CAC Final Meeting Minutes 2024 03 01
CAC Final Meeting Minutes 2024 03 01
The members of the California Arts Council convened in Oakland and via web
conference to discuss and vote on various items as listed in the minutes below. The full
audio and video of the meeting can be accessed here.
1. Call to Order
Council Member Vicki Estrada read the CAC Land and Peoples Acknowledgement into
the record and a personal statement.
Rachel Osajima welcomed the CAC on behalf of the Alameda County Arts Commission
with a Powerpoint presentation.
Roberto Bedoya welcomed the CAC on behalf of the Oakland City Cultural Affairs
Division with a Powerpoint presentation.
Present: Acting Chair Leah Goodwin, Gerald Clarke, Caleb Duarte, Vicki
Estrada, Ellen Gavin, Phil Mercado, Nicola Miner and Olivia Raynor.
6. Chair’s Report
Research & Evaluations Manager Rebecca Ratzkin was introduced and briefly
commented.
Council Member Clarke noted that the November 17, 2023 Minutes are in the
printed but were not provided electronically.
MOTION: Council Member Clarke moved to table the November 17, 2023
Minutes, seconded by Council Member Estrada.
Acting Chair Goodwin announced that the November 17, 2023 Minutes would be tabled
and sent back to the staff for review.
Favianna Rodriguez shared pertinent information relating to the Center for Cultural
Power via a PowerPoint presentation.
Amy Kitchener discussed the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) with
attendees via a PowerPoint presentation.
Acting Chair Goodwin explained the purpose and prohibitions for making Public
Comment at CAC meetings. Public Affairs Director Gutierrez explained the process and
provided specific instructions.
Hugo Morales:
• We are an SLP for Santa Clara County of nearly two million people.
• We thank CAC’s commitment to the field and its work on SLPs.
• We collaborate with other SLPs to expand the impacts in our region.
• We would ask that CAC agendize a future presentation on the regional impact of
the IAF and the Creative Core administrative models.
• We support artists in schools, family dance and public parks and libraries.
• We have been a recipient of an SRN grant for the past three years.
• We ask that you consider an SRN’s potential impact when awarding funds.
Leslie Castellano, Ink People Center for the Arts and Culture:
• We are recipient of SRN funding and are excited about the data collection
requirements. We need more data to support advocacy efforts.
• I have been an artist, educator, curator, and administrator for over 15 years.
• The Board of Supervisors designated us and our fiscal sponsor to serve as the
County’s official local arts agency.
• Our top priority is to be an equitable and sustainable arts organization for our
county.
• We currently have an inspiring poetry program at juvenile hall.
• We are currently expanding to provide additional services.
• We are an SRN grantee, and we appreciate your engagement with the field.
CAC funds paid young people to participate in planning this project; and this is a
setback to their work and the subsequent project (of providing Art and screenprinting
internships to youth on probation)—as well as making us look unreliable to our partners
in the project.
“To build trusting relationships, it’s important to approach communities on their own
terms (and on their own timeline), with a tangible commitment to better supporting their
needs, and then follow through on that commitment.”
The lack of follow-through and transparency in re: the project grant was…unexpected.
What is puzzling on a larger level is that CAC went to the trouble of compiling the Field
Scan Report that indicated the organization’s renewed commitment to equitable
funding.
If that is the case: why on earth would CAC discontinue a grant that specifically
benefitted the category of people who are historically excluded from artmaking
opportunities, as the data from the Field Scan Report shows?
The lack of transparency and follow-through regarding the discontinuation of this grant
contradicts the California Arts Council’s commitment to equitable funding and
supporting communities in need, as evidenced by the Field Scan Report.
I urge the California Arts Council to reconsider its decision and reinstate the JMP StArts
grant for 2024. Investing in programs that provide arts opportunities for underserved
youth is crucial for fostering creativity, empowerment, and community engagement.
Thank you for considering my concerns. I hope that the California Arts Council will take
meaningful action to address this issue and continue to support programs that benefit
underserved youth in our community.
Sincerely,
Nanette Star
Concerned community member and Pedal Press Board Member
Warm greetings, Chair, Council Members, Executive Director and Staff, from the
ancestral home of the Acjachemen Nation-Juaneno Band of Mission Indians. Arts
Orange County is your State-Local Partner serving this 3.2 million population county
comprised of 34 cities and a highly-diverse population, which our Board mirrors in its
composition. We also serve CAC as the Administering Organization for its Individual
Artist Fellowship Program for the 5-county Region I (Imperial, Orange, Riverside, San
Bernardino, San Diego), where we have exponentially increased the number of
applicants and recipients. Understanding that the current year budget constraints have
made it necessary to defer CAC offering this program in 2024, we look forward to
sharing with you in depth data about its impacts in our region when you make plans for
2025. We are an independent nonprofit organization with a budget of only $800,000,
and we serve more than 600 arts & cultural organizations through a robust menu of
programs. Like many SLPs, it is difficult to secure contributed income since we are
primarily a service organization and not an arts producer. Therefore, we supplement our
grants through contract services in cultural planning and public art management for
local cities. In addition to generating earned revenue, this strengthens our advocacy
networks which we employ regularly to connect with our State Legislators and to
promote increased funding for the CAC. Learn more about us at ArtsOC.org.
As a current recipient of the State and Regional Networks, our organization is able to
sustain the various pieces of work necessary for successful partnerships. This funding
is enabling us to support smaller organizations while they build out their capacity but it
also helps us leverage our collective impact. While I understand the intention behind
setting a budget cap, I strongly urge the CAC to reconsider as that would have an
impact on larger organizations that are still crucial to the arts ecosystem. I believe the
CAC should factor in whether funds are being regranted and what populations are being
served. The SRN’s serve a vital role in our sector and the impact of our work is more
nuanced than that of direct service organizations. We invite the council to engage in
thoughtful conversations with existing SRN’s to better understand our impact and
challenges before implementing reforms that could negatively impact many
organizations receiving this source of funding.
Thanks to the Council for maintaining the SRN program. I would like to share 3
recommendations to the SRN program revisions.
1 - REVISE THE $5M BUDGET CAP REQUIREMENT: Do not place a budget cap on
eligibility, as budget level alone does not accurately reflect capacity or impact. If there
must be a cap, adjust the $5M budget threshold requirement by excluding from budget
totals any pass-thru funds or fiscal sponsorship revenues. Also, consider a 3-year
average for budgets.
Thank you for recognizing the value of state and regional networks to a healthy arts
ecosystem. Our work at Create CA in arts education policy and advocacy could not be
done without a statewide network of advocates (artists, teachers, teaching artists,
parents, students and school administrators). This network has become essential since
the passage of Prop 28, and the need to ensure that training, materials, information and
support reaches school communities in all 58 counties of California.
We appreciate the value of the $5m budget cap. To account for one-time increases in
revenue that could be the result of a multi-year grant whose funds are all received in
one fiscal year, we recommend a three year average be used to assess organizational
size. In addition, we recommend that re-granting dollars and fiscally-sponsored projects
(efforts that are a net neutral to an organization’s bottom line) be excluded from the $5m
budget cap calculation.
We appreciate the data component of the new guidelines. And at the same time, as an
arts education advocacy organization, our data collection includes information on
students, schools, and advocates in our networks. These data may not be compatible
with the CAC’s expected data points pertaining to communities of (non-student,
practicing) artists and culture bearers. We suggest that the CAC clarify its goals around
data collection so that we can best assess how to meet them, given our organizational
structure and resources.
I feel and have direct evidence to support my stance that the CAC prefers and favors
diversity choices over artistic choices for all your grants, programming and projects.
Marin County and Caucasian people are completely left out and the reverse prejudice is
blatant. Very unfair and quite shameful. Diversity over Artistry. Look at the individual
grants! I stand corrected.
My second recommendation for the Council is to more clearly define a regional network.
The SDCYDN works across communities and geography, however we practice depth
instead breadth of our work. While some members in other Counties attend our virtual
meetings, we primarily serve communities in SD County. The SDCYDN is a supporter of
the SRN grant and I ask for clarity in the proposed guidelines, so that I can better
understand what SRNs the CAC is seeking to invest in through the revised SRN
guidelines.
As the ED of California Poets in the Schools, I am grateful to the CAC for a decades-
long funding relationship supporting both our work in schools, as well as our network of
professional poets throughout the state. We offer a professional, network experience
for California poets that includes over 60 annual training and networking events, a 3-day
poetry conference, fundraising assistance, affiliation with a nationally-recognized
nonprofit, as well as a clear pathway to earn income and give back to their local
communities as Poet-Teachers. Our grassroots model allows us a unique ability to
engage communities of poets in any town in CA, and indeed our programs are
flourishing in some of the most remote regions. We have received the SRN grant for
many years, however we did not receive the grant this past year. To my knowledge,
there were no organizations specifically serving networks of poets who received SRN
funding in 2023. After this council considered shutting down the SRN program
altogether, and after carefully reading through the guidelines this year, I find myself
confused about the overarching vision that the current council holds for this grant
program. It seems much narrower than the past. This grant is vital to our ability to
serve our network and I sincerely hope that the vision for this program remains broad
and supple enough to continue engaging specific arts networks such as ours so that we
can continue to provide critical arts services throughout the state.
• Michael Tamony (He/Him/His), The Center for the Arts, Nevada County
The Center for the Arts in Grass Valley is the most established arts 501c3 in the rural
Foothills above Sacramento. We serve a rural population that is in desperate need for
arts and arts education. We are grateful for the support we have received from the
California Arts Council. While me may be known for sold out concerts like Lyle Lovett,
Keb’ Mo’, Blind Boys of Alabama, and others, we are also presenting enriching content
like WorldFest, children’s theater productions, and a host of arts-related programs.
Our recent grant from CAC, helped deliver a children’s theater production of Mozart that
was seen by a packed house, primarily children who had never even seen live theater.
We are writing to the CAC Board to emphasize the need to support rural community art.
Nevada County, including Grass Valley and Nevada City have a vibrant arts community
that is in serious need of support from agencies like CAC, especially through an
established entity like The Center for the Arts.
We have a history of success, but we can not succeed alone. We need you.
Acting Chair Goodwin called the afternoon session to order and called for Item 12 to be
presented.
Program managers Elisa Gollub and Carlos Casillas briefly introduced this item.
Program Manger Casillas presented a detailed history and development summary of the
program.
Council Member Gavin of the Programs Policy Committee covered the history and
development of the Programs Policy Committee.
Acting Chair Goodwin noted that the Programs Policy Committee did look at the
Decision Support Tool to inform their decisions.
A list of decisions to be made by the Council was read into the record by Acting Chair
Goodwin.
Executive Director Brazell noted that this is part of the CAC’s commitment to
transparent and informed decision-making. As part of the Strategic Framework this
Decision Support Tool is also a bedrock.
Public Comment
• We thank you for continuing the Statewide and Regional Networks Program.
• This is our 50th year and we provide legal services, educational programs, and
advocacy for the arts community.
• We work extensively with formerly incarcerated individuals.
Jorge Courtade, Arts & Community Development Program Manager, California Lawyers
for the Arts:
Felicia Shaw, Executive Director, San Diego Regional Arts & Culture Coalition:
• We are an arts advocacy and arts services organization serving San Diego
County.
• We thank you for listening to the field and making appropriate decisions to the
SRN Guidelines.
I would encourage you to ensure that the review panels are adequately trained.
Council Discussion
MOTION:
The motion from Council Member Raynor is to amend the Guidelines to add “outreach”
and “communications” to the list of areas demonstrated for accessibility and to delete
the list of disabilities, seconded by Council Member Estrada.
VOTE:
YES: Council Members: Clarke, Duarte, Estrada, Gavin, Miner, Raynor, and Acting
Chair Goodwin.
NO: 0
ASTAIN: 0
MOTION:
The motion as moved by Council Member Clarke is to accept the recommendation of
the Programs Policy Committee as amended by Council Member Raynor to approve the
Statewide and Regional Networks Program Guidelines including the policy change to
restrict applicants from applying for the SRN grants that have total revenues equal to or
greater than $5 million in the most recently completed fiscal year, seconded by Council
Member Estrada.
VOTE:
YES: Council Members: Clarke, Duarte, Estrada, Gavin, Miner, Raynor, and Acting
Chair Goodwin.
NO: 0
ABSTAIN: 0
Member Raynor advocated for revising Council verbiage to make access to the CAC
more positive and inviting and that applicant accessibility managers be identified.
The $5 million dollar cap was informed by the field and perhaps the new Programs
Policy Committee can revisit this stipulation.
Council Member Gavin was open to considering a three-year average and Director of
Programs Margolis stated that pass-through funds are considered when looking at the
total for applicant budgets.
Director of Programs Margolis noted that there had been a reconvening of SRNs in
2018 and additional ones before that. Quantifying the amount of pass-through funds
per applicant has not been done and the process and procedures for such have not
been established.
Council Member Clarke had concerns about the staff’s ability to determine total
revenues including pass-through funds and other factors not currently delineated.
Julie Baker made a presentation via Powerpoint presentation. Historical data and
ongoing developments specific to Californians for the Arts were discussed.
Council Members thanked Julie and briefly touched on various aspects of the details
given during the presentation.
Council Member Clarke of the Equity Committee shared his and Council Member
Duarte’s report with the Council. An update was given and potentially useful information
for future Equity Committee endeavors was provided.
15. In Memoriam
• Ed Reed from Richmond was a jazz vocalist and toured national venues.
• Glynis Johns was remembered for her role in Mary Poppins, died at 100.
• Norman Jewison produced and directed socially important films.
• Hinton Battle was the Scarecrow in “The Wiz”.
16. Adjournment