I'm going to order this hearing or round table.

This is a public round table of the committee of the whole of the council of the District of Columbia.

I'm Phil Mendelssohn, Chair of the Council and Chair of the Committee of the Whole.

The Committee of the Whole is actually having two hearings this morning, or today.

We start with this public round table, where we are going to hear testimony regarding the mayor's nomination for reappointment of four individuals to the Commission on Arts and Humanities.

That hearing will probably be about a half an hour, maybe a little longer.

I'll take a brief break and then we'll start the second hearing, which is a public hearing on the mayor's proposed budget for fiscal year 2027.

And we will be hearing testimony in this order, first concerning the Department of Buildings, then considering the Commission on Arts and Humanities, then the Office of Planning, and then the excuse me, the Office of Zoning, and concluding with the Office of Planning.

We actually have a lot of witnesses who signed up.

We are not going to start with the on the budget hearing.

We're not going to start with the Commission on Arts Humanities because we were translation services were requested for uh of us for some witnesses for the Department of Buildings, so we'll start with them.

In any event, we're going to go through these nominations.

I'll adjourn the uh round table and then uh I'll take up the budget hearing.

On um March 12th, the mayor sent to the council for nominations for reappointment to the commission on arts and humanities.

PR 26-569, Demetrius Butler, PR 26-570, Janice Kim, PR 26-571, Carla Sims, and PR 26-572, Hector Torres.

The stated purpose of these resolutions is to confirm the mayor's nomination for reappointment of these four individuals.

The Commission on Arts and Humanities is an independent agency in the District of Columbia Government.

It's responsible for evaluating and initiating action on matters relating to arts and humanities and is the designated state arts agency for the District of Columbia.

The Commission is also responsible for selecting and distributing grants to artists and arts organizations in the District of Columbia, as well as grants to the to humanities DC.

I would say the bulk of what the Commission does, or at least its budget, is grants, which are important for many arts organizations.

The record in this matter will be open for two weeks.

That is, it will close at 5 p.m.

on Wednesday, May 20th, 2026.

We have, I believe, six or seven witnesses who registered to testify.

I believe most of them are online, beginning with Rebecca Lichtenberg, who is executive director at Studio Theater, Mark Chalfont, who is executive and artistic director at Washington Improv Theater, Amy Austin, who's president and CEO of Theater Washington, Anderson Wells, who is managing director at Constellation Theater Company, Alexis Hartwick, who is managing director at Keegan Theater, Abigail Cady, who is director of institutional partnerships at Arena Stage, and Andrew Dolan, who is executive director at Solus NUA.

I am told that Andrew Dolan is the only one who is here.

And is online.

So let's turn to Andrew Dolan.

You're up.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Andrew Dolan.

I'm the executive director of Solos NUA and arts nonprofit here in DC.

Thank you for taking some time to listen to the arts leaders here in town.

I feel and we all feel that DC is in a period of economic uncertainty, and the nonprofit art sector has yet to fully recover from the destabilizing effects of the pandemic.

And I appreciate the focus the mayor has put into stabilizing restaurants and retail and the work that the council has done to provide continued support structures for our neighborhoods.

And it is the districts, your continued support for the arts.

That means that here in DC, arts are integrated into the lives of the folks who live here.

And that's not the case in other cities.

And it's something I'm really grateful for here in DC.

I live over on 14th Street near Logan Circle, and there are a few restaurants that have four lease signs in the window.

And when a restaurant goes, oftentimes another restaurant comes in.

There's an entrepreneurial spirit of somebody who can take out a business loan and start a new endeavor.

When it comes to the nonprofit arts, we don't have that luxury.

A nonprofit organization is really a network of trusting relationships that have been built up over many, many years.

And when there is cuts to our funding model year over year, it makes it difficult for us to stay in business and provide the communities with the services that we offer oftentimes for free or reduced cost.

And unlike a restaurant, like we're when a nonprofit goes away, another one isn't necessarily going to pop into that new vacant space.

There aren't economic incentives for arts nonprofits to start up.

It takes like a decade to finally get to a place where one can have a space and provide performances or galleries.

And when there are destabilizing factors to our funding, that makes really really difficult landscape to work in.

Whatever you can do to give as much authority and autonomy and money to the commission as possible, we would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Dolan.

And I don't have a copy of your statement if you want to provide that.

I will.

I will upload it.

Uh great.

Probably be more testimony like yours, Mr.

Dolan, when we get to the budget of the Commission on Arts and Humanities, but that's going to be a little while from now.

Thank you for your testimony.

Let me just double check the other witnesses.

All right, so let me uh call the nominees.

Um Demetrius Butler, I believe, is not going to be here today, so we will have to reschedule him.

Janice Kim, who's a nominee who I believe is online, Carla Sims, who's a nominee, and I believe she's online, and Hector Torres, who is here in person.

Why don't you come up to the table?

So let me begin with Ms.

Kim.

Janice Kim, if you could turn on your camera and uh the floor is yours.

Um I have my camera on.

There we go.

Yes.

Um, uh good morning, Chairman Mendelssohn and uh members of the committee and staff.

My name is Janice Kim, and I'm a proud, I'm proud to represent ward through, and thank you for the opportunity to testify today, and my sincere thanks to Mayor Muriel Bowser for her nomination.

It has been my distinct honor to serve as a commissioner on the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities for the past two years, and I'm deeply appreciative of the opportunity to appear before you and for the confidence shown in putting my name forward once again.

As a longtime DC resident and a committed advocate of expanding access to music, dance, and arts for DC families, I welcome the opportunity to support the Commission's mission and vision when my name was first put up, put forward, and I am equally grateful to be considered again for continued service.

My experience on the board of various arts organizations have reinforced, reinforced for me the profound importance of ensuring that all residents, especially children, have meaningful access to the arts.

As a first generation immigrant, I have witnessed firsthand the remarkable changes in the DMV over the past 50 years.

I'm a I am deeply proud of my upbringing in the public school system where arts, music, and physical educations were integral part of our daily curriculum.

However, regrettably, those programs are often among the first to be reduced when school budgets are constrained these days these days.

Those early experiences installed in me a lifelong appreciation of arts and continue to ship my shape my commitment to ensure that future generations have access to the same formative opportunities.

While I fully embrace the commission's broad mission, I believe the most meaningful contributions, contribution my in advocating for the expanded access to the arts and humanities for the DC youth.

Arts and music in particular have a unique ability to expand the mind, fostering creativity, deepening self-awareness, and building self-confidence.

I feel a strong responsibility to help ensure that all children have access to these formative experiences.

I also believe that social media is playing an increasingly significant role in shaping the arts and humanities landscape in this in the district.

The commission is well positioned to help the community navigate both the opportunities and the challenges this presents, and I would be grateful for the opportunity to continue contributing thoughtfully in this area.

I view continued service on the commission as both a privilege and a responsibility and an opportunity to support the DC's ongoing efforts while further advancing access, equity, and innovation in the arts.

I am sincerely appreciative to have my name put forward again and would be honored to continue contributing to the cultural vitality of Washington DC, and to help shape the future of the arts and humanities in our city.

Thank you again for the opportunity, and I welcome any questions you may have.

Thank you, Ms.

Kim.

I will have some questions, but after I hear from the other nominees.

Yeah, hold on.

I think there's something going on.

Something's going on with the camera.

I am not sure what is happening here.

That's the I'm going to have a recommendation.

Thank you.

Good morning, Chairman Mendelson and members of the committee.

I'm Carla Sims, and it's my pleasure to appear before you today as you consider my reappointment to the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

I'm deeply grateful to Mayor Balser for nominating me to a second term and honor to continue serving the residents of our district.

I come before you as a Washingtonian.

My husband and I have lived on Capitol Hill in Ward 6 since 1996.

I'm a communication strategist and producer of several nationally recognized clients, including Dave Chappelle, DC DC native Dave Chappelle.

Earlier in my career, I was a senior vice president at Fleischmann Hillard, and I served as a major in the U.S.

Army Reserves.

I'm a graduate of Hampton University and Harvard University's Extension School.

My relationship to the Arts Commission goes back nearly 20 years to the Tony Itans to the Tony Gittons era when my Fleischmann's Fleischmann Hillard team and I had the privilege of doing pro bono work for the commission to promote the party animals, which you may remember, as well as a project called Fed de la Music.

These those two initiatives captured everything that is essential about this city, and that DC is at its best when art is something that residents encounter in the course of an ordinary day, not just inside museums.

To this day, I still feel a wave of nostalgia when I turn a corner in my neighborhood and find one of those brightly painted donkeys or elephants tucked behind a townhouse stoop, or when I think back to the Fed de la music days when musicians performed all over the city, and every place that you turned, including at the DMV.

I watched residents walk in with attitudes and walk out with smiles after experiencing the music.

The art runs through every the arts run through every dimension of my life.

I'm married to an artist, I work with artists, and when I can find the time, I also am a visual artist.

That work has been recognized in many ways, and I'm still humbled by the fact that I have four Grammy Awards as a producer, and as a recent honor, I was among 16 other DMV women named as Trailblazers and Changemakers in a through-line art exhibition.

But the work I am most proudest of is a lot closer to the home.

I volunteer my time and expertise with the Duke Ellington School of the Art, helping to create mentoring and fundraising opportunities by connecting students with world-class artists like Bradley Cooper and Wenton Marsalis, and recently spearheading an effort that raised $250,000 in fewer than eight days.

Since my appointment in November 2020, I have served as ward sixth commissioner and contributed to the arts to the education.

I'm sorry, contributed to the arts education, finance, and grants committees.

I currently chair the public arts committee where I help oversee the district's public art portfolio, including the Art Bank, public art building communities, and the partnerships that bring mural sculptures and site-specific installations to neighborhoods across all eight wards.

Across all these roles, my responsibility is one of oversight, setting strategic direction, evaluating programs, and making sure that the district's investments in arts are responsible, equitable, and aligned with our mission.

I am proud to continue the work because the commission's mission sits at the intersection of everything that I've spent my career and my life caring about.

The artists who give the DC its character, the storytellers that come, and the public spaces where our community and cities city's creativity meets daily life.

Five years on the commission have taught me how to apply my background in service of the district, and I want to put it to even further use in a second term in partnership with my fellow commissioners and executive director.

As I look ahead, I want to acknowledge the real progress that this commission has made and commit to building upon it.

In recent years, our work has reached more district residents than ever before.

Grant applications are up, attendance at our program and events have grown, and engagement with the commission across all eight wards is broader than it has been in years.

We have also made important infrastructure improvements that help our grantees receive funds more reliably and access our programs more easily.

That progress is a credit to the commission's leadership, our staff, and the partnerships we've built, and I will work alongside my commissioners to keep that momentum going.

My first priority, however, beyond the shared agenda, I want to share three priorities that are personal to me.

My first priority is investing in the arts and the artists who have made DC home.

Our creative economy is built on artists makers, cultural bearers who have chosen to live, work, and raise families in this city, many of whom face the same affordability pressures as every other resident.

I want to help the commission think rigorously about our grant fellowship and partnerships, and how they can better support working DC artists and how partnerships with universities, cultural institutions, and other private sectors entities can extend that runway.

When we invest in our artists, we invest in the cultural identity of the district itself.

My second priority is sharing DC's cultural story beyond the Beltway.

Most of the city, most of the country, still thinks of Washington as a political town.

We know it's also a city of go-go, jazz, poetry, of muralists, dancers, and theater makers of festivals that fill our street every summer.

I want to keep bringing that strategic communications work to bear on telling that fuller story through ties with natural cultural press and a steady presence where the cultural conversation happens.

When the commission backs something great, the country and the world should hear about it.

My third priority is championing the kind of public-facing cultural moments that turn the district into the shared experience.

Just as DC once filled the streets with music on every corner and just as art all night now activates all eight wards each fall.

I want residents and visitors to encounter art everywhere they turn.

Those projects and how a city remembers who it is and introduces itself to it's those types of projects that are how a city remembers who it is and how it introduces itself to the world.

Thank you again, Chairman Mendelssohn for the opportunity to testify before the committee.

And I'm happy to respond to any questions from you or the members of the committee.

Thank you, Ms.

Sims.

Hector Tarres.

Good morning.

Good morning, Chairman Mendelssohn and members of the committee.

My name is Hector J.

Torres.

I am honored to be considered for nomination to serve on the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

I am deeply grateful to Mayor Bowser for nominating me.

I appreciate the opportunity to serve the residents of our district.

I also wish to thank the members of the council for their faith in my initial and subsequent appointments.

I am proud of proud resident of Ward 6 and where I have lived for 46 years.

Originally from New York City, I'm Puerto Rican descent.

This would be the kind of appointment to the commission.

Having previously served two years, my third appointment rather served for three years.

In my current role, I serve as chair of the education committee and as a member of the executive committee, as well as the arts public arts committee.

In addition, I am a practicing artist, specializing in painting and produce work in mixed media as well.

I attended St.

John's University and graduated in 1973 with a bachelor's in science.

I'm sorry, Bachelor of Science and Secondary Art Education.

Postgraduation, I worked as a curriculum designer of several community education programs, focusing on bilingual and bicultural education for inner-city preschool age students.

This work led to my co-authorship of HEW Ben Funded programs on biculturalism through art.

The program is used in the South Bronx and other neighborhoods and child care centers in New York City.

I taught at Jamaica High School in New York and served as a part-time lecturer of art history at St.

John's University and instructed studio drawing classes at the Metropolitan Museum.

I am a firm believer in art education as a source of inspiration, opening minds to possibilities and creativity.

Art is intrinsically woven into our daily lives and it's innate in all of us, offering a world of possibilities, circumstances such that I had to postpone my career as an educator as a New York City School System Pro teacher licensing and had to take advantage of opportunities in the hospitality industry for attending college.

I'm sorry, 2019.

I retired from 49-year career as a hotel executive in Washington, DC, after we sold our hotels in 2018.

My hospitality experience and compass leadership roles, organizations of Capitol Hotels, Grant Heritage Hotels, Meristar Hotels, Sheraton, etc.

And during the upon retirement, I decided to dedicate much of my effort to education at all levels, including adults, immigrants, and seniors, not in the classroom, but as an advocate, driven by my belief that the education serves as a great equalizer.

The lack of access to education has systematically prevented too many people of color from reaching their full potential and social contribution.

It is this belief that motivates me to participate in the process and advocate for the voiceless, ensuring policymakers and government and related are at the very least reminded and made aware that to offer educational opportunities on an equitable basis.

My most significant work has been as a community volunteer.

In the past, I used my artwork to raise funds for community-based organizations, either by donating my work or allocating portion of the sales to causes in need of support.

Alongside my husband Jay Haddock, we spent 10 years raising funds for the Whitman Walker to support the Latinx community during the height of the AIDS crisis, AIDS pandemic.

We co-created Art for Life to fund outreach programs that were culturally and linguistically appropriate.

Additionally, I supported the Gala Theatre's education programs focused on at-risk youth, including participating in performance-based activities and created set designs for the musical productions.

My service has also included board positions with Washington Performing Arts and most recently the Kennedy Center's Community Advisory Board before its abolition by the current administration.

As an art commissioner for the District of Columbia and Humanities, I chair the education committee and a member of the executive committee.

I have worked diligently to increase our focus on enriching the lives of seniors throughout the district.

By supporting teaching artists, we have expanded programs in senior centers, offering a variety of arts activities such as dance, painting, writing, and organized day trips to institutions and performances.

These initiatives have enabled seniors to engage more deeply within the arts fostering creativity and social connection.

As an active member of the Latino community, I've also prioritized advancing opportunities for Latino arts practitioners.

Many had previously hesitated to approach the commission due to real or perceived barriers.

Though targeted outreach and support, we have helped these artists discovered new opportunities to expand their programs and connect with a broader community.

Notably, this included collaborative events such as the A de los Muertos, The Of the Dead Festival on the National Mall, which brought together diverse participants and showcased the vibrant cultural heritage of our city.

A recent exhibition sponsored by the commission highlighted the transformative power of art through an early 2000 program featuring photography created by prison inmates, which is no longer in effect.

This experience and underscored the city, the city's uh then commitment to supporting pre-integration of uh returning citizens and demonstrated how art can facilitate productive social integration by engaging in artistic endeavors.

Participants not only interacted and expressed themselves, but also gained uh problem-solving skills and renewed sense of possibility.

Conversations with individuals who participated in this program reveal that some pursued photography as a career, while others found a sense of achievement with broader applications in igniting the belief in which can be uh they can be accomplished.

It is my goal to thoroughly advocate for the reinstitute of this program and work in the process to do so.

I firmly believe that celebrating and expand extending the cultural diversity within our city can both demonstrate and promote the quality of life of our city offers to residents and visitors by fostering inclusion and supporting artistic expression across all communities.

We can enhance and sustain vibrant local economy and enrich the social fabric of residents of the district.

I dare say I am infinitely proud of the work of this commission, its operational leadership and talented team at every level for their absolute dedication and advocacy to support educational uh programming, arts institutions, educators, and arts practitioners, and more importantly, our students, who bring life and out vibrancy to our city as a national and global leader in the development of an inclusive and vibrant arts economy, a source of admiration for most states because the investment in broad reached uh achieved by our city, uh, we service and manage nearly 1,800 grants that reach every ward and resident of our city.

Thank you, Chairman Mendelson, for the opportunity to testify for this committee.

I would be happy to re uh to respond to questions from you and the members of the committee.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Torres.

Thank you each of you for your testimony, and also thank you for your service.

Um I believe strongly that the committee should have hearings on all nominations so that there's an opportunity for the public to testify, and uh if there are concerns for those concerns to be raised, um and also it uh affords a little bit of an oversight opportunity for the committee, although we will have the budget hearing on the commission on arts and humanities later today as we go through the um second hearing on the mayor's proposed budgets.

Uh I typically ask at these confirmation hearings.

Uh three or four questions, uh, which I will ask of each of the nominees.

Since all of you are up for reappointment, uh, you have a sense of how much time is involved.

Do you have the time to participate fully if you are reappointed?

Um Ms.

Kim.

Yes, I do.

Thank you.

Ms.

Sims?

Yes, I do.

And Mr.

Torres?

Absolutely, yes, I do.

Um, you know, this came up yesterday in conjunct when the council had a legislative meeting in conjunction with an appointment to another commission.

Um, and that is attendance at uh hearing.

So I asked that question.

Miss Kim, how good has your attendance been at hearings?

Um I am I am usually always there with the exception of one meeting that um happened two years ago where where I was already pre-engaged, had a pre-engagement before prior to being on the commission.

And Ms.

Sims, what's your attendance look like?

You said hearings or commission meetings.

Commission meetings.

I attend almost all commission meetings, Mr.

Torres, as do I.

I attend all commission meetings, except minor exceptions, such as for illness or etc.

Yes.

Um, I sent prehearing questions, and I appreciate we got responses from each of you, and this was one of the questions.

Are you current in all of your district and federal obligations?

Um, Ms.

Kim.

Absolutely.

Uh Ms.

Sims.

It's it's a work in progress.

I have uh plans in place um to to make sure that they are, but I don't have any outstanding debt.

And Mr.

Tars.

Absolutely.

Both state and state and federal.

During your tenure to date, have there been instances where there was a conflict of interest?

And how did you handle it?

And going forward, you see that there might be any conflicts of interest to come up, and how would you handle it?

Let me just note that typically with the Commission on Arts and Humanities, folks who are appointed to the Commission are involved in the arts community, so there might be conflicts.

Unfortunately, I am retired and my full-time job is the commission and a leadership role in a in a private club that I belong to.

Therefore, I when I first joined the committee, I made sure that I step off of all the other boards that may have possible conflict with DCCAH.

So no, I don't have any conflict.

And if I do have a conflict, of course, I wouldn't recuse myself from any voting situation or make sure that I am off of that committee prior to that happening.

Ms.

Sims?

As I mentioned earlier, I'm married to a musician who has previously received grant support from the commission.

However, I do not participate in any grant decisions involving him, and I follow the commission's recruisal process for any familiar for any matters that could pose an actual or apparent conflict of interest.

I also volunteer at Duke Ellington School of the Art and they have been associated with Commission supported activities, and I follow the same recruit process.

I follow the prescribed recusal process, but I do not have any conflict of interest in terms of earn earning or anything about nature.

Mr.

Torres, you're active with Carlos Rosario and Gala, but you're on the advisory committee for Gallas.

I'm Gala, I'm on the advisory committee.

I was formerly on the board in Carlos Rosario, I am a member of the board, formerly chair of the board, but Carlos Rosario that I know of does not receive any funds from the commission.

And Ms.

Sims, let me see, you said you follow recusal if uh like Ellington were to come before the commission.

Uh you're not in on any other boards or commissions.

No.

And uh Ms.

Kim, you are or were on um Washington Ballet Board?

Yes, I was on the Washington Ballet Board for eight years and also Transformer for 15 years, and also uh the um PCE for two years, but stepped off of all of those and any advisory role to any other organization that would possibly have any grant conflict prior to joining um and becoming a commissioner two years ago.

Um, so my next question gets a little bit into I guess I would say policy.

The um commission's budget proposed for next year is less than what it's been this year or the previous year.

Uh in the past, the commission has had um a special purpose fund where there was some money that was available, and I think last year, the year before the mayor swept that, so I don't think there's much if any money there, which means that there's going to be some funding challenges.

The um, I mean it's great that we were able to create a dedicated stream of income for the commission.

It's dedicated as a percentage of the sales tax the city collects, so sales tax goes up, commission should get more money if the mayor doesn't sweep it, sales tax goes down, the commission gets less money, and I think that's what we're looking at for next year.

Uh so then that raises a question in my mind of how the commission is going to approach grants to organizations.

Does the commission look at um when it's when it's deciding grants to organizations, does it look at the organization's budget and how stable or strapped that organization is, or does it look at the size of the organization as a sense of how much the grant should be, or well, I guess I already brought up this stability as in in this environment, whether the organization is struggling and therefore is in greater need of grants.

Are any of those considerations that the commission looks at when it's um considering grants?

I guess I'll use the same order.

Miss Kim.

Um I am the treasurer of the DCCAH and also in the finance uh committee and chair of finance committee, and this of course affects us greatly.

We have over the past two years that we I have been on the commission, have done so much to ensure that we get enough funding out to all the boards and especially Ward 7 and 8, where a lot of the artists and new young artists are moving and really working from there.

Um do not look at the size, but I think that's something that we do need to look at for to make sure that we have sustained arts program over the next number of years.

Anytime funds are taken out, we have to figure out how we can sustain and give the grants to as many grantees as possible, but it's it's not possible.

And this year's budget cut has brought a um a disappointment and a new challenge, because last year was the first time where we had a decrease, we had to work with that.

But even more artists requested funding.

We go through the whole panel, panelist um, rigorous panelist form where their arts programming and what they have accomplished is set by scores, and that's how the grants are given out.

We obviously don't have personal uh personal judgment in on any of those, so that's my answer, um, Ms.

Sims.

I think, as Janice mentioned, uh we we have to basically be creative.

We have to be creative, uh, as an art organization in how we approach this, and I think it's gonna involve us uh developing partnerships that better support these artists and partnerships with universities or cultural institutions and even the private sector uh to kind of extend the runway for our outreach and and and our um support of these institutions.

So it is gonna be a challenge.

We recognize that uh and we just have to be create come up with some creative solutions.

And Mr.

Torres, yes, um, I believe in many ways that we have been incredibly successful in the outreach to the community and making aware of of art to artists and arts organizations of our grant giving opportunities, um, and in many ways that has expanded the need simply because we have more applicants than ever before.

Um it is important to note that most of the grant making process and the and the evaluation of grants is done through panelists, and very rarely does any decision of this type of a specific grant or not comes to our attention.

That's done at the panelist level.

Our job is basically to support and work with uh how grants are giving out equitably and also to make sure that uh there are processes in place that will support equitable grant making or grant giving.

In many respects, I think that we have we have upcoming meetings that will also help define how we deal with this um shrinking of the budget that we will have in a creative manner as to how do we distribute that fairly and equitably.

I think it's a challenge that we all have as commissioners and will have and will be addressing as well currently.

Um the fact is that the need is great, it has been obviated by the economic impact that we have.

Living in DC is incredibly uh expensive for artists, particularly who have limited means.

So we're looking for creative ways of sustaining the arts ecosystem in DC.

Um, and that is the biggest challenge that we face.

Uh, the success in reaching out, I think we've met that.

It is now how do we appropriately and fairly and equitably um provide grants to those organizations and artists so that we can sustain our arts economy.

Thank you.

So I don't know if there's a question here so much as uh observation on my part, and I'll be getting into this when we get to the commission's budget, which will be later today.

Um, but I I heard in the answers among other things um grants looking at uh um ensuring um I want to say geographic considerations that every ward benefits from grants.

I also heard, and I've heard this from the commission staff as well, uh, as many grantees as possible.

Uh and I can't help but think that there ought to be other considerations, such as the economics of the organization.

So an organization that um is large, maybe should get a larger grant than an organization that is small.

An organization that is struggling economically, whether it's large or small, maybe should be getting more of a grant, if that grant will actually help them to get stability, not to bail them out, but actually to help them get stability.

Um, and actually that's a a couple years ago.

I remember the the chair of the commission talked about um helping grantees with developing um uh developing uh economic strength.

I think there's another way of putting that which is escaping me at the moment, but I don't hear that in grants as well, and I think that ought to be a consideration.

And I think it also should be a consideration to what extent does the grantee or can the grantee uh contribute to the larger uh arts ecosystem.

So a um an arts organization that uh takes uh a grant from the arts commission and just does its own thing.

Well, that's one possibility, and there's nothing wrong with that, but an arts organization that actually is going to, as part of its business, um bring in mentor other arts organizations or allow their space to be used by other artists or arts organizations.

In other words, um, that is um contributing building the ecosystem.

I don't hear that as a consideration as grants.

Um I also I mentioned this a couple years ago to the staff.

I never hear this either, which is uh conditioning grants.

And I don't mean like um burdensome conditions, but like uh we, meaning the arts commission, we're gonna give you a grant, but in return you have to diversify your board, or in return you have to uh diversify your um exhibits, who who is um contributing to the exhibits.

Um, using the grant process to, instead of the grant process um being focused on we want to have diverse grantees, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, but using the grant process to actually leverage diversity within the ecosystem.

So I never hear those considerations.

There wasn't a question here, I'm just tossing that out because I think that the commission ought to look at its grants with other factors, whether it is the economics or a return to the arts ecosystem, whatever.

Mr.

Torres, you look like you want to say something.

Yes, um, thank you very much for for acknowledging that.

You know, generally, uh, there are conditioning grants that are conditions within grants that are met, and oftentimes they do relate to how who and what communities they serve.

Um, generally, we're not in engaged, I would assume, not in the governance aspect of an organization, but how to support that organization, and also we must acknowledge that.

In terms of the aspect of development or fundraising by a lot of these organizations that we support, we're not the sole support source for a lot of these organizations.

And therefore, um, I think the practice and what I have personally submitted is to institute educational forums to support their growth in their uh development processes so that they can become aware or look for other sources for granting that are self-sufficient.

But that is the case for every organization, nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C.

So the need is great on that respect.

However, at the same time, that knowledge is available to them through either working with sister organizations or something that we could create, and we have at least I put forward the idea of having a forums to have large organizations that have greater capacity to teach smaller organizations on developing their own.

But again, that creates a different set of conditions because each one of them is very unique on their own and have a different following and serve a different um community.

So it's a challenge, yes.

I don't know if the others want to comment.

You don't have to unless you want to.

I've made notes on your on your comments, and I would bring these to our board as we, you know, revisit some of the conditions and some of the uh criteria for grants moving forward as we have to deal with these budget issues.

Thank you.

If there's nothing further, I think I'm gonna um bring this uh hearing to a close.

I want to thank each of the nominees for being here.

Um, Mr.

Butler is the fourth nominee, and since he's not here, we will have to reschedule this hearing.

Um, as I said at the outset, the record in this matter will be open for two weeks.

Uh that's either for the nominees or anybody, including folks who signed up to testify but didn't get here, or anyone else who didn't sign up.

Record will close at 5 p.m.

on Wednesday, May 20th.

Um, I have a hearing to follow this, but I'm gonna take a brief break, uh, probably I'm gonna say 15 minutes and see if I can make it shorter than that.

Um again, I want to thank the witnesses.

The time is 10.03 a.m.

and this hearing's adjourned.