level of Funding for City Cultural Assets and GOS Grantees: Staff proposed allocating $2.59 million from the CARES Act funds to City Cultural Assets (15 organizations) and current GOS grantees (38 organizations) to provide rapid reimbursement for COVID-19 related expenses. Cultural assets would receive 40% of verified losses for building managers (with a cap for the Crocker and Zoo at $250,000 each) and 25% for other categories. GOS grantees would receive up to $10,000, $20,000, $40,000, or $50,000 based on operating budget size. This allocation would bypass the full panel process, speeding up distribution.
- Equity Presentation: Ame Barnes presented equity tools, including an Equity Impact Assessment, a Racial Equity Toolkit, and a Decision Support Tool from the California Arts Council/networks. She emphasized intentionality, growth mindset, and the distinction between equity and equality. The commission discussed incorporating equity into the grant review process and agreed to have two commissioners (Dr. Wilson and Maya) meet with Barnes to customize the tools for the commission.
Key Outcomes
- Motion 1: Passed unanimously to approve the CARES Act funded Creative Economy Recovery Grant panel process as presented. (Roll call vote: all commissioners voted yes)
- Motion 2: Passed unanimously to approve the level of funding for City Cultural Assets and current GOS grantees, with an amendment that the recommended 40% for Crocker and Zoo be capped at $250,000, with the possibility of additional funding later if funds remain. (Roll call vote: all commissioners voted yes)
- Follow-up Actions: Commissioner sign-up for panel lead reader roles will be sent out. Two commissioners (Dr. Wilson and Maya) will meet with Ame Barnes to develop an equity tool for the grant review process. Staff will coordinate with community members interested in serving on the panel, including inviting creative edge co-chairs.
Staff Recognition and Leadership
- Staff and city leadership were praised for their efforts, with recognition that Sacramento is a national leader in dedicating $7.5 million to creative economy recovery. District Commissioner Cecily Hastings offered to send the grant link to her database of artists to improve outreach.
Adjournment
- The meeting adjourned at approximately 11:00 a.m. after final comments.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon, commissioners and others who are here to really have a very important meeting. We're gonna start with opening the session and we're gonna start with roll call, please, Melon. Okay. Um Rick got here. Okay, he's here. I am here. Yes. Cecily Hastings. Maya Wallace here. Andrea Laporte. Here. Isella Perez. Here. Donnie Blumenstock. I see Donnie. She's here. Okay. Luisa Lavulo. Here. Dr. Winlock. Here. Priscilla Enriquez. Dr. Melinda Raimi here. We have a quorum. Thank you so much. Thank you, commissioners. Today's kind of a very important meeting. That's why it's called a special meeting today, where we're going to take some action and boldment as we look at our grant funding for cares. We're gonna be funding creative economy recovery grants panels. We're gonna make the panels known. And we're also gonna look at the level of funding for city cultural assets and current general operating support uh grantees. So I'm gonna uh turn it over to our first uh Duray Gargano, who's our arts program coordinator, right? Hi, good afternoon, everyone. Uh so yeah, today, like uh Dr. Winlock said, we wanna talk about the panel process. We wanna have a discussion with the commissioners to make sure that um we make that run as smoothly as possible and as fairly as possible. Um before we get started on that, we wanted to start with a special presentation today by the um City of Sacramento's diversity manager, Ame Barnes. She's gonna talk a little bit about how we can frame our panel discussion and the panel process by giving us some of the tools that she has been developing and are being considered throughout the city. So I'm me, I'm gonna turn it right over to you. Great, thank you. Good afternoon, commissioners. Um, you're gonna need to bear with me. I'm gonna share a PowerPoint. I think I've done this three times uh since uh we're in this new virtual uh landscape, but I want to share the screen and get to it. Share. And then we should be. Great. So can everybody see the screen?
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