Download pdf - Cultural Equity Grants: CAEG Committee Meeting on March

Cultural Equity Grants: CAEG Committee Meeting on March 13, 2012 Presentations & Supplemental Materials for Funding Recommendations

If you have any questions, please contact San San: 415.252.2565 or [email protected]

There will be will be a brief presentation by CEG Staff Lucy Lin and Beatrice Thomas for the funding recommendations for Organization Project Grants. Because of the time constraints, no presentations by recommended applicants will take place.

1. Organization Project Grants (OPG)

OPG support arts organizations in the presentation of professional arts activities accessible to the general public in San Francisco. OPG supports–in whole or in part–specific arts projects that have been determined to be of sufficient artistic quality, and benefit or interest to the community at large, or to specific segments of the community. All art forms will be considered. OPG-‐supported projects must be developed and presented in San Francisco, and must culminate in a local public presentation or a meaningful, accessible engagement of the public. They may be targeted at specific audiences, but they cannot be limited to “closed” audiences.

Grant awards are up to $15,000. To be eligible, organizations must have 501(c)(3) status or use a fiscal sponsor. Organizations that receive CEI-‐L1 or CEI-‐L2 support cannot seek an OPG grant for the term of the CEI-‐L1 or CEI-‐L2 grant.

2. Grant Application Review Process

OPG grant applications are clustered into 3 categories for panel review:

1) Visual, Literary and Media Arts;

2) Performing Arts – New Work; and

3) Performing Arts -‐ Presenting.

Panelists are artists, arts administrators, curators, and funders selected and assigned to a specific panel because of their expertise and experience in producing and presenting, organizational management, discipline and subject matter. Panelists are sent applications to review approximately 4 to 5 weeks in advance of the panel, and come together to evaluate the application at the panel meeting.

3. Supplemental Materials for OPG Funding Recommendations

Attached you will find: Ranking; Panelists Bios; Project Summaries; Panel Comments; Guidelines Booklet.

Additional Notes:

• Each grant category has a unique set of evaluation criteria, which are rated with a numerical value (1-‐4-‐ 7-‐10); the “Panel rating” indicates the average score of panel. In cases where the Recommended Grant is less than the Grant Request, there were insufficient funds to provide full funding.

• Bios of the panelists who comprised each of the grants review panels.

• Summaries of proposed initiatives or projects.

• Evaluation Criteria are provided as sub-‐headers, with a summary of panel critique.

• Official set of grant guidelines covering: eligibility, program objectives and goals, funding stipulations, deadlines, evaluation criteria and application and instructions.

Panelist Biographies 2012-‐Organizational Project Grants Visual, Literary and Media Arts Joan Pinkvoss Executive Director, Aunt Lute Books Ms. Pinkvoss has over 28 years’ experience in the commercial publishing world and has a national reputation in the field of editing, having won two national publishing awards. Originally the sole proprietor of a smaller Aunt Lute Book Company, Ms. Pinkvoss, in 1990, successfully led the transition of Aunt Lute to a non-‐profit corporation, the Aunt Lute Foundation, encompassing a broader vision for the field of literature. Under her direct supervision the company has published a total of 62 titles, many of them receiving literary awards and distinctions. The mission of the Aunt Lute Foundation is to support and publish new writers from a variety of cultures and sub-‐cultures, both within the United States and from other countries. Choosing narratives that are relevant to pressing community issues, Ms. Pinkvoss, has spent major energy on outreach, networking with community members and hiring consultants from within communities to produce accessible literary programs, panels and performances. Ms. Pinkvoss has led several manuscript workshops and tutorials in the Bay Area. She has also sat on national and local symposium panels, advocating for the importance of non-‐profit literature in a democratic and socially just world. Suzanne Tan Executive Director, Berkeley Art Center Suzanne Tan was appointed Executive Director of the Berkeley Art Center in early 2009, and brings to her post over 28 years of experience in museums and cultural organizations throughout the Bay Area and Southern California. Most recently, she was Director of Institutional Giving at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, CA. Previously; she served as Director of External Affairs at the Santa Monica Museum of Art in Santa Monica, CA. In both institutions, Ms. Tan secured support for and led organization-‐wide strategic planning efforts, while overseeing development and marketing initiatives. Ms. Tan was also the Executive Director of the Richmond Art Center and returned in a year-‐long interim capacity in 2005. Other positions held have included Director of Development at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley (2003-‐2006), Director of Marketing and Development at the Museum of Craft & Folk Art in San Francisco (1999), Exhibitions Project Manager at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles (1996-‐1998), and Program Coordinator for the Art Tours and Travel program (1989-‐2002) and the SECA curatorial program (1993-‐1996) at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Suzanne received her MA in Museum Studies from JFK University, Berkeley/Orinda. She is an adjunct professor at JFK University (Berkeley) and has taught classes in JFK’s MA/MBA Museum Studies graduate program. Jack Walsh Executive Director, National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture Before joining NAMAC, he worked as the Phase 1 Capital Campaign Manager for the 9th Street Independent Film Center, an innovative cross-‐sector collaboration where he raising $2.6 million of the $6.5 million building project budget from private foundations, corporations, and

government agencies. In addition to work as an administrator, Jack is an independent filmmaker whose credits include Producer, Hope Along the Wind: The Life of Harry Hay (2001); Executive Producer, Girl Trouble (2004); and Producer, Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria (2005). These productions were all broadcast national on PBS. For nearly a decade, Jack work as a national producer at San Francisco PBS station KQED, first as Series Producer for the Living Room Festival (1993-‐96) and later as an Executive Producer. His Executive Producer credits include t: The Making of Dead Man Walking (2002), which received a National Emmy Award Nomination for Outstanding Cultural and Artistic Program in 2003; Independent View (2001-‐02), and Season by Season (2001). Additionally, Jack worked as Station Manager of the City of Oakland's government access channel KTOP from 1996-‐98, and he taught at San Francisco State University, City College of New York, and the University of California, San Diego. Maysoun Wazwaz Program Manager, Mills College Art Museum Maysoun Wazwaz has recently joined the Mills College Art Museum Program Manager. Prior to working at Mills she served for five years as the Exhibitions Program Manager at Southern Exposure in San Francisco where she had the opportunity to work with over 500 artists through solo, group and juried exhibitions as well as through public art projects and fundraising events. In 2010, Maysoun curated Extended Play, a new and exciting series of live art performances and workshops by multidisciplinary artists workingwith sound, light, video, voice, installation, sculpture, dance and new technology. In her capacity as exhibition program manager at SoEx, she curated, organized and produced over 100 exhibitions, events and projects of local, national and international artists.

In addition, Maysoun served on Visual Aid’s Exhibitions Committee for five years curating exhibitions whose focus was to support artist with life threatening illnesses. She has also served on two San Francisco Arts Commission public art panels, has participated two years in a row in the San Francisco Art Institute’s MFA Studio Visits as an outside curator, and has been a visiting lecturer at California College of the Arts numerous times. She is excited to be co-‐teaching the Senior Exhibition class at Mills College this year and hopes to have more teaching opportunities at the college in the future. Wazwaz has a BA in Art History from Bard College, Annandale-‐on-‐Hudson, NY. She is from Chicago and has lived in San Francisco for the past 10 years.

Deborah Steinberg Director of Artist Services for WomenArts Ms. Steinberg is responsible for editing the WomenArts Network profiles, as well as writing and editing other on-‐line content and the monthly funding newsletters. Deborah holds a B.A. in Creative Writing and Literature from Bard College and an M.A. in English Literature from the University of Bordeaux. She is the founding editor and events coordinator of Louis Liard, a Franco-‐American magazine of creative writing and art, and she has over eight years of experience as a freelance editor and an instructor of English as a Second Language. Deborah writes fiction and has sung in musical projects in France and the U.S.

FY2010-2011 ORGANIZATION PROJECT GRANTS -VISUAL LITERARY MEDIA

RANKINGPanel Rating Organization Name Grant Request Grant

118.2 Intersection for the Arts $15,000 $11,850117.6 3rd i South Asian Independent Film Festival $15,000 $11,260111.6 San Francisco Transgender Film Festival (Tranny Fest) $7,150 $5,090111 Out of Site: Center for Arts Education $15,000 $11,850

109.8 Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center $15,000 $11,850109.2 Voice of Witness $15,000 $11,850108.6 Center for the Art of Translation $15,000 $11,850108 Litquake $15,000 $11,850

105.6 National Japanese American Historical Society $15,000 $11,850103.2 Writers Among Artists $2,100 $1,660102 Small Press Traffic Literary Arts Center $15,000 $11,850102 Museum of Craft and Folk Art $15,000 $11,85098.4 Eldergivers $15,000 $11,25097.8 Root Division $15,000 $11,25094.2 Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco $15,000 $11,25093 Kearny Street Workshop $15,000 $11,250

88.8 Cartoon Art Museum $9,52588.2 Army of Lovers $11,37586.8 Million Fishes Arts Collective $15,00081.6 San Francisco Cinematheque $15,00076.2 Black Rock Arts Foundation $15,00073.2 Gray Area Foundation for the Arts $15,00072.6 Chrysalis Studio $15,00069.6 ArtSpan $15,00065.4 San Francisco Camerawork $15,00064.8 PhotoAlliance $15,00060 Bethany Center Foundation of San Francisco $15,000

56.4 San Francisco Dyke March $12,000

TOTAL $387,150 $169,660

2012OPG

OPG VLM Project Summaries

3rd i South Asian Independent Film Festival

We request $15,000 to support the 10th Anniversary South Asian International Film Festival at San Francisco’sCastro and Roxie Theaters in November 2012. Curated by 3rd I’s Artistic Director Ivan Jaigirdar, the 4-day Festivalwill screen approximately 4 full-length features, 6 documentaries and 10 short films by independent South Asianfilmmakers from the United States, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Europe and Canada. The Festival willattract an estimated 5,500 ticket buyers; approximately 75% will be Bay Area South Asians.

Project Summary$0

Army of Lovers

This proposal requests $11,375 to support the final production costs of The biggest Quake: the Impact of AIDS onSan Francisco, a 90-minute performative literature event. Created by Army of Lovers’ Kirk Read and anintergenerational group of 7 LGBT writers, this free literary event will be staged 3 times at the MetropolitanCommunity Church in late June/early July 2012. Awarded funds will underwrite artists’ fees, technical productionstaff, venue rental costs and documentation.

Project Summary

ArtSpan

SF Open Studios brings an estimated 60,000 visitors into artist studios, galleries and community centers to meetlocal artist, discover the process that goes into creating work and to purchase original work directly from thesource. San Francisco Open Studios is not juried and provides a network of support to make it more viable for artists to live and produce work in an Francisco. The 37th annual SF Open Studios program will take place citywidein the Fall of 2012 over four coordinated weekends.

Project Summary

Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center

“Circle the Teacup Around” is an exhibition featuring the work of Bay Area artist Flo Oy Wong. It will be presentedat the Luggage Store in October 2013, Wong’s 75th birthday. The exhibit has three components: Wong’sinstallation entitled “The Baby Jack Rice Story,” new art by Wong and others, and selections of her earlier works.The opening will feature the Marcus Shelby Trio performing a new composition on the story of “Baby Jack.”

Project Summary

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2012OPG


Bethany Center Foundation of San Francisco

The project will mount three gallery exhibitions by emerging artist from San Francisco. The exhibits will be hostedby Ruth’s Table, a program of Bethany Center Foundation of San Francisco which brings arts and creativeexpression opportunities to low income, minority elders in San Francisco. the professionally curated exhibitions willopen in August 2012, and January and April of 2013. Artists are chosen because of their excellent work andconnections within the diverse communities served.

Project Summary

Black Rock Arts Foundation

The Black Rock Arts Foundation respectfully requests funding support for the installation of Kate Raudenbush’sthoughtful, contemplative work, Future’s Past, at Patricia’s Green, in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of SanFrancisco. Future’s Past builds on our successes in bringing relevant, engaging work that contributes to thecultural, social and economic growth of the neighborhood. This elegant, refined artwork evokes themes of past andpresent, growth, decay and rebirth, and humanity’s relationship with nature and technology.

Project Summary

Cartoon Art Museum

The Cartoon Art Museum is requesting funds to support our 30th ‘Anniversary of Love and Rockets’ exhibition andrelated programming. ‘Love and Rockets’ was a pivot comic/graphic novel created by the Hernandez Brothers inthe 1980’s and 1990’s. The comic followed the escapades of Latino, GLBT and alternative/punk culture charactersand created a cult following as well as inspiring a new artistic style.

Project Summary$0

Center for the Art of Translation

Two Voices is a reading series spotlighting international writers and translators, presenting thought-provokingliterature from around the world. Events bring world-class writers and translators to local audiences and provide avenue for important cultural dialogue and exchange. Featuring bilingual readings and performances of fresh newliterature from around the world, Two Voices serves the ethnically and linguistically diverse Bay Area and offers theglobal community online access to compelling conversations through video, podcast, and social media.

Project Summary

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2012OPG


Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco

CCC seeks a grant of $15,000 to support its 2012 project entitled: Now is the Moment for Ink: ContemporaryChinese Ink Painting in America. This exhibition, catalog, and related public events together survey the excitingdevelopments in ink painting that have recently flourished within the United States. The exhibition, which hasalready received a competitive NEA ArtWorks award of $20,000 will open in September of 2012.

Project Summary$0

Chrysalis Studio

This proposal requests $15,000 to organize an intergenerational exhibitions of linocut prints exploring San Francisco’s Queer history at the LGBT Center in January 2013. Five younger and five elder Queer artists willcreate the prints in a free intensive sixteen-week workshop at Chrysalis Studio in SOMArts. Awarded funds willsupport the Project Director’s fee, guest speakers’ honoraria, art supplies, and the exhibition’s installation costs.

Project Summary$0

Eldergivers

ELDERGIVERS will present the 21st Annual Art With Elders Exhibit in Fall 2012. The Annual Exhibit and GalaReception for the Artists will be held at Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF. The event will showcase thework of 90 elder artists who live in long term care facilities, providing a memorable and meaningful experience for agroup of seniors who create beautiful, inspiring and distinctive artwork despite their increasing mental and physicalchallenges.

Project Summary$0

Gray Area Foundation for the Arts

Our Creative Technology Studies (CTS) program offers a series of specialized courses covering topics pertainingto creative coding and physical computing. Gray Area trains students to be proficient in the skills necessary forcreative use of the tools used in the fields of interaction design, new media, web development, robotics and more,and is initiating a scholarship program to help make CTS program and courses accessible to kids, students andlow-income residents.

Project Summary

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2012OPG


Intersection for the Arts

A cross-disciplinary project proposing an innovative solution to working with composite wood boards free of toxicadhesives, effectively utilizing excess waste, and creating value to a common by-product for use by a range ofdisciplines. These boards will be transformed into an exhibition of works by artists Christine Lee, Russel Baldon,Julia Hoodman, Barbara Holmes, and Scott Oliver at Intersection, and the focus of multi-week workshops with Community Partners Shih Yu-Lang YMCA and The Tenderloin Boys & Girls Club.

Project Summary

Kearny Street Workshop

To celebrate the organization’s 40th anniversary, Kearny Street Workshop (KSW) will present a five-month-longvisual art exhibition, an interdisciplinary performance showcase, a multi-genre literary reading, and a town hallmeeting, along with special online content. Each program will incorporate a diverse, intergenerational group ofartists to represent the span of Asian American creativity at KSW over the last four decades.

Project Summary

Litquake

Litquake is a literary project that produces a week-long festival each fall and ancillary events throughout the year.In 2012, Litquake will present one event each month and a 9-day literary festival October 5-13, featuring a literaryaward ceremony, literary readings and performances, staged readings, 2 days of children’s events, teen events,cross-media literary happenings, literary stars in conversation, a literary crawl in the Mission District and muchmore.

Project Summary

Million Fishes Arts Collective

“Million Fishes’ 2012 Arts & Performance Series” is a series of gallery openings and performances at Million FishesArts Collective, a community arts organization located in San Francisco’s Mission District. This series will becomprised of two group exhibitions and two solo exhibitions by Million Fishes’ resident artists, as well as twocurated exhibitions featuring outside artists, and a selection of multi-disciplinary classes and workshops. Admission to the shows will be free to the public.

Project Summary$0

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2012OPG


Museum of Craft and Folk Art

MOCFA requests funding to realize an exhibition, entitled Florenzca (Flourish), with Mexican-American artistMargarita Cabrera (November 2012- February 2013). Cabrera’s first Museum solo exhibition will survey recentcollaborative projects at the intersection of contemporary art practices, indigenous Mexican folk art and crafttraditions, and US-Mexico relations, and include a new collaborative commission, which engages the local Mexicanimmigrant population.

Project Summary

National Japanese American Historical Society

“Generation Nexus: Peace in the Post War Era,” a visual exhibition to commemorate the 70th anniversary of theExecutive Order 9066 which led to the mass removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans into concentrationcamps. This project presents a visual installation of six invited Asian American and Native American artists,showcasing their new and earlier works at the newly renovated 10,000 sq ft facility at Building 640 in the Presidioof San Francisco from 1/15/13 through 12/31/13.

Project Summary

Out of Site: Center for Arts Education

Out of Site requests $15,000 in support of free after school programs in visual and performing arts for public highschool youth. Located at the intersection of the OMI and Excelsior neighborhoods, our work responds to the needfor relevant and conceptually based arts education that is guided by youth development ideas, and that connectsunderserved youth to the broader community. Our programs complement the work in the schools, helping tonarrow the achievement gap.

Project Summary

PhotoAlliance

PhotoAlliance requests support for it’s annual Photography Lecture Series, bringing renowned photographers fromacross the country and world to present their art and vision to a diverse Bay Area audience. Each lecture has amain speaker and an introductory presentation by an emerging artist. International artists are also invited whichadds an important global component. Placement of visiting artists in classrooms expands the outreach andcommitment to education and dialogue with a diverse audience.

Project Summary

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2012OPG


Root Division

The Second Saturday Exhibition Series is a collection of visual art events taking place on the 2nd Saturday ofevery month. By presenting eclectic & engaging work in an approachable atmosphere, the project draws a diverserange of 3500+ visitors and broadens the arts-interested public while offering exhibition/curatorial opportunities to350+ emerging artists. Funding would support our efforts to diversify our audience & participants as well as toproduce 12 high-quality exhibitions.

Project Summary

San Francisco Camerawork

SF Camerawork plans to stage two interrelated, back-to-back solo exhibitions during the 2012-3 season by artistsJason Lazarus and Jason Kalogiros. These complementary projects examine the role of the photographic object and photographic institution in a dematerialized digital age. Also, each project has been conceptualized with a built-in participatory component, inviting vital community interaction and dialogue as well as a sense of ownership ofCamerawork and its sponsored artistic projects.

Project Summary

San Francisco Cinematheque

To support the 2013 edition of our annual film festival, CROSSROADS. Established in 2010, CROSSROADS isSan Francisco’s only film festival specifically dedicated to the exhibition of contemporary and historical avant-gardefilm. This four-day, ten-screening event will take place in mid-May, 2013 and will include at least four programs ofrecently completed work, historical retrospectives, in-person artist presentations and an evening of “live cinema”performance.

Project Summary

San Francisco Dyke March

The San Francisco Dyke March seeks funding for a 20th anniversary exhibition of art by dykes, a reception withmusic/spoken word program, and a panel focusing on representation of dykes in all media. We will printphotographs locally, allowing international submissions of photographs taken at Dyke Marches around the globe.We will encourage artists to submit work in other media, which will hang between the grids of photographs. Theexhibit will have an archival component.

Project Summary$0

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2012OPG


San Francisco Transgender Film Festival (Tranny Fest)

This proposal requests $7150 to support the four-night 11th annual San Francisco Transgender Film Festival,which will take place at CounterPulse in November 2012. Awarded funds will support the fee of the Artistic Director, marketing expenses and the venue’s rental costs.

Project Summary$0

Small Press Traffic Literary Arts Center

SPT Seeks support for its Reading Series and Dialogues initiatives, both of which serve as a forum for participatory engagements and conversations about the literary avant-garde. With SFAC support, SPT can continue toencourage the creation and reception of the kind of writing and thinking that pushes forward and interact with avariety of experimental literature and the community that surrounds it.

Project Summary

Voice of Witness

The Voice of Witness digital media project will enrich, animate, and re-imagine the stories told in the Voice ofWitness book series through podcast recordings featuring dramatic readings and interviews with the book’s editors.Selected narrative excerpts will also be the basis for multimedia pieces created in collaboration with the MagnumFoundation. Through this, we seek to further bring to life the stories in our series, engage new audiences, andexplore new platforms for presentation.

Project Summary

Writers Among Artists

This proposal requests $2,100 to support Writers Among Artists’ summer 2012 visual exhibition, literaryperformance and journal-release entitled Faggot Dinosaur. The exhibition, journal release event and literaryreading will take place at Mission neighborhood art gallery, Steven Wolf Fine Art, from June 20-July 20, 2012,during the National Queer Arts Festival.

Project Summary

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FY11-‐12 OPG VISUAL, LITERARY & MEDIA

Table of Contents

ORGANIZATIONS WITH BUDGETS SIZE $35,000 AND UNDER

Chrysalis Studio ......................................................................................................................................................... 2 San Francisco Dyke March ........................................................................................................................................ 4 San Francisco Transgender Film Festival .................................................................................................................. 6 Writers Among Artists .............................................................................................................................................. 8

ORGANIZATIONS WITH BUDGETS SIZE BETWEEN $35,000 AND $150,000

3rd I South Asian Independent Film Festival ............................................................................................................ 10 Army of Lovers ........................................................................................................................................................ 12 Bethany Center Foundation of San Francisco ......................................................................................................... 14 Kearny Street Workshop ......................................................................................................................................... 16 PhotoAlliance .......................................................................................................................................................... 18 San Francisco Cinematheque .................................................................................................................................. 20 Small Press Traffic Literary Arts Center .................................................................................................................. 22 ORGANIZATIONS WITH BUDGETS SIZE BETWEEN] $150,000 AND $1 MILLION

ArtSpan ................................................................................................................................................................... 24 Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center ..................................................................................................................... 26 Black Rock Arts Foundation .................................................................................................................................... 28 Cartoon Art Museum .............................................................................................................................................. 30 Center for the Art of Translation ............................................................................................................................ 32 Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco ................................................................................................................ 34 Eldergivers .............................................................................................................................................................. 36 Gray Area Foundation for the Arts ......................................................................................................................... 39 Intersection for the Arts ......................................................................................................................................... 41 Litquake .................................................................................................................................................................. 43 Million Fishes Arts Collective .................................................................................................................................. 45 Museum of Craft and Folk Art ................................................................................................................................ 47 National Japanese American Historical Society ...................................................................................................... 49 Out of Site: Center for Arts Education .................................................................................................................... 51 Root Division ........................................................................................................................................................... 53 San Francisco Camerawork ..................................................................................................................................... 55 Voice of Witness ..................................................................................................................................................... 57

FY2011-2012 / Organization Project Grants – Visual, Literary and Media Arts – PANEL COMMENTS page 2 of 58

ORANIZATIONS WITH BUDGETS $35,000 AND UNDER

Chrysalis Studio PROJECT DESCRIPTION: This proposal requests $15,000 to organize an intergenerational exhibition of linocut prints exploring San Francisco’s Queer history at the LGBT Center in January 2013. Five younger and five elder Queer artists will create the prints in a free intensive sixteen-‐week workshop at Chrysalis Studio in SOMArts. Awarded funds will support the Project Director’s fee, guest speakers’ honoraria, art supplies, and the exhibition’s installation costs.

Artistic Excellence & Quality of the Proposed Art Project w The proposed project demonstrates originality, clarity and depth of investigation of concepts and ideas w Quality of the proposed professional art activity, including its curatorial or artistic vision, programming, etc. w Qualifications and experience of the artists providing creative leadership for, or involved in, the project w The clarity and feasibility of the project goals

� I liked the intergenerational aspect of this application.

� I see the intergenerational creativity, using history as a lynchpin and bringing in experts, in order to help the audience inform the creation of the work.

� I saw this as a community-‐building project. It is a great idea. I’m seeing the intergenerational link and pairing of emerging artists with elder artists, more and more in queer community and practice.

� Their goal is tying what they do at the historic society with the exhibitions.

� The work samples are strong but I’m not sure of the potential impact or response with the current plan.

� The work samples seemed broader and had a social and political impact.

� I felt like there wasn’t enough meat in a fundamental and structural way. The idea was good but the project needed more articulation. I didn’t have a strong sense of why this was so important to warrant the grant. It is an interesting project with good intention but it is somehow not rooted enough in a guaranteed audience, response or intent made me question ability to be successful.

� The project description is a bit narrow and one-‐dimensional.

� The focus is less on the exhibit but more on process. In terms of long terms development to those artists, this proposal is important by way of taking younger artists and mentoring them in this process.

� They are bringing in a great panel of speakers to talk about the history but if that isn’t accessible to the community at large, it just seems like wasted resources not to have the community in on whole process.

� It is not about the community, but instead about this group of artists having an intense dialogue. It is art as social practice strategy. The result is taking the intensity of engagement and creating art, which becomes an interesting strategy.

� This has all the aspects of a potentially great project but it is just missing some legs in the realization of it.

Quality & Soundness of the Project Planning w The clarity, soundness and thoroughness of the project implementation w The soundness of the project budget and the ability to secure and/or generate any additional resources needed as demonstrated by realistic projections

in project budget, coverage of expenses, etc.

� There is not enough thought in articulating how the discussion with the community might happen.

� I felt nervous about the capability.

� I didn’t get a sense of how they were going to bring that all together.

� They don’t have a history of raising other funds.

� The ratio of request vs. project budget seemed off.

� A lot of the slated budget of the project goes to paying director and that is important. At first glance the budget may look big but when I think about the amount of work, it makes more sense.

� I feel the request amount vs. the project budget is in-‐line with the program. People think there is a lot of money for organizations working with youth and art but there isn’t.

Project’s Impact on the Organization w Potential of the project to further the organization’s mission and vision


� The project continues the mission and vision. I don’t know if they have thought of seeing themselves in the outside community and growing themselves.

� The focus is between artists working together and giving them more time in nurturing those relationships. That could translate out into a larger community.

Impact on the Targeted Audience w Whether a large audience, OR a smaller audience, drawn from a specific community, is likely to be well-‐served and enriched by the project w The credibility of the organization’s plans for securing the desired audience or participants for its project

� I liked they would get word out through Facebook.

� The program serves low-‐income youth.

Organizational Capacity & Capability to Implement the Proposed Project w Qualifications and experience of the administrators providing management leadership for the project, and the support of the organization’s board w Soundness of the organization’s overall financial health w Organization’s history of carrying out projects of a similar scope and scale; OR the organization’s demonstrable capabilities suggesting that it will be

able to carry out projects of such scope and scale

� It is a small staff.

� Staff is qualified.

� The board looked strong.

� The advisory board is strong.

� They didn’t have much history of foundation support although there was a spike in contributed income. I wonder about other resources that will be available to explore this project.

� The letters were good.


San Francisco Dyke March PROJECT DESCRIPTION The San Francisco Dyke March seeks funding for a 20th anniversary exhibition of art by dykes, a reception with music/spoken word program, and a panel focusing on representation of dykes in all media. We will print photographs locally, allowing international submissions of photographs taken at Dyke Marches around the globe. We will encourage artists to submit work in other media, which will hang between the grids of photographs. The exhibit will have an archival component.


� It was vague in how it was going to be curated.

� The specific concern is that they intend to put out a call and accept one photo per applicant. My response was that they would be flooded with submissions.

� I didn’t feel that there were any clear guidelines on how they were going to select work and what the criteria were.

� They want to show diversity and artistic excellence but that was vague.

� They have an unrealistically low number of entries considering this event has a 20-‐year history.

� The idea is great but the vagueness was a concern.

� We don’t know the extent of the exhibit they are planning and what the site is.

� There isn’t a clear curatorial vision in place.



� My concerns are around the exhibit site not being secured. Not knowing the site, it is hard to know what type of space and rental fees are needed.

� I’d recommend scaling back the exhibition for the 20th or doing it online.

� This project needs more planning and then can come back to apply again.

� I want to encourage them to apply again. This feels like a hastily put together application.

� It is unfortunate because it would be valuable for the community but the implementation plan is not right.

� There are discrepancies in the budget and between the budget and the narrative.

� They talk about archiving on the website but there is no budget for that.

� No one on staff knows how to implement online content so that needs to be addressed.

� Although they are planning a cultural event with a panel and artists, there is no mention of who the artists and speakers are.

� They have budgeted money to pay people but that feels unrealistic because they don’t know who they are going to get.


� There is not enough thought here to make the project valuable. For example, think about having an exhibition that happens during the Dyke March so people can attend both.


� What is great with this project is they are seeking representations the Dyke Marches by dykes. It’s important that the community is representing and reflecting on itself. Its not an outside gaze but from within the community.

Organizational Capacity & Capability to Implement the Proposed Project


w Qualifications and experience of the administrators providing management leadership for the project, and the support of the organization’s board w Soundness of the organization’s overall financial health w Organization’s history of carrying out projects of a similar scope and scale; OR the organization’s demonstrable capabilities suggesting that it will be


� I don’t doubt they can pull it together. I know Happy’s work although the artistic approach is a question.

� This is a first time event for this organization; therefore we would have to trust Happy, who has done curatorial stuff before.


San Francisco Transgender Film Festival PROJECT DESCRIPTION This proposal requests $7150 to support the four-‐night 11th annual San Francisco Transgender Film Festival, which will take place at CounterPulse in November 2012. Awarded funds will support the fee of the Artistic Director, marketing expenses and the venue’s rental costs.


� This is the first transgender film festival in country. San Francisco is on the forefront of groups that are marginalized and giving this organization more money to expand this and the visibility would be good thing.

� The literary sample is compelling and poignant.

� This is a well-‐conceived application.

� This is a good, solid proposal.

� This is a timely proposal and appropriate in this region.

� I’m impressed with the variety and thoughtfulness in the work samples.

� I was happy to see that the growth and quality of work is exemplary.

� I like the theme of the festival.



� It is great that they have confirmed income.

� They can follow through on this project.

� Increasing the number of days is a logical step and a realistic goal.

� They have worked with the same venue so they know the venue.

� The timeline was reasonable because they have a track record.

� They have a sense of the timeline and an established venue.


� It is clear that the organization is at a stage in its development that this will take them one step forward.

� This will make big difference in the organization.

� That they have concrete goals and in looking at their growth in the increased attendance are exemplary measures of a success plan


� They have strong ties to the community and are able to turn out a lot of people.

� With the themes, they have a sense of direction in the community that people can participate in and think about.

� A number of people and volunteers are involved in the program.

� They have sold out the festival so there is a demand for it.

� This is a great thing for the community and the larger San Francisco community. As the festival expands, more people are going to come to it.

� They have a good marketing and publicity strategy.

Organizational Capacity & Capability to Implement the Proposed Project w Qualifications and experience of the administrators providing management leadership for the project, and the support of the organization’s board w Soundness of the organization’s overall financial health


w Organization’s history of carrying out projects of a similar scope and scale; OR the organization’s demonstrable capabilities suggesting that it will be able to carry out projects of such scope and scale

� The director makes good use of the advisory board to figure out things like promotion.

� The $5k will increase the director’s income.

� It is great that the director is going to be paid.

� The director’s credentials are strong and deeply involved in community and with anti-‐violence work.

� This is a small operation. The artistic director has curated seven of these festivals and is active in the community so has a good idea of what is realistic.

� The artistic director has done a great job leading the festival.

� It is reinforced that organization is growing and has a paid staff now.


Writers Among Artists PROJECT DESCRIPTION: This proposal requests $2,100 to support Writers Among Artists’ summer 2012 visual exhibition, literary performance and journal-‐release entitled Faggot Dinosaur. The exhibition, journal release event and literary reading will take place at Mission neighborhood art gallery, Steven Wolf Fine Art, from June 20-‐July 20, 2012, during the National Queer Arts Festival.


� I found the process of the Internet call fascinating and the end product of creating the zine was also fascinating.

� With the idea of the zine, I’m not sure if the visual arts aspect is part of the chapbook.

� This is a strong project with a clear artistic vision.

� There is clear innovation in the approach.

� I am excited about the interest of bringing artists and writers together.

� This is a creative proposal. I like the approach to getting submissions – it is a creative idea.

� It was great to see the work sample, which showed strong work.

� This is a great idea. She is an in your face writer.

� The guerilla art thing is great because it feels like she can make it happen with realistic growth.

� This is the first exhibition they are putting on and they are taking a risk and trying something new.



� They have had a successful model in working with the gallery. The gallery is centered within the larger San Francisco visual arts community.

� They are asking for right amount of money.

� The amount requested is appropriate and they realize what they need.

� The project budget is reasonable.

� I like that they are paying their artists.

� The visual and interdisciplinary combination as well as the partnership with Stephen Wolf is well aligned with the project intent and audience.


� The project is aligned with mission of this organization.

� This project advances the organization programmatically in their reach.

� This project is taking them to next level in a realistic way.

� The event can bring the organization a lot more visibility.


� There is good identification of the target audience and a strong list of partners.

� They are using social media and partners in a savvy way.

� There is a track record of engagement through the web.

� Having the readings happen at the gallery is good idea because there is a built-‐in outreach plan with the gallery and other partners. That is smart for a small organization.


� They are doing it at the Queer Arts Festival so this will get publicity and the event is very likely to get an audience.



� The capability of the staff is fine.

� The two letters of recommendation being from board members and not from individuals outside the organization was a question for me.

� They are trying to increase their budget to pay the director, which is an important step.

� I’m curious about the organization’s potential for resources in terms of paid or suggested donation for admissions. I do see that there is a $12 per ticket for admissions.

� Applying for other grants is new for them.

� There is an interest in moving and growing the organization and audience interest.


ORANIZATIONS WITH BUDGETS BETWEEN $35,000 AND $150,000

3rd I South Asian Independent Film Festival PROJECT DESCRIPTION: We request $15,000 to support the 10th Anniversary South Asian International Film Festival at San Francisco’s Castro and Roxie Theaters in November 2012. Curated by 3rd I’s Artistic Director Ivan Jaigirdar, the 4-‐day Festival will screen approximately 4 full-‐length features, 6 documentaries and 10 short films by independent South Asian filmmakers from the United States, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Europe and Canada. The Festival will attract an estimated 5,500 ticket buyers; approximately 75% will be Bay Area South Asians.


� I was excited reading the proposal. Who knew there was a Bollywood noir!?

� I’m impressed with the project scope, and with the artists in contemporary and noir film.

� It’s harder to see film/work like what they show and people rely more on festivals like this to see the work.

� They want to support young conceptual filmmakers alongside established filmmakers. I appreciate the intergenerational dialogue.

� They are clear about the criteria of film selection.

� This is a showcase of local artists. The films are not just from South Asia but from voices here that are local. It is a great mix.

� I’m impressed with the commitment to diversity in a broader context.



� This is a strong proposal. It is detailed and the project goals and community are clear.

� This is a clear proposal.

� They hire additional staff for the festival. That is good foresight in planning for the festival.

� They have a strong promotion plan. The partners are good and appropriate.


� The festival happens at multiple venues. They are looking to move into touring, which is wonderful. It will heighten the visibility of the festival and what they are doing.

� It is nice to see they are moving into the next decade, and to see the wealth and expansion of community. What does it mean to them?


� I like that they are aware of the makeup of the South Asian community and understand whom they are programming for.

� They use audience surveys to collect demographic information.

� They have had rapid growth in audience over the years.

� That 60% of festival volunteers are returning is a good administrative sign.

� The huge number of return volunteers is impressive.

� The screenings are at well-‐established theaters that bring in a broader community, although the target audience is South Asians.

� The outreach is diverse, and not just to student populations.


� They have promotional adds in Indie West, which serves the South Asian community.

� They also include a South Asian LGBT advocacy group.

� The email list includes 8,000 and they hire a publicist who has strong reputation in doing in festival work.



� The leadership is solid. They know what they are doing.

� The accumulated surplus is amazing although took a hit in 2009 and moved to reduced expenses.

� That is a major surplus in relation to their budget.

� They have had a strong track record.

� Qualification of artistic director is high. He has curated the previous nine festivals.


Army of Lovers PROJECT DESCRIPTION: This proposal requests $11,375 to support the final production costs of The biggest Quake: the Impact of AIDS on San Francisco, a 90-‐minute performative literature event. Created by Army of Lovers’ Kirk Read and an intergenerational group of 7 LGBT writers, this free literary event will be staged 3 times at the Metropolitan Community Church in late June/early July 2012. Awarded funds will underwrite artists’ fees, technical production staff, venue rental costs and documentation.


� I love the idea of this being intergenerational and that it includes four younger writers who’ve heard of the AIDS epidemic and four who have lived through it.

� There is a great collaboration of artists learning from one another.

� The project, re-‐conceptualized film through a literary project, is interesting.

� This project has a specific timeline and historical perspective.

� This is a strong project overall. I liked the intergenerational aspect.

� I wonder if the actual production is going to be basically a reading. There will be technical director hired but I didn’t get a good idea of how much production was going to be involved in the final staging of it. For example, are there set components or music?

� The fascinating thing is that in the early years of the AIDS epidemic, Theater Rhino created an AIDS show. There were actors that co-‐wrote and performed work in nontraditional settings like performing to Shanti caregivers. Productions were very low tech. This proposal reminds me of that time. I don’t know where this production is going to fall. From my read, it will be more performative rather than a straight reading.

� It’s not articulated but there is director of final rehearsals so there is assumption of some of that.

� This proposal brings these issues into a new context and in new venues, and also brings in artists’ responses. This is different from the film, which was about the caretaker’s response.



� In terms of the timeline, artists will be working on the stories and presenting them mid-‐way through, which is an interesting idea and could be effective.

� The mid-‐way public reading is great.

� The project planning is clear. It is clear what he wants to address and how he wants to work with the writers.

� They were able to secure additional funding, which is good to see.

� I’m unclear about the venue – I didn’t know if it was appropriate, well trafficked, etc. Why is it appropriate for this production?

� The venue is where the memorial services were held during the pandemic. That adds another layer of meaning of where the mourning happens. I thought it was smart because it’s a center and known to people who’ve gone through the epidemic.

� I’m curious about why the organization wouldn’t charge nominal fee for artistic production.

� Since the events are free, I wonder if literary events in general are expected to be free.

� I feel that is the case. With a performance, it is assumed that there is a production cost. For readings, the assumption is that there isn’t.


� In terms of project impact, they want to reach a new community of the LGBT community but the proposal didn’t go into so much detail about that.



� I have questions around publicity. They will be using an extensive personal email list, which narrows the focus. I wanted to see more reach in the publicity and audience plan.

� Program Director: The publicity is layered and involves other organizations.

� I like seeing that the outreach was so tied to the AIDS Foundation and medical treatment center.

� I’m curious after the production takes place how the organization might distribute the result of the work. Would it be recorded/disseminated? How will it be leveraged?

� It is in the notes that the performance will be documented.

� They are planning to reach 600 people through the performances. For the amount of the grant, that number could go further.

� The organization had an impressive audience reach for its size.



� The leadership looked really strong. The artistic director has a presence, history, and following. He has a track record of doing great work.

� It’s nice to see they don’t have a deficit.

� The project is quite a drop in the operating budget, so I’m curious why that occurred in the CDP.

� They are doing a production next year. The accumulated surplus was to support that production. That would have been concerning except they received the Creative Work Fund. They are pretty well covered. Having state funding is great.

� Paid attendance decreased in 2011. I wonder what that meant.


Bethany Center Foundation of San Francisco PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The project will mount three gallery exhibitions by emerging artist from San Francisco. The exhibits will be hosted by Ruth’s Table, a program of Bethany Center Foundation of San Francisco which brings arts and creative expression opportunities to low income, minority elders in San Francisco. the professionally curated exhibitions will open in August 2012, and January and April of 2013. Artists are chosen because of their excellent work and connections within the diverse communities served.


� The work sample would have been stronger if there were individual slides.

� The work sample is a bit weak.

� If they were applying for one exhibition and if the project details were more articulated... it’s hard to know because 2/3rd of what they are proposing is unclear.

� Some aspects of the program were vague.

� There was not much originality in terms of contemporary practice.

� They are starting to think about the themes to the 2nd and 3rd exhibitions to be intergenerational. Other themes may emerge.

� I wish the work sample were stronger. It is a program trying to find itself. It should be supported but I’m not sure if this is the area.

� There is uncertainty about the focus of the program.

� Is the focus on the residents and enrichment or is it in expanding to outside community?

� If it is mainly for public consumption, the quality of work not so innovative and needs to be more interesting. If the focus is on the residents, the quality is secondary.

� This program has a lot of heart and could be developed stronger.



� The main problem is a lack of definition. They are over ambitious.

� I like the idea, intent, and philosophy. This could potentially be powerful and a catalyst. They try to incorporate seniors but they need more development time and more help.

� I agree that three exhibits seem ambitious especially since they’ve only chosen the theme for the first. That was my main concern. With the given timeline to do all three this year, that is a lot.

� They want to bring so much more to the program, including music, etc. I would want to see more details locked down. I want to see a proposal that shows more of a timeline and artists.

� This feels too much in too short a time.

� The artists have not been chosen yet. I wish the curators had been identified.


� They may need to focus on mission and intent more because they are so beholden on this particular individual and her legacy.


� The strength of this project is the idea to center exhibitions around a community of residents that are low income and minority.


� It’s really working with a community of elder, frail, low income, and a large number from immigrant populations. What was fascinating is that Russians are not the first group people think of as immigrants.

� I saw the mission as getting the community more implicated in the lives of residents and to give residents a feel of community through art.

� Can the public take workshops? If the workshops are not open to the broader community, that is a missed opportunity to generate more income or get more people from the community involved.

� A concern is the insular nature of the workshops.

� The audience seems insular and the publicity plans not developed.



� The budget went up last year because they launched this program and had a fundraiser at the De Young. It catapulted them to a whole other place and they are trying to figure out how to keep it going. They are resting hopes on their inspiration, Ruth Asawa.

� This is an education program that serves seniors and I’m not sure if they’ve developed enough infrastructure to do the project.

� They are operating on a bit of a deficit. How will program be sustained? There are a number of pending major grants. It seems a bit shaky.

� They have $17K secured and have a number of pending grants as well.

� Because they grew last year from launching Ruth’s Table and with the deficit, their budget doesn’t feel too stable.

� The leadership is kind of new, although the director had worked there previously and then returned.


Kearny Street Workshop PROJECT DESCRIPTION: To celebrate the organization’s 40th anniversary, Kearny Street Workshop (KSW) will present a five-‐month-‐long visual art exhibition, an interdisciplinary performance showcase, a multi-‐genre literary reading, and a town hall meeting, along with special online content. Each program will incorporate a diverse, intergenerational group of artists to represent the span of Asian American creativity at KSW over the last four decades.


� They had an enjoyable work sample.

� The other concern is about curators being chosen for the events.

� In timeline indicates that the curators are already hired. That is good because the programs are ambitious, but the diversity of them is great.

� I wanted more precision on what the programs were going to be and also the artists and curators.

� Program Director: Page three of the narrative talks about process and qualification of staff and a description of the process of curation. It would have helped if they have included bios of committee members. The structure is in place in terms of curatorial process and historic experience.

� The proposal seems a bit crazy. Each of the components is so serious. There are fabulous resources in place but they are in a transition time.

� I wasn’t sure how all the programs were going to be tied together. I couldn’t understand each separately.

� KSW is major important voice in the community. I really want to support them. It’s so amazing to see people like me in that role. KSW is so empowering and it is amazing to have that outlet.

� I like the idea of reconnecting with the past and soliciting things from people that have been involved with the organization. They are looking at cumulative efforts.

� The proposal is clear as far as what they are aiming to do and how they are going to do it.



� Scaling back the ambitious programming seems essential.

� This is straightforward. I thought things were pretty far along and for the 40th anniversary, it should be ambitious and they are planning this over broad swath of time, I wasn’t so concerned with that. They are collaborating so those venues will provide support. There is no evidence that they couldn’t just do this considering their history.

� They have plenty of time to get things together.

� Program Director: These are all projections. What we talk about is where they have secured people to let panel know the process. The process is laid out clearly here. Then look at the history and if that informs level of quality of artists and curators they will be using.

�

� I came away feeling there was excellent articulation. It is an amazing timeline. Having particular staff involved allows them to use volunteers.


� I felt that the ambitious program could either be biting off more than they can chew, given the shakiness of the transition, or an excellent way to springboard them into the future.



� The partnerships, with Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center and Litquake, are impressive. The partners are great for expanding the reach to larger audiences.

� They have a good sense of target audience and community.

� They don’t have a specific marketing plan but have 1,800 subscribers to the email list and are relying on partners to spread word.

� They have a strong community of followers. I’ve been to a number of their events. They have good goals and are reaching audiences and online viewers. It feels pretty solid.



� This is a longstanding organization. It is a large project.

� They have a history of presenting multidisciplinary programs. They have a good track record of producing large-‐scale events.

� They are going through a leadership transition right now and I’m not sure how that impacts functioning.

� It sounds like they are going through a difficult transition, which coincides with 40th.

� My main concern is a drop in workshop attendance due to the downturn in economy. In the budget it looks like they made revenue from workshops in the past.

� What I had to put into place in reading this is the understanding that the staff has a lot of history with KSW and that would help them pull this off.

� The program and amount of fundraising is exemplary. If you look at the budget they have paid attention to what they needed to do. They back up their ability and will pull it off on a small budget. I know their history and have witnessed what they have done.


PhotoAlliance PROJECT DESCRIPTION PhotoAlliance requests support for it’s annual Photography Lecture Series, bringing renowned photographers from across the country and world to present their art and vision to a diverse Bay Area audience. Each lecture has a main speaker and an introductory presentation by an emerging artist. International artists are also invited which adds an important global component. Placement of visiting artists in classrooms expands the outreach and commitment to education and dialogue with a diverse audience.


� They have an excellent website and there is actual curation on there.

� It seems like they know how to access good artists and they have a following.

� I didn’t find the proposal to be terribly enlightening. I don’t know a lot of the artists and that is one disadvantage. But I do see a particular type of photographer that seems to be repeated. I also see a traditional construct of photography in the ongoing series.

� I wasn’t moved at all in reading this. I would have preferred seeing other artists’ work for the work sample to get a sense of what might be different.

� The proposal seemed one dimensional in the approach.

� Where is the theme, excitement and innovation?

� This felt like a collaborative program with San Francisco Arts Institute (SFAI). I didn’t feel an inclusiveness with a wider audience and with different perspectives in photography. It doesn’t seem to have as much of an import.

� The program is somewhat embedded in SFAI and has an old idea of photography. It’s a nice series that’s going on.

� I like that local/younger artists are doing the introductions.

� I like the pairing of emerging and established artists. They help emerging artists and that opportunity is a big deal.

� This looks a little life magazine-‐y. The photography is commercial.



� I liked that they are paying artists who present.

� In the project budget, the administrative expense is high just for this project but it’s a big part of what their programming is.



� Their venue is at SFAI. They are educators and that is part of what they do but that makes accessibility different.

� They spend a lot of the narrative building the case of collaborative partnerships but don’t give specific examples. It is a lot of museums and institutes. I’m not sure if that is necessary because they are bringing good art to an intended audience. Who are they strengthening in the surrounding community? They don’t show us where they have done that, so why bring it up?

� I see two community connections but they don’t talk about their process, not that I don’t believe they don’t do it, but it would strengthen the narrative of how they are working with specific groups. That is minor thing that doesn’t detract from program.


� They list a series of partners but how does that reflect in the materials? There are a lot of claims of audience made but that are not supported, such as demographics.

� They give away free tickets to students. They do a certain amount of outreach.

� They are not convincing in their pitch that they are serving a broader audience.



� This is a strong organization although they have a one-‐person staff and a volunteer board.

� They have a steady income from workshops and print materials, but that has also been decreasing.

� They have a small deficit although they are pretty stable across the board.


San Francisco Cinematheque PROJECT DESCRIPTION To support the 2013 edition of our annual film festival, CROSSROADS. Established in 2010, CROSSROADS is San Francisco’s only film festival specifically dedicated to the exhibition of contemporary and historical avant-‐garde film. This four-‐day, ten-‐screening event will take place in mid-‐May, 2013 and will include at least four programs of recently completed work, historical retrospectives, in-‐person artist presentations and an evening of “live cinema” performance.


� This was a strong proposal.

� The application could be stronger.

� It wasn’t that compelling for me. The content wasn’t working for me. The proposal hard to follow and jumped around.

� I’m impressed with the programming as a whole.

� This is the only avant garde film festival on the West coast. It is important to have organizations that represent avant garde cinema.

� It is a good program that should get a lot of attention.

� The program is edgy and shows they are who they are.

� The first work sample was compelling and strong.

� It is great to showcase one of the artists.

� This is a program of value. They are trying to re-‐engage this type of work. I see a younger generation coming to see the work, although they don’t talk about it in the application.



� Timeline is great.

� They have a track record and venue at the Victoria Theater.


� There is a concern with the development of an additional film festival of avant garde film. It seems like they are serving that group already with programming and I wonder if that is necessary.

� As to question of why, I say why not, if growing from three to four day event means that the audience is growing.

� Speaking to the importance of this festival, none of the programs are solely devoted to avant garde film and there is so much confusion of what avant garde is. They are trying to define it.

� Their audience is growing and they are growing as a festival


� The collaborations are really strong. Because of their programming and screenings in many different venues, they must reach a huge audience.

� Their attendance has gone up.

� That there is no outreach plan concerned me.

� It feels like they are leaning on a history of being a strong presenter and relying on past plans of promotion.

� It’s interesting and an important niche to fill, which is more defined than some other applications.




� This is an incredibly established organization with amazing collaborations with other arts organizations and great programming.

� This is clearly one of the organizations that have a great reputation and history.

� I see that they have so much programming and they have only a three person staff. I wonder about the rationale, but it is not a negative since their programming is so incredible.

� One staff member is always a bit of a red flag, though they will be employing a festival director.

� The staff is capable and skilled to pull it off.

� They have few years of deficit, so part of me wished they talked about how they were going to recover that. I don’t feel like that is a major negative considering other applications and the economy.

� They are still carrying a deficit. There was a certain lack of attention to clarifying that more.

� The leadership is really strong. They have wonderful letters and articles as support material for them.

� The leadership seems solid and constant.

� They have managed to grow the festival even in these few lean years. That’s impressive.


Small Press Traffic Literary Arts Center PROJECT DESCRIPTION SPT Seeks support for its Reading Series and Dialogues initiatives, both of which serve as a forum for participatory engagements and conversations about the literary avant-‐garde. With SFAC support, SPT can continue to encourage the creation and reception of the kind of writing and thinking that pushes forward and interact with a variety of experimental literature and the community that surrounds it.


� They continue to be relevant as an organization.

� Their 2012-‐13 programming includes interesting writers.

� I thought the artists were stellar based on whom they have brought in in the past.

� It is wonderful that they cultivate writers.



� The venue capacity is small. They don’t have a large audience. So 60-‐70 people attending is good.

� I didn’t see where they talked about what funds are committed and they didn’t list foundations they are applying to.

� This is an incredible proposal. It is well outlined.


� This organization does something no other organization does, which is addressing the relevance of avant garde literature. This can be seen in who they bring to speak and where they hold events.

� What impressed me is how they changed over time. They talk upfront about the positioning of avant garde as elitist, but who they have invited to read are populist.

� They are being intentional about the demographics of avant garde artists.


� There is diversity in the audience attending the readings. An organization of their size is at an age that they are figuring that out.

� The down side to this application is there is not much on marketing.

� There could be a broader access but they may just be limited in types of resources. It is not a bad thing to do something well and build a reputation in the community.

� It seems like a lot of their events happen at certain venues so I wish they spread that out. They do such a service to literature.

� Some venues are small and student based and it would be nice to see them out and about. They probably do it, but that would be a suggestion. Some venues would be better to reach the community at large.

� The Facebook audience of 5,000 blew my mind.

� There is not going to be such a huge audience as for a mainstream literary event but that is all the more crucial that organizations like this exists because there is an audience for it.




� There are great letters and I like how they talk about the founding as part of a radicalized identity shift.

� I like the letter from Saint Marks.

� The staff and people involved are stellar.

� They have stable income and they do a lot with a small budget.

� They have been doing it for so long.

� They continue to bring on new board members.

� They’ve had two down years but are now up.

� The size of the deficit pops out at me in 2009, less so in 2010. It speaks to the fact that we are in a frightening moment in culture. I suspect that avant garde work is less understood and easier to eliminate. The audience has increased over that time. They do explain that they were administratively heavy in salary for over seven years and then they adjusted. They are thinking of how to stabilize.

� Program Director: They have a new board treasurer and are doing closer monitoring.

� They had a wake up call and now they are responding to it.

� It brings to the discussion what sacrifices people are making.

� They are at the level of City Lights in terms of their place in the fabric of the community.

� They fill out the literary scene in San Francisco and add to the dimension.


ORANIZATIONS WITH BUDGETS BETWEEN $150,000 and $1 million

ArtSpan PROJECT DESCRIPTION: SF Open Studios brings an estimated 60,000 visitors into artist studios, galleries and community centers to meet local artist, discover the process that goes into creating work and to purchase original work directly from the source. San Francisco Open Studios is not juried and provides a network of support to make it more viable for artists to live and produce work in an Francisco. The 37th annual SF Open Studios program will take place citywide in the Fall of 2012 over four coordinated weekends.

Quality and innovation in how the project will bring people, artistry and ideas together to strengthen the neighborhood/community including the Artistic Excellence & Quality of the Proposed Art Project w The proposed project demonstrates originality, clarity and depth of investigation of concepts and ideas w Quality of the proposed professional art activity, including its curatorial or artistic vision, programming, etc. w Qualifications and experience of the artists providing creative leadership for, or involved in, the project w The clarity and feasibility of the project goals

� This grant would fund open studios in October. A different neighborhood will have an open studio each weekend. This budget would go to continue the project, and it’s a straightforward goal.

� I wanted to hear more about how the artists involved are in the process. I understand that it’s a membership service, but I needed more information about the details.

� I would like to see feedback from the artists about how useful Open Studios was to them.

� It’s an incredibly worthwhile event, and it is solid.

� After year after year of doing the same thing, it may be great to begin to diversify.

� I think it would be a shame if the program stopped.

� The project is solid; it gets non-‐arts people into studios whether or not work is bought.

� The quality of work is across the board. There are great artists, some decent artists and mediocre ones as well.



� What’s the virtual manifestation of open studios, would it be an open marketplace?

� People really do buy art online, which is mind boggling to me. But, they do.

� The downturn in the economy may mean that people have less disposable income.

� We get the publication at my organization, and people do take them sometimes. But, they also sit around. It’s the opposite of LitQuake.

� What about the budget, it doesn’t say what the money is being spent on? There is no detail. Is it in the narrative?

� The personnel bios are very slim.

� It feels rushed.

� Is the fee sliding scale?


� The East Bay Open Studios is very similar with the participation of the artists, marketing, and publicity. I think it’s a bit outdated in terms of my experience of the East Bay model.

� Program Director: Are you talking about ArtSpan or, an open studios model?

� I thought they were related organizations?

� Program Director: They are not related.

� Artists pay and do get some development. People come and purchase work.

� What’s outdated? The paper book, the online presentation, etc?


� The book is impressive, but I feel that the resources put into it would be better spent on other ways of marketing. I think it could move into a new phase of relationship.

� It needs an app.

� I feel that this application is sort of phoned-‐in. I think we get it, and it’s a good thing. There are other things that an organization of this level of maturity should be focusing on, like bringing in a more diverse set of artists.


� They have rebranded.

� The audience and number of artists have grown exponentially. Their reach is huge, with 60,000 people attending.

� The publication with color photos of the work is a service to them. It invites many to the studios.

� Do the people really pay attention to the catalog?

� From my experience in the East Bay, attendance has dropped off.

� Do they address the attendance?

� Yes. It has increased, as has the number of artist participants. Physical attendance is up by 2,000.

� What are ways to increase equity about the artists included? I do see some more diversity in the catalog. There is more diversity in those attending. The arts community in San Francisco is actually more diverse than they represent. The demographic may be tried and true, but I think they need to look at it.

� I find that the majority of people who go to Open Studios are often people who aren’t well versed in art galleries. It reaches people in the corporate world, who want to just go and get some cheap art. I have gone, but my colleagues don’t.

� I think that’s to their credit.

� This catalog might actually be more accessible to those people.

� The catalog is expensive, and it’s not green. There is something that feels irresponsible in San Francisco.



� The organization has three years of deficit.

� They had a nightmare of an experience with their website. It crashed and then they called in a new developer. It sounded like a 3-‐year debacle. I question where the leadership was that the project took it so long.

� What do you do? Do you stop before you put the money toward it? I did think their plan to reverse it was sound.

� They upped the board dues, and addressed the deficit pretty well. I felt good about them moving forward and sustaining. I see them as having challenges, and the hiring of a business consultant is a good step.

� As a San Francisco institution since 1975, it’s a longstanding collaborative model. They have had difficulties in sustaining it.

� Maybe in two years if they are still in the same place, we might complain, but their Executive Director just arrived.


Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center PROJECT DESCRIPTION: “Circle the Teacup Around” is an exhibition featuring the work of Bay Area artist Flo Oy Wong. It will be presented at the Luggage Store in October 2013, Wong’s 75th birthday. The exhibit has three components: Wong’s installation entitled “The Baby Jack Rice Story,” new art by Wong and others, and selections of her earlier works. The opening will feature the Marcus Shelby Trio performing a new composition on the story of “Baby Jack.”


� I’m intrigued by the project. Part of the story is of the artist’s husband upbringing, which is a story we don’t hear of much.

� This project is a dynamic cross-‐sector collaboration to bring to this community. I’m glad to learn about this and it is something we don’t hear of.

� This project is intriguing and the dynamic engagement comes through in the proposal.

� The artist has worked seriously in different media, as well as being transcultural. That is powerful.

� I was blown away with seeing the work sample alone. The work seems professional and directed. I’d love to see it when it comes out.

� I liked the new composition and the relationship between music and events of the artist’s life, which is a key element.

� I’ve followed Flo Oy Wong’s work and find it compelling that it has a deeper story attached to the work that isn’t rhetorical. I always learn something.

� She is a local treasure and a great storyteller. There is a timeless quality to her work.

� Marcus Shelby brings out the story in another collaborative work that reaches different cultures. This is a wonderful application where you really want to see what happens.

� I liked this project very much. It is powerful to think about the artist’s 75th birthday. This seems like a momentous occasion.

� I like the multidimensionality of the project.



� I would have liked to hear more about the potential of the educational aspect. There has been a lot of curriculum developed already around her work.

� The timeline is clear and effective.


� The organization is moving beyond the mission and the project is working with the Luggage Store.

� There is also the cross-‐cultural aspect.


� One concern is the outreach to the community. There is no talk about press, media, or outreach. That is disappointing although the proposal talks about the target community.

� They might rely on a known audience so perhaps that is why they didn’t talk about outreach and how to get the targeted audience. They did have a survey.

� They may be counting on the two known artists to attract the audience.

� They are relying on the key players, but maybe that is not so bad.


� They do have a budget for advertising.

� They want to work with an elementary school and I loved that idea. It is not only an unusual cross-‐cultural collaboration but they want to bring it to a school and use the art project to teach kids about history. That is a nice added component to whole project.



� The organization is solid. There is an accumulated surplus over last three years.

� The organization is strong and financially solid.

� This seems like an organization that has been around for a while.


Black Rock Arts Foundation PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The Black Rock Arts Foundation respectfully requests funding support for the installation of Kate Raudenbush’s thoughtful, contemplative work, Future’s Past, at Patricia’s Green, in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco. Future’s Past builds on our successes in bringing relevant, engaging work that contributes to the cultural, social and economic growth of the neighborhood. This elegant, refined artwork evokes themes of past and present, growth, decay and rebirth, and humanity’s relationship with nature and technology.


� Great work sample.

� It reflects many spiritual qualities of transcendence and is good for Hayes Valley.

� This is a very strong proposal. There is great background and association with Burning Man.

� There is a good goal of extending the sense of wonder.

� The project has a goal of civic participation.

� The project is a model for collaboration and puts the Bay Area on the map as a place of innovative work.



� This is a great neighborhood collaborative model. There has been a positive past partnership.

� The project has different phases and locations. The San Francisco piece is explained but the larger project is not explained.

� This was a difficult project to understand in terms of the budgets.

� Program Director: Is the budget between phase 1 and phase 3 complicated to understand?

� I did not find it confusing. What I found confusing was that they did not break out the funding that would be coming from the SFAC grant.

� There are two different projects by this artist that are discussed in the proposal, which adds to the confusion.

� The two separate costs for install is confusing and a budget note would have been helpful.

� The total budget is hard to understand.


� It is a missed opportunity to not engage the mixed nature of the neighborhood and other opportunities, such as engaging the schools in the area.


� I thought the target audience and outreach is a bit of a reach. It did not tell me what they are anticipating regarding engaging the broader local community. I don’t think they addressed it and that is disappointing.

� The piece is amazing and will bring people to it because it is there. I don’t think you can anticipate who will come and see this work, such as tour buses. As Burning Man admission prices keep going up, the positive aspect of this project is that it exposes a broader audience to the Burning Man art experience.




� The organization looks fiscally strong.

� The board of directors is strong.

� They have an accumulated surplus as large as their budget. Why do they need the grant if they have a $300k surplus? It is an unusual deserving piece of art, but the surplus is troubling.

� Program Director: I am looking to see if they have indicated restricted funds.

� They should have explained the surplus.

� Program Director: It would have helped to explain more about that in relationship to the festival.

� We do not want to penalize people for having a surplus but an explanation would have helped. And for this grant, there is an opportunity to give an explanation.

� There are no bios of staff, which would have been helpful in understanding how the organization operates.

� Who is doing the work and what expertise is at the table?


Cartoon Art Museum PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The Cartoon Art Museum is requesting funds to support our 30th ‘Anniversary of Love and Rockets’ exhibition and related programming. ‘Love and Rockets’ was a pivot comic/graphic novel created by the Hernandez Brothers in the 1980’s and 1990’s. The comic followed the escapades of Latino, GLBT and alternative/punk culture characters and created a cult following as well as inspiring a new artistic style.


� The Love and Rockets’ exhibition is programming created by the Hernandez brothers in the ‘80s with punk culture and alternative characters.

� I wanted to re-‐iterate the quality of the Hernandez brothers work.

� It does seem important to do something groundbreaking and memorable for the 30th anniversary. This does seem to fit the bill.

� This project looks good. I’d love to see it done.

� They gave previous examples of a Jewish cartoonist and a previous Latino exhibit, which were curated by others and mounted there.

� It is common that museums bring already curated shows.

� What’s notable is bringing together LGBT and Latino communities, especially in this city where there have been problems between the two communities. It’s an important thing to bring to people’s attention.

� I thought this program was uneven.



� They are fairly reliant on this grant, although the funding is pretty well distributed among the categories.

� I like that this is juxtaposing and ramping up with May Latino gathering and Pride month.


� What was interesting is that this proposal will engage two underrepresented communities: LGBT and Latino through the publication. This was an unusual project given the kinds of projects/exhibitions they do. It speaks to the potential for them to expand their audiences.

� I saw that this organization has gone through hard times, but both with Latino comics exhibit and this one, they are trying to expand things.


� I didn’t see any mention of social media in the proposal, which seems unusual in this day and age.

� I like that they were considering kids with their events, not just a typical 25-‐35 year old audience base.

� They say they plan to partner with Chicano organizations and Intersection for the Arts, but there wasn’t a lot of time spent talking about the outreach.

� I agree that the outreach plan is pretty non-‐existent, which is a real shortcoming, especially when reaching out to communities that have such specificity.

� I didn’t see that the partnerships were already in place, given the timing of the show and given that it is downtown and not in the Mission.

� This is not a neighborhood/community venue, but a tourist attraction. The show seems to be a first step to having exhibitions that will be relevant to communities.


� I also feel that the Hernandez brothers’ work is so well known that there will be a built-‐in audience. There will be a lot of interest and cross over with non-‐traditional cartoon audiences.



� The museum has an important voice and is niche-‐oriented.

� They are historically known for groundbreaking work.

� I thought some of the grant materials pointed to financial problems and staff transitions.

� The director passed away, which was very traumatic and can take years to recover from. Then they lost funding for the second-‐in-‐command and had to move that position to an independent contractor. They are very frank about it.

� They have a small staff and restricted budget. They can probably rally and do the project.

� The staff is recovering. The gallery manager has been in place since 2001.

� Director: The new director has been with the organization since 1998, but she became the director in 2010.

� The letters of recommendation were a bit weak. One is from a cartoonist/publisher and the other is from a publisher. They did not really add to my understanding of the groups.

� I see in their CCDP there is little spent on artist fees. $240K was spent on rent. That’s a lot of money on rent rather than the programming/artistic piece. Seems to me that this is an organization that is in an unstable situation. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think that this is unworthy and that the project wouldn’t be important.

� Where the real estate is, the rent is not that high. You see another organization is paying $160k in the Mission. The museum is downtown so the expense is not that out of scale.

� They have a lot of earned income through the gift shop, which increased almost 3 times since 2009-‐10. This is a good point in the budget in balancing out the rent.

� Yes, but I would like to see programming and marketing budgets increased.

� There wasn’t a lot of background information on the board, but there is a nice variety of backgrounds, roles and gender.


Center for the Art of Translation PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Two Voices is a reading series spotlighting international writers and translators, presenting thought-‐provoking literature from around the world. Events bring world-‐class writers and translators to local audiences and provide a venue for important cultural dialogue and exchange. Featuring bilingual readings and performances of fresh new literature from around the world, Two Voices serves the ethnically and linguistically diverse Bay Area and offers the global community online access to compelling conversations through video, podcast, and social media.


� That we’re going to become more and more reliant on tools, like Google translation, is problematic. It’s more important to have a greater understanding of the art of translation, like the Madame Bovary example, and how translation is historically centered.

� I appreciated being reminded about this lost art form. I was appreciative of that. This is a valuable organization doing wonderful work.

� I am impressed by the number of languages that they are translating. They are interested in a diverse range of languages. And this is a time when people are trying to understand how to have a deeper understanding of our fellow humans. It is very exciting.

� This is an incredibly specialized and important niche that we could go on with our lives and not even consider. It’s important that we have their service in the community.

� The quality of writers and participants in the organization is unparalleled. I didn’t know this organization before, but that first clip was really incredible at showing the subtlety of issues.

� That was fascinating – it was like a story to hear about her process in considering translation.

� I was really impressed by that too. We didn’t get to hear as much about the second group. But especially in the world that we live in with Google translator, it’s important to keep the dialogue going and understand the art of re-‐creating the text.



� I like that they are putting things on the web with podcasts. They give a number for increase in audience and downloads. I think they may be a little ambitious with downloads goals, but they talk about on-‐line strategies. They let us know they have 1,350 Facebook friends, their current downloads, etc.

� They also do collaborations around the city.


� The podcasts is a really big piece too. Even though they know they want to contain their program, they are looking at expanding viewers by expanding online. That is smart because even though they can only reach so many locally they can grow a lot internationally. This is one of these San Francisco things where they are the best of the best. Even New York will be envious.


� The organization has a steady following.

� They had a good number of free attendance. It is great to see that they are doing free accessible events.

� They do seem to have an outreach plan. Where they are outreaching and how makes sense. They understand where they are at with an organization.

Organizational Capacity & Capability to Implement the Proposed Project w Qualifications and experience of the administrators providing management leadership for the project, and the support of the organization’s board


w Soundness of the organization’s overall financial health w Organization’s history of carrying out projects of a similar scope and scale; OR the organization’s demonstrable capabilities suggesting that it will be


� I like that they understand that they are at capacity and are honest about that.

� I appreciate that they want to honor that they are at capacity.

� Their acknowledgement that they are at capacity is rare. There are fear factors that if you say you are at capacity, people think they won’t get funding. I appreciate that maturity.

� Staff is dedicated and has been doing this for a while.

� I was impressed reading all of the staff credentials.

� They are also committed to not just translating European languages, but hearing from Asia, South America and Africa. Also, something that is my own spin, it would be interesting to see the translation of indigenous languages. There are so many sovereign nations in North America. That would be moving them into strategic planning.

� I was impressed at the level of individual donors. Looking at the CCDP it is unbelievable that they had 179,000 in 2010, etc. I’m sure there are dedicated patrons who support the work.

� That is equaled by foundation support, which is very noteworthy.

� The letters were really good to see. You can see how appreciative they are of the space.

� What about their surplus? It wasn’t in their three-‐year average. We don’t know what it is.

� Program Director: We just have the annual surplus. They are missing the calculated three-‐year surplus.

� In the last filing in June 2011 they were in the black. Their net total activity is $15,000 and they will carry that forward.


Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco PROJECT DESCRIPTION: CCC seeks a grant of $15,000 to support its 2012 project entitled: Now is the Moment for Ink: Contemporary Chinese Ink Painting in America. This exhibition, catalog, and related public events together survey the exciting developments in ink painting that have recently flourished within the United States. The exhibition, which has already received a competitive NEA ArtWorks award of $20,000 will open in September of 2012.


� It was nice to see the work sample and see the diversity within ink paintings. I loved reading the narrative and the history behind ink paintings. It is an important history in America that has not been historicized or appreciated. I appreciated the historical scope and that helped pull out the conceptual idea.

� There is a high aesthetic quality to the organization’s work.

� This is a great project in seeing the stream of artistic work possibly done in ink and the excitement of regenerating that in a new generation. I like that.

� I was interested in the multi-‐generational idea.

� I wasn’t sure why they brought in the 1.5 generation. It is not clear what that has to do with this project.

� Maybe they are drawing from artists that have come here.

� Program Director: The 1.5 is being talked about as generations, value and the mentality of movement.

� That was cool to read about in conjunction with this project because they do work with artists in China.

� The 1.5 seemed interesting but I was unsure how they are going to explicate that in the project itself.

� It could have been more exciting but the narrative doesn’t get there. I wanted to hear why it was exciting and hear about what’s happening in ink painting.

� I thought it was a flat proposal. It wasn’t stimulating in how it communicated the ideas. The work samples were strong so that sways me.

� This is generated from the curator’s thesis project.

� The work showed was much stronger than how the proposal read.

� The work samples are strong. The idea and background in thinking about the exhibition wasn’t really articulated fully.

� I appreciate it as an in-‐depth exploration of one art form. They did a good job explaining it historically and why it is important to preserve.

� The narrative feels weighted towards the traditional. There is allusion to the new but they don’t really say. The article helped. It is there but you have to dig for it.



� In regards to project funding they have already secured major funding.

� I don’t know if there was a panel that was going to happen, as it was apart of one of the measures of success.

� The exhibition draws newer and older artists. They will have lectures and catalogues. I appreciate the comprehensive aspect to investigation and presentation.


� They missed the chance in the narrative to explain that this is a contemporary show about ink in the here and now. There is a missed opportunity in the excitement about the new work. That this is an opportunity to put out new Chinese American artists in the community is something that I don’t see.

Impact on the Targeted Audience


w Whether a large audience, OR a smaller audience, drawn from a specific community, is likely to be well-‐served and enriched by the project w The credibility of the organization’s plans for securing the desired audience or participants for its project

� They are reaching the usual audience. There is a strong audience already that comes to their programming. Its this 1.5 perspective that they are trying to develop and bring in.

� They have a wonderful outreach campaign. It is clear what they are doing at each level. They have a good sense of how they will reach their audiences.

� The content online would be valuable to reach audiences in China.



� There is strong vision and leadership.

� The hotel space is a bit confusing although the gallery space is lovely.

� They have a history of carrying out projects.


Eldergivers PROJECT DESCRIPTION: ELDERGIVERS will present the 21st Annual Art With Elders Exhibit in Fall 2012. The Annual Exhibit and Gala Reception for the Artists will be held at Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF. The event will showcase the work of 90 elder artists who live in long term care facilities, providing a memorable and meaningful experience for a group of seniors who create beautiful, inspiring and distinctive artwork despite their increasing mental and physical challenges.


� They want the annual exhibit to present 90 elders. It’s a juried show by art instructors who teach in the program. We saw where it is held.

� The artistic examples are great, but one of my concerns is they choose from beginning, intermediate, and advanced artists. It seems that quality is less a concern to them than celebrating the seniors’ lives. Then, I wonder if this is more of a social service than an art program.

� I wondered about that too. But I think the work sample was very good. I saw in the narrative that they talk about how there are a lot of art therapy programs for seniors. This is different because it is really looking at how to make the art.

� Since the show is juried, it shows respect for the people making the art. Their art has to be chosen. They take work from the beginning, intermediate and advanced artists, because there is a focus on improving their practice and opportunity to move “up” the pipeline of category review.

� This seems like its part of their focus to have elders be engaged, that they are not just put away in a home. I also love that they mount the work at wheelchair height.

� When you went to the exhibit did you find that the work was at a similar quality as the example?

� I saw this at the Koret, which may have been a segment, but I thought the quality was great. I remember being surprised that this was an exhibit of only elders.

� The quality of the instructors is great. The fact that they have it juried balances out the different categories of work to ensure that it’s not all over the place. I might have liked to see a theme to focus it.

� I think they mentioned that they were coming up with a theme.

� I didn’t see a theme.

� This seems like an important program for our arts community. It shows life long learning.

� This community is very frail and this segment gets institutionalized. For an organization to move creatively and offer these kind of classes and an exhibition is great.



� There was slightly more weight than I would have liked on photographing the artists, etc., but I’ve seen the exhibit and it’s pretty amazing to see the photography and bios of the artists.

� Someone from the de Young is interested in the work and it has been presented there. They will also present the work in banks, businesses, and public buildings, which will give the work more exposure after this exhibit.

� The budget is broken out. The CEG request is 24% of the budget.

� This pays for the facility.

� They mention wanting to have website access, but that’s not in the budget.

� A big portion of the budget is for a photographer who documents the work.

� Looking at the outreach plan, there is no plan to have a committee to secure funding for this program and to have more outreach. I was disappointed that there wasn’t more attention to putting systems in place to secure this project.


� I like that they have a location that is accessible and they have support to get the elders transported there. I appreciated that they put that in the budget.


� It seems like an amazing opportunity.


� The audience numbers 300 and is made up of elders and caregivers.

� This year they are starting to provide translation in Chinese. Even with a 6% Latino population, I wondered why they are not starting to consider translations into Spanish.

� It is well documented that they have a diverse community of elders.

� It was heart wrenching that 60% of the seniors don’t get visitors. This seemed like an amazing opportunity.

� They mentioned they have 100 people who are paid (not caregivers or family). I wish they had talked about trying to expand this audience.

� They have 62,000 people in total attendance.

� That’s not who comes to the exhibit, but when it travels. I’m talking about reaching out for exhibit opening.

� There are a lot of people who travel through the place where exhibit is everyday, as it is a student center in a campus.

� I do like that people will see it whether they want to or not.

� I did want to say that they could elaborate on how they want to have web access.



� I did see that they had a deficit at one point. They explain that two foundation pledges were not honored. I think that is fine and they covered it. It goes back to what we discussed yesterday that 2009 and 2010 were tough years and the folks they serve are in a similar situation.

� I was disheartened that they canceled the 2009 exhibit due to finances.

� AWE, this project of Eldergivers, does not seem to be supported by Eldergivers.

� Whatever money was given to this program was not prioritized by the larger organization.

� Director: I want to make sure I’m hearing this correctly. AWE is a program of Elder givers, not a separate program

� I’m saying the same thing. But, I’m saying this project seems to take a back seat in the overall organization.

� Director: Where are you not seeing them make that commitment?

� On page 3 of the narrative, they don’t talk about fundraising to keep the program going. In target audience they don’t talk about expanding outreach beyond artists and their families.

� Director: I’m not making the tie between the lack of commitment by organization to the program. Are you wishing the target audience were larger and broader?

� Yes, I think this would help them to succeed.

� However, the exhibit does travel to different locations, which is a good first step to reaching larger audiences. I saw the exhibit because I stepped in (to the Koret center) and saw the exhibit without expecting to. This is reaching out.

� Director: What I’m hearing in your concerns are about sustainability. Make sure this project is weighted in the same way that you are considering sustainability for other projects.

� It comes up because I haven’t seen that programs have been halted in other applications.


� However, they still ran the program, which is the core of their program. They just didn’t have the exhibit one year. The elders still had the experience of practicing art.

� Director: We’ve also seen organizations that have incurred huge deficits. So, you see an organization here that is acting responsibly and pulling back.

� Then there’s just one little statement missing – about how they will act to ensure that the exhibit continues. They did come to CEG last year to support it. They just didn’t talk about future plans to ensure program will not be suspended again.

� The administration is qualified. The discussion we just had demonstrates that the administrators are qualified to make tough choices in not pulling the weekly programs. This is the priority.


Gray Area Foundation for the Arts PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Our Creative Technology Studies (CTS) program offers a series of specialized courses covering topics pertaining to creative coding and physical computing. Gray Area trains students to be proficient in the skills necessary for creative use of the tools used in the fields of interaction design, new media, web development, robotics and more, and is initiating a scholarship program to help make CTS program and courses accessible to kids, students and low-‐income residents.


� What they are doing is difficult for me to understand, but I may not be abreast of the type of work and technology they are using. I had to read it a couple of times. The work sample did not help me understand the group’s impact or importance. I’m not sure if they are the only ones providing this type of instruction. They bill themselves as the trade school of tomorrow.

� Program Director: Do we have a panelist who is more experienced with this type of technology?

� I don’t know the technology, but I am familiar with it and I do know people who are doing this type of work. They are on the cutting edge of this type of technology and programming. They are doing it with art at the center of it. They are doing interesting interactive technology that responds to continually generate new iterations of feedback. I have seen this in museums and galleries. They are taking programming codes and media and placing the context in an art practice. The proposal read like a trade school but the sample helped. They are very cutting edge. The Zero1 Festival is a site of these works and events. They do aesthetic, environmentally based works. That is what I know about this organization, but not what I got from this proposal. The proposal was very practical and did not highlighting their creative roots.

� They should have come through the arts practice lens.

� They want to provide a scholarship program and working with technology like this can be very expensive. So opening this up to people who may not have the resources is significant.

� These artists are skilled and can provide these types of positive learning environments.

� The combination of technology and art is a positive for the neighborhood. The trade school of the future sticks in my head as a negative. This is like the BAYCAT of the Tenderloin.

� I wish there had been more work shown. Perhaps someone doing code in a different manifestation. The aesthetic quality of the work was low in the work sample. Did students make the work sample?

� The artistic sample was not so moving. I have seen better examples of this type of technology.



� They have courses and a calendar laid out. The scholarships are the next best step to expand their reach beyond the small group of privileged people that can take the courses.

� The proposal was not well assembled. Certain sections were very technical while others were vague. It was redundant and kept restating things.

� I was trying to figure out if they paid themselves but there are no expensed salaries, although there are instructor expenses.

� Program Director: It does have individual contract expenses.

� There are office staff wages for $6,000, but that is just the project budget. The larger budget shows zero. Maybe they are all volunteers. That is puzzling.

� It is really hard to follow this for those of us who are not connected. It is probably a great need for this organization but the proposal doesn’t tell us enough.

Project’s Impact on the Organization


w Potential of the project to further the organization’s mission and vision


� They have a good outreach plan that is reaching out to their neighborhood as well as the broader community.



� This is a growing organization that is relatively young. The people on staff and the faculty are brought in to teach a specific track.

� They have a history of collaborations.

� The board is extraordinary.


Intersection for the Arts PROJECT DESCRIPTION: A cross-‐disciplinary project proposing an innovative solution to working with composite wood boards free of toxic adhesives, effectively utilizing excess waste, and creating value to a common by-‐product for use by a range of disciplines. These boards will be transformed into an exhibition of works by artists Christine Lee, Russel Baldon, Julia Goodman, Barbara Holmes, and Scott Oliver at Intersection, and the focus of multi-‐week workshops with Community Partners Shih Yu-‐Lang YMCA and The Tenderloin Boys & Girls Club.


� This is a fascinating and well thought out project of this scope.

� The lead artist and engineer have already developed the material and will incorporate the learning of the new material in the exhibit. The process with artists made sense to me. I like that they are bringing in a science component. I like that the project is focused on health issues of artists working in wood and are taking it to unexpected levels. That is something we don’t think about as much.

� The artists are strong and there is a mix of established and emerging. I’m excited to see them working with Intersection to see how their work can change.

� This is the strongest proposal here and the smartest in integration of the elements. It is well articulated and integrated.



� I’m impressed with the organization and planning of the project.

� The project is well planned.

� One question on the evaluation of success is they didn’t go into how they would raise those issues besides with the exhibition. I wanted more about that.


� This is a dynamic proposal. They are working next to the Hub, which seems there is good potential for directions. They are verging into territory that has potential for the arts community.


� The component for audiences to meet artists and see the work in progress is a good opportunity to have conversations and to educate. It is nice that there is a moment of interaction around these topics.

� The relationships are already established here. The kids will be working in the TechShop to work with materials. I like that.

� There is a sense of doing outreach but that is not as integrated with other parts of project. How else will they get audiences in the door? I am sure that will happen but I would like to hear that articulated.

� It is a strong proposal. I’m wondering how they will communicate information about the material and the background of the process in wood.



� The organization has great track record of putting on great stuff and working with a diversity of artists. The space will be good space to see sculptural work in.


� Intersection one of strongest organizations in this city.

� They are solid in presentation of programming and planning, and the leadership is strong. There is no doubt that this won’t be pulled off in a successful, creative way.

� Intersection is model for so many organizations. I admire the leadership that consistently reaches further to explore edges of boundaries and programming.

� For the organizational health, there is a surplus but I’m not sure if that is tied to the building.

� Program Director: A note to the organization -‐ explain financials and what resources are restricted, etc.


Litquake PROJECT DESCRIPTION: In 2012, Litquake will present one event each month and a 9-‐day literary festival October 5-‐13, featuring a literary award ceremony, literary readings and performances, staged readings, 2 days of children’s events, teen events, cross-‐media literary happenings, literary stars in conversation, a literary crawl in the Mission District and much more.


� The goal is to foster literary interest. They do a great job in bringing younger writers and readers together. There is an eclectic unpredictability I love.

� This proposal rose to the top and there is not much to fault. It is so amazing that they do this. It is vibrant, focused, and inclusive. It is attuned to San Francisco and emblematic of the city. They have eclectic venues and collaborations. I’m continually impressed with what they do and with their history. There is a great array of partnerships.



� There is diversity in the funding stream and attendance.

� They have good individual donors and also have house parties.

� The majority of the events are free.

� There were confusions in the narrative i.e., funds in the narrative vs. budget. There is $8,500 in other personnel but they don’t explain that. The technical and the production expense is large, which amounts to 35% of budget. I would have liked to see that broken down.

� Project budget increase in earned income is a result of the popularity of event. The corporate money they get is unusual.


� It would make the proposal stronger to give a breakdown of artist demographics. From my viewing it was a pretty white audience. At this level of sophistication, they should be figuring out how they should start looking different because this is a huge event. In future I would like to see how Litquake is evolving there. It may be there but they don’t say it in the proposal.

� Litcrawl is now regularly happening in the Mission and I would like to see it in other neighborhoods. They could expand in partnership with other neighborhoods.


� The social networking brings out a large audience. This is one of few organizations of this age that have done surveying. They have a good sense of their audience.

� The publicity is contracted out to known contractors.

� They have a publicist, and significant audience reach.

� The branding is nice.

� It is nice to be reaching out to different generations.

� Everyone is going to Litcrawl.

� This is so San Francisco and popular. They have diverse events reflecting diversity of San Francisco. They also include bookstores, which I appreciated.

� The work sample shows just Litcrawl but I would like to see the audience who comes to other events.




� There is tremendous support and in the letters of recommendation.

� There are 50% volunteers and 50% staff for festival.

� They break the executive committee into smaller committees.

� The organization knows exactly what they want to accomplish in San Francisco. There is vitality, and offers something for San Francisco. I’m so happy its happening here in San Francisco.

� They have a higher budget this year so they are growing.

� The organizational health is good. They have diverse funding streams and named foundations and had house parties.


Million Fishes Arts Collective PROJECT DESCRIPTION “Million Fishes’ 2012 Arts & Performance Series” is a series of gallery openings and performances at Million Fishes Arts Collective, a community arts organization located in San Francisco’s Mission District. This series will be comprised of two group exhibitions and two solo exhibitions by Million Fishes’ resident artists, as well as two curated exhibitions featuring outside artists, and a selection of multi-‐disciplinary classes and workshops. Admission to the shows will be free to the public.


� It seems like a compassionate group that is working with community but also bringing in outside artists.

� I found the artistic vision meandering. The quality of the work speaks more to me than the proposal. There is a mix of kinds of work from performance to site specific. That is more interesting to me.

� The work samples looked good.

� I liked the proposal but I agree that the artistic quality seemed all over the place.

� The process is integral to their vision.

� They have an organic developmental process.

� I don’t know if they are all resident artists. How do they get to be resident artists?

� I got the impression of a live/work situation based on the budget. The gallery is great.

� Program Director: The proposal doesn’t say that it is a live/work space.



� The plan is methodical as a collective but there is not a clear sense of where they are going with it.

� They breakdown member roles and who will take charge of this.


� The reason for applying is to take things to the next level to use the grant to compensate artists for their time. It would be great to fund them and that may make a jump in the quality or scale of works.

� I’m curious about them and want to see where they go but in this proposal.

� I didn’t feel a real grounding and vision.

� There is a good sense of process but I don’t know where they are taking it.


� They do have well-‐attended events.

� They want to extend the marketing campaign and outreach through social media, but they don’t go into the details of how. They do say through Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc.

� The press about events looked successful.

� I like the honesty about social media.

� They seemed like they understood social media.

� The flexibility and malleable quality was nice for the Mission.

� Bringing out younger people is possibly one of their intents.





� Being an Intersection incubator project is good.

� Because this is a collective, the way they talk about how they curate shows is organic. They make decisions in a collective, democratic way. It looks like they’ve had a lot of success running their organization in this way. They are forward thinking.

� They have raised funds in the past few years but that has gone to the administrative part of the organization.

� All their events are free and while that’s great, perhaps a suggested donation could be helpful to me.

� The finances impressed me. This seemed solid as an organization run by fairly young artists. It is a stable organization.

� I’m impressed with the fiscal position. It is balanced.

� The lion’s share of the income goes to rent. I don’t know if it is the artists that are paying it, etc?

� How is Intersection for the Arts involved financially? I had a few questions.

� They are more of a fiscal sponsor.

� There are not that many residency programs like it.

� They needed more administrative expertise. There are a lot of artistic people involved, but they lack infrastructure to support everything they were doing.


Museum of Craft and Folk Art PROJECT DESCRIPTION Margarita Cabrera (November 2012-‐ February 2013). Cabrera’s first Museum solo exhibition will survey recent collaborative projects at the intersection of contemporary art practices, indigenous Mexican folk art and craft traditions, and US-‐Mexico relations, and include a new collaborative commission, which engages the local Mexican immigrant population.


� They are bringing in an artist to work in the Mexican and Mexican American communities in San Francisco to figure out the work. This is the only application where the artist is working with community to do the work. It is a unique idea and the genius of it is that she is using art and the craft of art as a way to allow people to express dislocation, problems, and issues.

� The show and concept are great. It is good to see the work sample. It is different than what I imagined.

� This is a dynamic proposal and I like that they are touching on different areas of intersections. It seems like a timely and significant project, and a model for national recognition.



� They are using this grant for the project, not administration. I would like to see them have funding for this project.

� I wonder how people participate in doing the art, because the artist is not from here. How are they going to facilitate that collaboration?

� They will hire a manager and hopefully find someone with strong ties with the community. They are counting on the consulate to find potential candidates.

� In the project budget, most of the money is going to artists, technical and production costs. It seems wisely spent. The income earned is based on projections from past shows. They have secured a Warhol grant. Yes, the budget is feasible.

� The merchandise sale projection is reasonable.


� This would be a wonderful visibility piece for the organization through this process-‐oriented way. They have done great work in past three years. This would broaden the scope of potential reach.

� There is great potential of bringing the concept of craft and folk arts to the contemporary arena. The political and social elements are important in keeping it contemporary. This area has a strong history of conceptual craft.


� It is a complex project. It deeply moves into the community. In a past exhibit I was at, the audience was from the community as well as a general audience.

� There is a lack of specifics in the outreach and evaluation of success with this program. They are at that point where they need to describe that to us in a competitive process. They have to have a sophisticated way of doing outreach and I didn’t see that.

� They are counting on the fact of doing something in 2008 and cooperating with the Mexican community through the Mexican American art museum and consulate.

� But doesn’t tell me how you are going to do it and the details. That was also 4 years ago and things have changed.





� The problem is they moved in 2005 and got a new director three years ago. They are trying to get out of a debt situation.

� They are careful to describe the financial situation and how they are working out of it.

� They are beginning to address the problem by finding diverse ways. They are not just counting on the founders but using that money to move forward.

� They are honest in describing the deficit. They are working way out of debt.

� What changed is the new administration and contemporizing what craft means.

� The board is strong and capable.

� They are doing wonderful work.

� Board looks solid and has different backgrounds including corporate, etc.

� The staff has strong curatorial and art backgrounds.


National Japanese American Historical Society PROJECT DESCRIPTION “Generation Nexus: Peace in the Post War Era,” a visual exhibition to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Executive Order 9066 which led to the mass removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans into concentration camps. This project presents a visual installation of six invited Asian American and Native American artists, showcasing their new and earlier works at the newly renovated 10,000 sq ft facility at Building 640 in the Presidio of San Francisco from 1/15/13 through 12/31/13.


� Conceptually, this project is amazing. These are two communities with similar histories as communities of displacement around war issues and the internment.

� I was excited to see collaboration happening. It is great to broaden the remembrance of the horrific event with a multi-‐century way.

� The artwork is strong.

� The curators are strong and who’ve done work for a long time in the community. They have stellar reputations in doing the work they do.

� Two curators are really strong.

� The curation shows multifaceted aspects of exhibit but I wanted to hear about what they were after in a list of themes.

� I like mix of artists.

� It is a compelling proposal. I appreciate the fact that the camps are adjacent to the reservations.



� It is exciting that they have the building in the Presidio to debut the exhibition. It could be very powerful and the site seems appropriate. There is high resonance with this project.

� I didn’t see anything off in the project budget.



� One thing that fell away for me is the interface with the Native Community. That is a missed opportunity to talk more about a cross community exhibition and to bring those communities together in the same space. It could have been stronger.

� Reaching a known community is going to be easy but how will they bring Native community?

� How the Native community will be pulled into this is not articulated. The outreach plan seems solid.

� The regular outreach is solid. They have a large and deep way of doing outreach with partners, traditional outreach, and social networking.



� It is a huge surplus and the reserve is not separated from the operating budget. I’m unsure about that and it is unclear in the proposal.


� Program Director: I’m not sure how much of that is building and capital costs. It is hard to tell how much is being held or restricted. I’m reading it as in the process of a capital campaign and they are getting different donations. So the question is what is the normal budget size? It is probably around $400k so in 2009 we are seeing gifts that inflated the budget. There could be better budget notes around assets and release of assets in a timeframe would make this application stronger.

� Right now, the board members are appropriate for the mission of the organization.


Out of Site: Center for Arts Education PROJECT DESCRIPTION Out of Site requests $15,000 in support of free after school programs in visual and performing arts for public high school youth. Located at the intersection of the OMI and Excelsior neighborhoods, our work responds to the need for relevant and conceptually based arts education that is guided by youth development ideas, and that connects underserved youth to the broader community. Our programs complement the work in the schools, helping to narrow the achievement gap.


� I liked everything about this proposal. There are many strengths.

� I’m impressed with the range of art forms.

� They have state of art equipment, which is so important for students to have access to and know they are valued in that way. That is a powerful experience.

� It is great that there is a low teacher to student ratio.

� With the exhibition at the end, students follow the course of the whole process.

� The application very strong. The teaching artists are also incredible artists.

� The quality of artistic work looks strong. I would have liked to see more of the production work.

� This is a valuable program that fills a need in arts education, especially with low-‐income youth.



� All of the grant funds go to pay instructors.

� They bring together students from different high schools to connect them.

� The zero attrition rate is impressive for an after school program. It is really important that the alumni continue working in the program.

� This is an incredible organization and they are doing so much with a modest amount of money.

� The activities to support outcomes and thinking through outcomes are incredible.


� I like the project. They want to do new and advanced classes.


� I was impressed with how students were integrated into the program planning through a Youth Advisory Board. This exhibits student-‐centered learning. YAB gave youth opportunities and included youth who are impacted. The experience of students of being apart of the decision-‐making is an invaluable experience.

� They list the schools. The kids have to be invested in attending. They have a very diverse set of kids.



� I’m impressed by how successful this organization has become. Keeping students is a huge challenge.

� The relationships they have with public schools are so important. I’m blown away with numbers of students, schools, etc.


� In the budget notes, they are increasing the budget so staff receives benefits. They are considering important ways to keep staff and the organization healthy and committed.

� They are savvy about dealing with moments of crisis.

� I’m concerned with the financials. They ended one year with a surplus. In 2010 there was a large deficit although they have a surplus in 2009. If expenses outpace income, what does that mean for sustainability? That is not addressed in the notes.

� The staff looks capable. For the administration to pull from reemergence shows they are capable.

� Board looks strong and seems to have knowledge of what’s going on.

� They increased foundation funding in 2010 and increased government money. My concern is these are one-‐time grants. Do you build up so much you can’t sustain it?

� This is a lean organization that is 11 years old, I feel reassured of their ability to assess the situation. It seems like they are doing well.


Root Division PROJECT DESCRIPTION The Second Saturday Exhibition Series is a collection of visual art events taking place on the 2nd Saturday of every month. By presenting eclectic & engaging work in an approachable atmosphere, the project draws a diverse range of 3500+ visitors and broadens the arts-‐interested public while offering exhibition/curatorial opportunities to 350+ emerging artists. Funding would support our efforts to diversify our audience & participants as well as to produce 12 high-‐quality exhibitions.


� This grant will ultimately fund exhibition openings.

� They produce high quality exhibitions. They also do exhibitions with outside artists.

� The work is engaging and dynamic.

� I was happy to see the work sample. The proposal did not give a good sense of what kind of work they were actually doing.

� They are a cooperative.

� The artists that have studios also staff the organization.

� It is a strong community of artists.

� The space is open and inviting.

� Their working artist model is great.

� They have a positive, organic collaborative model.

� I don’t feel like this program is unique. We would be supporting what they already do.

� Program Director: This grant can go towards supporting ongoing programming.

� Their programs are relevant. They provide an incredible service.

� There are opportunities for new curators. The curators are curated. Artists and curators work side by side.



� It is a very thorough proposal.


� In their outreach plan they mention the grant helping them diversify their audience.


� They are trying to collaborate with other non-‐visual arts organizations. Their youth education program is inspired by what is in the gallery. They dedicate an exhibition to youth work.

� They do high quality work producing valuable collateral for their artists that impact their career.

� They understand their fan base. I think they could be doing more. They skew pretty young.

� Their list of audience indicates that they really know who they are and what they are offering.



� They are a unique organization in San Francisco.


� They are receiving a lot of funding for this program.

� This is one of their core activities.


San Francisco Camerawork PROJECT DESCRIPTION SF Camerawork plans to stage two interrelated, back-‐to-‐back solo exhibitions during the 2012-‐3 season by artists Jason Lazarus and Jason Kalogiros. These complementary projects examine the role of the photographic object and photographic institution in a dematerialized digital age. Also, each project has been conceptualized with a built-‐in participatory component, inviting vital community interaction and dialogue as well as a sense of ownership of Camerawork and its sponsored artistic projects.


� The proposal was hard to follow.

� There were questions about the proposal that weren’t resolved.

� I had trouble grasping the proposal. There is a lot potentially interesting but I don’t have a grasp on the vision of project. I understand there is an exploration but it’s so vast of a subject for one project to exhibit. It’s a large theme to tackle without narrowing it down.

� If they are tackling this, maybe there should be more than two artists involved.

� There was a disconnect between the goals, vision, and execution.

� I wonder how they will get messages across and how the exhibition leverages its incredible history. There is a disconnect there. I wanted to like it. It sounds cerebral. The language was academic, art world jargon-‐y, and heady.

� I share a lot of the confusion. They have done solo shows in the history of organization. Even with solo shows, there are also group shows conceptually.

� They have an ambitious intent in the exhibition.

� The artists look strong.

� I question why there are only two artists.

� I like the idea of the drop boxes but it is an ongoing artist project and not newly developed for this project.

� It is important to support artist creation of new work.

� Its dynamic. It’s hard to represent that in the samples because they don’t address what the artist will be doing in the show. It would be helpful if the artists had done archive-‐mining shows before. I get the show and the concept. The proposal could have been written more clearly and less academically.

� I’m unsure of second artist and what he will do with the show/archive.

� There is a lack of clarity in the overall vision.



� The evaluation was weakly articulated.


� The discovery in the shows will be interesting. Equally interesting is the mining of archive. With the move, this is interesting to introduce to the Mid-‐market community.

� The concept behind this show makes me think they are trying to reevaluate their mission.



� My main issue is I don’t feel that they’ve outlined in enough detail how they will engage the community to participate. They state they will partner with organizations but they don’t name them. I worry about feasibility in engaging with the broader community.



� They are a longstanding Bay Area arts organization.

� The organization’s history and significance in the community is undisputed.

� They are relocating in 2012 so this is big opportunity for them.

� I wanted to know why they are moving.

� There was higher attendance last year than in previous years.

� They are in a difficult organizational mid-‐range place so I wonder about their capacity because they have been fluctuating and now with the move and lower rent could help them stabilize.

� The budget had ups and downs.

� Camerawork maybe in transition and don’t know the community yet. It is important to acknowledge the leadership transition. There are valuable things about this.

� I could not figure out the budget notes. It looks like there is a huge ongoing deficit and I know that is not being represented because of the way they are taking out the income. It would be helpful to work in a budget format like what is on the application.

� I need more insight on the leadership shift, which was kind of skirted over it. I know they laid off all their staff besides a couple. There are deeper organizational questions I wished they had addressed.


Voice of Witness PROJECT DESCRIPTION The Voice of Witness digital media project will enrich, animate, and re-‐imagine the stories told in the Voice of Witness book series through podcast recordings featuring dramatic readings and interviews with the book’s editors. Selected narrative excerpts will also be the basis for multimedia pieces created in collaboration with the Magnum Foundation. Through this, we seek to further bring to life the stories in our series, engage new audiences, and explore new platforms for presentation.


� They want to take the stories and narratives from people who we don’t hear from, from their published books. These include undocumented lives of people in the U.S., women, prisoners, post 9/11 injustice, etc. They want to create podcasts of the stories and make them available online.

� I’m impressed by the scope of the stories they want to share.

� This is a valuable project. Not having this kind of component would be a disservice to the material.

� The quality of the work sample is extraordinary.

� This is a strong grant. They are addressing all the criteria.

� Going digital makes a lot of sense. They did mention audio and multi-‐media. I was never sure what the multi-‐media part was.

� I think it might have been what we saw.

� It would have been helpful if they defined it, because editing video is very expensive.

� They are deeply involved in getting out stories about injustice (i.e. Katrina, etc.). I think it’s just how much commitment they have to this kind of project.

� 826 Valencia shows their commitment to extending new ways of experiencing literature.



� This funding is for podcast producers and technical expenses of the podcast.

� It seems that they have a sound plan in place. In the timeline will be Voices of Chicago, undocumented stories, post 9/11, and voices from women in prison.

� What gave me pause was I didn’t see items in the budget for the voiceovers on the podcast or for the writers.

� There is money for VOW staff and for a podcast producer, but not for the artists writing up the narratives and reading them.

� That was a shame to cut out the people who were generating the material. I would have like to see some of the grant money slated for that.

� There is anonymity with prison narrators – this is why they have someone else read the story. I’m talking about the artist who adapts the story and works with reader.

� The McSweeney’s numbers are helpful and demonstrates the reach. I would have liked to see a little more sophistication around objectives for outreach and metrics for measurement.

� They did give the number of 1,500 high school teachers. I thought that was a good number.

� They also may partner with Storycorps.


� This was a really worthwhile project. Doing the book series was good. The podcasts will get the stories out further.

� I liked that this was moving the literary to a new medium and that its intention was to reach audiences who may not attend literary events or read.



� They are targeting a pretty diverse audience. They try to reach a mainstream audience. With the podcasts, they want to reach people who don’t normally read and also reaching students.

� They have a plan for dissemination. They will be broadcast online, at San Francisco events, social media platforms, and via the VOW education program, with 1,500 Bay Area high school teachers. They will also make it available through McSweeney’s iPhone application, which is big with 16,900 subscribers and to partner institutions, such as Koromatsu Institute, etc. The plan for outreach was sound.

� The outreach is slim

� I thought the outreach was pretty well documented – so I slightly disagree on that.

� What excited me – was how they talked about how they would leverage the difference by naming partners such as Story corps, 1,500 high school teachers, etc. It is not a small amount.



� The main concern was the budget. I noticed that they have a large surplus, so I was wondering why they are asking us for this grant.

� Program Director: We encourage organization’s having a surplus. Need is not a criteria in looking at the applications. We can’t tell people that you have to build capacity and then penalize people for having a surplus. As we review larger budget organizations today, you’ll see that some organizations have a board policy to have six months of reserve. Some best practice says you should have one year.

� I agree that we should not penalize for surplus. But, I also agree that they should put something in the budget for the artists – even if it’s minimal as acknowledgement that this is building on their work.

� This is a good example of a local organization moving in a global environment. Whether organizations embrace or resist it, there’s no avoiding it.

� The credentials of all the people involved are really incredible. They have the resources to leverage this to another place.

� The leadership is great. They have a track record of pulling off these books. They obviously have the skills and passion to do it.

Panelist Biographies 2012-‐Organizational Project Grants Performing Arts -‐ New Work Sidney Chen Artistic Administrator, Kronos Quartet, As Artistic Administrator of the pioneering Kronos Quartet, part of the non-‐profit Kronos Performing Arts Association, he has aided in the realization of dozens of new works for the ensemble, and has worked on more than 25 recording projects for Kronos. These projects collectively have garnered eight Grammy and Latin Grammy nominations and an award for Best Chamber Music Performance. In partnership with music publisher Boosey & Hawkes, he oversaw the production of the Kronos Edition, an authoritative print edition of works commissioned for the ensemble. His belief in the nurturing of emerging composers and performers is reflected in his management of the Kronos: Under 30 Project, a commissioning program for young composers and a week-‐long Professional Training Workshop, led by Kronos at the Weill Institute of Carnegie Hall. He is an alumnus of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters Emerging Leadership Institute, and has served as a juror for the APAP Young Performers Career Advancement program. He is on the Advisory Board of and a performer with Volti, a professional chamber chorus focused exclusively on contemporary music, for which he has also served as Executive Director. As a performer, he is a founding member of The M6, a vocal sextet dedicated to performing the works of the eminent multidisciplinary artist Meredith Monk, which recently performed at Symphony Space and the Whitney Museum in New York. Since 2004 he has been the writer of TheStandingRoom.com, one of the first blogs about classical and contemporary music. He is a graduate of Harvard University.

Laura Elaine Ellis Co-‐founder and Executive Director, African and African American Performing Arts Coalition Laura Elaine Ellis is co-‐founder and executive director of the African and African American Performing Arts Coalition, co-‐producers of the upcoming Black Choreographers Festival: Here and Now. Ms. Ellis has received numerous grant awards, including support from the Zellerbach Family Foundation, the Irvine Foundation's California DanceMaker Grant, and the Creative Work Fund for her work in the production Quilt Project: Piece of Me (2002). She performs with two award-‐winning dance companies— Anne Bluethenthal and Dancers and Dimensions Dance Theater-‐and was nominated for an Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Outstanding Performance in 2002. Ms. Ellis is a huge proponent of preserving arts in education and has worked with many performing arts programs for youth over the past 15 years. Presently she is serving her eleventh year on the faculty of the Theater and Dance Departments of the Athenian School and CSU Hayward. Lily Kharrazi Living Cultures Grants Program Manager, Alliance for California Traditional Arts Lily Kharrazi was trained in Dance Ethnology, studying at UCLA with Allegra Fuller Snyder, a pioneer in the field of dance and culture. She works at the Alliance for California Traditional

Arts, a statewide funder and advocate for the folk and traditional arts. Since 2005 she has managed the Living Cultures Grants Program. Kharrazi served as the Program Director of World Arts West, the producers of the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival for 9 seasons, during which time through extensive outreach efforts, new and little known cultural dance had the opportunity to be presented. Prior to joining ACTA, Lily worked in the refugee resettlement field as well as arts education. She continues to write freelance on issues of dance and culture as well as serve as a consultant to national and regional funders.

Madeleine Oldham Literary Manager and Resident Dramaturg, Berkeley Repertory Theater Madeleine Oldham is Berkeley Rep’s literary manager and resident dramaturg, where she also manages their commissioning program that will generate approximately 50 plays in 10 years. She has served as literary manager and associate dramaturg at Baltimore’s Center Stage, which included producing their First Look reading series and heading up their young audience initiative. Before moving to Baltimore she was based in Seattle, working as the literary manager at Seattle Children’s Theatre, as well as assistant and interim literary manager at Intiman Theatre. She acted as treasurer of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas for two years, and their U.S.-‐based Vice-‐President International for another two. Favorite projects include dramaturging the world premiere of Passing Strange which then went on to receive a Broadway run and a Tony Award for Best Book, heading the dramaturgy section of the Kennedy Center’s American College Theater Festival, collaborating on a theatre/music project with Austin Scriptworks, and participating in Portland Center Stage’s JAW/West Festival. Also a sound designer, Madeleine has designed sound for Crowded Fire, Rochester’s Geva Theatre and Chicago’s Neo-‐Futurists.

Torange Yeghiazarian Artistic Director, Golden Thread Productions Torange Yeghiazarian is the founding Artistic Director of Golden Thread Productions and writes, directs and acts for the theatre. A native of Iran and of Armenian heritage, Torange holds a Master's degree in Theatre Arts from San Francisco State University. Her plays (Call Me Mehdi, Waves, Dawn at Midnight, Behind Glass Windows, Abaga) reflect the perspective of the culturally displaced in tackling today's world of contradictory realities and values. As a teaching artist, Torange has taught playwriting to at-‐risk youth as part of the Each One Reach One program, incorporated theatre into social studies in Richmond's Washington Elementary School as part of East Bay Center for Performing Arts' Learning Without Borders program, and lead acting and play development workshops for Golden Thread Productions. She is the Artistic Director of Golden Thread Productions, where she has devoted her professional life to exploring Middle Eastern culture and identity through theatre arts.

FY2011-2012 ORGANIZATION PROJECT GRANTS

NEW WORKSRANKING

Panel Rating Organization Name Grant Request Grant114.6 Campo Santo $15,000 $11,260112.8 Margaret Jenkins Dance Company $15,000 $11,850112.2 Shadowlight Productions $15,000 $11,850106.0 Jess Curtis/Gravity $15,000 $11,850104.4 Scott Wells and Dancers $15,000 $11,850104.4 Garret Moulton Productions $15,000 $11,850104.0 Post Ballet $15,000 $11,850103.4 Kulintang Arts, Inc. $15,000 $11,850103.2 Charming Hostess $15,000 $11,850102.6 San Francisco Chamber Orchestra $15,000 $11,850100.4 Dancers' Group $15,000 $11,850100.2 Genryu Arts/Gen Taiko $15,000 $11,85099.0 Clerestory $11,000 $8,69099.0 Joe Goode Performance Group $15,000 $11,85096.0 Barbary Coast Amuseuments $4,10096.0 Circuit Network $15,00094.2 Levydance $15,00093.9 Erika Chong Shuch Perf (ESP Proj) $15,00091.7 Navarette x Kajiyama Dance Theater $8,42891.2 Eye Zen Art $12,00091.2 OX $15,00090.0 La Pocha Nostra $15,00089.4 Mary Sano and Her Duncan Dancers $6,51886.4 Emspace $6,00086.1 Mugwumpin $15,00085.4 Dandelion Dance Theater $15,00084.0 Performers Under Stress Theater $9,40083.4 We Players $15,00080.2 Theater of Yugen $15,00078.0 Meridian Gallery $15,00074.4 RAWdance $7,00072.6 Liss Fain Dance $15,00063.6 Melody of China $10,00063.0 Bindlestiff Studio $15,00056.5 Encore Theater Company $15,00050.4 San Francisco Playhouse $15,00049.8 GuyWriters $3,83143.2 Guerrilla Rep $5,000

TOTAL $488,277 $162,150

2012OPG

Cultural Equity Grants OPG PA New Works

Barbary Coast Amusements

This proposal requests $4,100 to support Cyclones, an all 40-and up female cast adventure play, to be staged overa 4-weekend run at SOMArts or BRAVA Theater during spring 2013. Cyclones is a family-friendly play thatencourages children and their parents to understand themselves as an integral part of the planet’s health. Awardedfunds will support artists’ and production fees.

Project Summary

Bindlestiff Studio

The project we are proposing for the Organization Project Grant is the production of “The Strange case of CitizenDe La Cruz” written by award-winning writer, Luis Francia, which is scheduled to be premiered at Bindlestiff Studioin September-October 2012.

Project Summary

Campo Santo

Campo Santo will work with MacArthur Genius Award Winning writer Luis Alfaro to create an outreach process and a new play,Alleluia, The Road, inspired by August Strindberg’s The Road To Damascus, exploring seven stops on California’s Highway 99from Disneyland to the Golden Gate Bridge. Through a research and development process engaging urban and ruralcommunities, the play will reflect on issues of outgrowth and community and on how families and communities can sustain inthese times.

Project Summary

Charming Hostess

The Ginzburg Geography is an immersive performance based on the lives and works of Natalia and LeoneGinzburg, mid 20th century Italian Jews famous for anti-fascist resistance and intellectual brilliance. Thisparticipatory musical piece explores themes of love, resistance, exile, escape, and liberation through the mediumof radical cartography. The Ginzburg Geography will be a series of sonic maps that track the aforementionedthemes in the Ginzburgs’ lives and in the lives of every visitor participant.

Project Summary

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2012OPG


Circuit Network

To support “Juan Juala: Music for the XXIII Century” an experimental multidisciplinary project about Mexicancomposer Guillermo Galindo’s confrontation of his musical heritage and education against taboos of the musical“avant garde” by training Mariachis to perform John Cage’s “Variations #2.” The live performance will be set withina multilayered and immersive media environment created by Jen Cohen. The project will debut in September 2012in honor of John cage’s centenary.

Project Summary

Clerestory

Clerestory is requesting support from the San Francisco Arts Commission for the commission and performance ofa new choral work by the Seattle-based composer Eric Banks set to poems by Herman Melville. As the opening toour 7th season, this project will be Clerestory’s first commission, and will anchor a program of American poets andcomposers.

Project Summary

Dancers’ Group

Dancers’ Group will present “He Moved Swiftly” as the next free, large-scale, site-specific performance in itsONSITE program. Through Dancers’ Group’s ONSITE series we will commission choreographer Amara Tabor-Smith, in collaboration with poet and writer Marvin K. White and composer Anthony Brown, to create a site-specificdance theater work that explores the life and work of Ed Mock.

Project Summary

Dandelion Dance Theater

Power Play will be an evening-length interdisciplinary performance work which tells stories of our relationship topower and self-discovery. Under the direction of Eric Kupers and guided by a series of dance/theater mentors, theinterdisciplinary performers of Dandelion Dance theater will weave together original dance, music, and theatricalmaterial to take place around artist Mickey Kay’s interactive set piece, which will attach to the power wheelchair ofone of the dancers.

Project Summary

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2012OPG


EmSpace Dance

EmSpace Dance will restage “A Hand in Desire”, our original dance-theater piece inspired by “A Streetcar NamedDesire” that includes 45 scenes based themes and characters from the classic play, from monologues to dances tosongs to dramatic scenes and mash-ups of all of these. A game of cards determines which scenes happen in anygiven performance. We will be reworking material and creating new scenes fro the restaging.

Project Summary

Encore Theatre Company

Encore will collaborate with musical duo The Bengsons to create 100 Days, a mixed media folk opera following ayoung couple who face the sudden diagnosis of terminal illness, featuring original music written by the Bengsonsand performed by a cast of 15 and a live band. The Bengsons will work with a full design team for the first time tocreate their most ambitious project to date.

Project Summary

Erika Chong Shuch Performance Project (ESPProject)

We are requesting support for the Bay Area development and production of “Dogsbody” the 16th play in Erik Ehn’sSoulographie cycle of plays on genocide. The play will be workshopped through a community developmentprocess and then presented in conjunction with a symposium on performance and creative response to violentconflicts. Following the Bay Area performances, this production will be part of an international effort to mount all ofthe ays in the cycle at La Mama in New York.

Project Summary

Eye Zen Art

Eye Zen Art requests $12,000 to support the 2012-13 “Buffet Flats” series, a dinner salon combining local food andfarming activists with LGBT artists and performers. Buffet Flats will take place four times between July 2012through May 2013. The events will be developed at farms, gardens and studios and culminate at San Franciscohomes attracting an audience of over 500. Funds will be used to underwrite the project’s artists’ fees andproduction expenses.

Project Summary

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2012OPG


Garrett Moulton Productions

Garrett+Moulton Productions is seeking support for an evening length work, Giants, that examines the impact oftechnology and the current digital information explosion on our ability to experience states of enchantment.Weaving together movement, text, music, and song, choreographers Janice Garrett and Charles Moulton willconstruct a modern day fairytale that alternates dramatic action with high-octane choreography. The piece featuresfive dancers, a narrator, singer, string quartet, and original score by SF composer Dan Becker.

Project Summary

Genryu Arts / Gen Taiko

Genryu Arts respectfully requests a grant of $15,000 to support the creation and presentation of “the Art of Peace”.Melody Takata will collaborate with zashiki shamisen, gintenkai taiko artist and filmmaker Tatsu Aoki, grandmasterof the Kineya shamisen school Chizuru Kineya, NEA Heritage Fellow Madame Fujima Kansuma, minyo andshamisen master artist Hideko Nakajima, and calligraphy and iaido (sword) master Reverend Masato Kawahatsu.

Project Summary

Guerilla Rep

Guerrilla Rep’s production of Waterline, written by Claire Rice and directed by John Caldon, is an adaptation of aportion of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield. This classic novel gets a modern Tennessee Williams twist as Ricecaptures the social stratification of the American South. This play will be mounted as a professional theaterproduction at Bindlestiff Studio in October 2012 as part of Guerrilla Rep’s residency.

Project Summary

GuyWriters

GuyWriters requests $4000 to support two theater productions in FY2012-2013. The fall 2012 play will be acollaborative writing exercise utilizing more than one writer to create one story in one full-length play. The spring2013 production will be the 5th installment in our annual Eat Our Shorts series with several local, gay maleplaywrights contributing short plays.

Project Summary

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2012OPG


Jess Curtis/Gravity

Performance Research Experiment #2 is a new work by choreographer Jess Curtis in collaboration with renownedFrench/German dance and circus performer Jorg Muller and Iranian neuroscientist Ida Mommenejad that willexamine the collaboration/collision of science and art- and the relationship of live art to the body- by measuringspecific physical reactions experienced by audience members throughout a sequence of performative events.

Project Summary

Joe Goode Performance Group

Choreographer Joe Goode will create an ongoing performance/audience engagement project known as “TheHuman Kind Series.” Taking advantage of his newly acquired, permanent studio at Project Artaud, Goode willproduce an intimate, quarterly series of works-in-progress that also include lecture/demonstrations,question/answer sessions, and a responsive social networking component that will solicit audience engagement inthe process of creation. Interwoven into the project will be larger-scale works (”Home Season”) developed fromthese interactive experiments.

Project Summary

Kulintang Arts Inc.

Pilipino folkloric choreographer Jay Loyola and Kularts, Inc. are proposing to create the world premiere danceproduction of Ibon Ng Adarna (The Adarna Bird) to highlight the beauty and power of Palawan’s indigenous healingtraditions. Using traditional Pilipino dance methods and Pilipino mythology, the 40-minute work will be performedfor two shows by Parangal Dance Company in November 2012 at the YBCA-forum.

Project Summary

La Pocha Nostra

This proposal requests $15,000 to support the development and production of Psycho-Magic Actions for a WorldGone Wrong, a full-length performance art piece created by La Pocha Nostra’s core artists. Through a series of“corporeal transformations”, including sampling performance classics and new work, LPN will address and try tomake sense of the current culture of far right isolationism, xenophobia, and the violence of organized crime.

Project Summary

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2012OPG


Liss Fain Dance

The Things That Are Spoken is an evening-‐length performance installa3on created by Liss Fain,choreographer, in collabora3on with set and ligh3ng designer Ma<hew Antaky and composer DanWool. The architecturally designed set and an immersive sound environment surround the dancers, theactor—speaking short stories of Lydia Davis—and the audience. The performance is structured like agallery show, with the audience moving freely between the delineated areas of the set, close to theperformers.

Project Summary

Margaret Jenkins Dance Company

In collaboration with her company, set and lighting designer Alex Nichols, artistic advisor Michael Palmer andcomposer Paul Dresher, Margaret Jenkins will create Times Bones, a new work inspired by a retrospectiveuncovering of the recurring underpinnings of her artistic cannon. Times Bones will premiere at Yerba Buena Centerfor the Arts in fall 2013, prior to embarking on a US tour.

Project Summary

Mary Sano and her Duncan Dancers

Kanrin Maru: A New Dream of Perseverance is the revised vision and further development of our original work,Ship of Dreams: Kanrin Maru, an evening length dance/theater production with live music, acting, vide and danceinterwoven to tell the historical tale and contemporary significance of the kanrin Maru voyage. the new work willhold a greater emphasis on environmental issues as our collaborators continue to expand upon the themes ofhuman perseverance and cooperation while relating the Kanrin Maru story to contemporary issues and events.

Project Summary

Melody of China, Inc.

Melody of China will collaborate with Earplay ensemble to present a concert featuring the world premiere of a newwork by composer Joan Huang. The piece, Along the River During the Qing Ming Festival, will be composed forChinese and Western instruments including yangqin, pipa, sheng, guzheng, dizi, flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello,and performed by Melody of China musicians and Earplay ensemble. The concert will take place in San Franciscoat Old First Church on November 2nd, with a follow-up performance November 9th at a venue yet to bedetermined. The program will also include other chamber works by 20th Century composers.

Project Summary

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2012OPG


Meridian Gallery / Society for Art Publications of theAmericas

Meridian Gallery is seeking consideration of a grant in the amount of $15,000 from the San Francisco ArtsCommission for La Mujer Rebelde: The Effects of Circular Motions, a major collaboration with choreographer SaraShelton Mann and THEOFFCENTER to develop and premiere a new dance work performed alongside anexhibition of contemporary video work by young women Cuban artists.

Project Summary

Mugwumpin

To develop and produce the original performance work Receivers, in collaboration with Z Space. The piece,created by the ensemble will grapple with the role of prophetic voices from the fringe of American society, and whatthey can tell us about ourselves. Goals: to create an exemplary piece of performative art; to increase our audienceattendance by 30%; and to create a touring piece that attracts national presenters.

Project Summary

Navarette x Kajiyama Dance Theater

BAILOUT! is a new evening-length performance work which addresses humanities relationship with the oceans,and how we cope in the face of disasters such as hurricanes, tsunamis, oil spills, and endangered ocean species.Created by Jose Navarrete in collaboration with Debby Kajiyama, the work will be presented in a non-traditionalperformance space such as the Joe Goode Annex in the Fall of 2013. Other collaborators include Ricardo Rivera(interactive hypermedia) and Lauren Elder (visual and set design).

Project Summary

OX

This proposal requests $15,000 to support Masterwork, a conceptual performance piece exploring themes ofviolence, technology and identity through the narrative of a fallen, failed hero. The 80-minute performance utilizesclassical texts combined with rigorous dance and movement scores set against a soundscape and videoscape ofAmerica’s best pop-culture. Masterwork will have a 6-night run at CounterPULSE in Spring 2013.

Project Summary

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2012OPG


Performers Under Stress Theater

Performers Under Stress Theatre requests the San Francisco Arts Commission’s support for You Need to ReadPoetry, a new theatrical work premiering at The Garage, SF, in Fall 2012. The play features works from eightinfluential 20th Century American poets which reflect our country’s rich and diverse composition, performed in amulti-disciplinary poetry slam style with live music, projected images and movement. The production is curated,adapted and directed by Artistic Director Scott Baker.

Project Summary

Post:Ballet

Post:Ballet brings its third annual home season program, Triads, to San Francisco’s Herbst Theater on July 20 $21, 2012. Featuring the choreography of Artistic Director Robert Dekkers, this season’s concert includes thereprise of Milieu, featuring an original score by Daniel Berkman; an encore performance of the InterferencePattern, with cinematography by Amir Jaffer; and two World Premiere collaborations, featuring composer JacobWolkenhauer and sculptor Jeffrey Zygmunt, respectively.

Project Summary

RAWdance

In June 2012, RAWdance will present the geometry of us (working title), an eight-hour outdoor public danceperformance that will celebrate our shared humanity. 24 dancers will take turns performing the same 20-minuteduet in a loop, highlighting a singular connection across lines of color, gender, sexuality, and culture. An editedvideo piece of the installation will extend the life of the work, providing further opportunities to highlight the durationand diversity of the event.

Project Summary

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra

Isicha and Pistaqo is a bilingual, orchestral folk tale featuring a score by SFCO Composer in Residence and LatinGrammy Award winner Gabriela Frank and narration by the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Nilo Cruz. Conceivedas a contemporary, cross-cultural analogue to Peter and the Wolf, the piece will re-imagine the Andean folk legendof the evil monster Pistaqo and his demise at the hand of the courageous young woman Isicha.

Project Summary

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2012OPG


San Francisco Playhouse

The SF Playhouse respectfully requests the Organization Project Grant to fund the 2012-2013 Sandbox Serieswhich will nurture two emerging playwrights through the process of writing scripts, resulting in several communityreadings and culminating with a fully-produced world premiere production for each new play.

Project Summary

Scott Wells and Dancers

Scott Wells and Dancers is requesting funding to create an evening length multimedia dance performanceexploring various aspects of masculinity in former Cold War countries as well as contemporary dance societies.

Project Summary

Shadowlight Productions

The Rebirth of Apsara (”Heavenly Dance”), is a full-length experimental dance/shadow theater work created byclassic Cambodian dancer /choreographer Charya Burt and shadow master, Larry Reed. exploring the history ofclassical Khmer dance from its Golden Age in the 1960’s to its present day resurrection. Funds are requested tosupport the first development phase, which includes 2-week workshop culminating in 2 in-progress presentationsfor the public in Fall 2012, and community outreach/PR planning.

Project Summary

Theatre of Yugen

A Minor Cycle is five new one-act plays by playwright Greg Giovanni written for Theatre of Yugen and performed atNOHspace, their home venue in San Francisco (December 2012); and then subsequently on a US tour in 2013.Using the thematic structure of a noh cycle, the plots are derived from Western children’s literature, folk tales andballads, each employing a classical Japanese performance art (kyogen, bunraku, noh, and kabuki).

Project Summary

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2012OPG


We Players

We Players is beginning a multi-year, multi-site investigation of The Odyssey and the themes of the hero’s journey,maritime navigation and relationship to our homes. We will present an island-wide production based on TheOdyssey in summer 2012 on Angel Island, as well as visual art exhibitions and educational programming through2013. We will continue to develop project themes in creating a new work at SF Maritime/Aquatic Park, to premier insummer 2013.

Project Summary

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FY11-‐12 OPG PERFORMING ARTS: NEW WORK

Table of Contents


GuyWriters ................................................................................................................................................................ 3 Barbary Coast Amusements ...................................................................................................................................... 5 EmSpace Dance ......................................................................................................................................................... 7 Guerilla Rep .............................................................................................................................................................. 9 Mary Sano and Her Duncan Dancers ...................................................................................................................... 11 Navarette x Kajiyama Dance Theater ..................................................................................................................... 13 Performers Under Stress Theater ........................................................................................................................... 15 Charming Hostess ................................................................................................................................................... 17 RAWdance .............................................................................................................................................................. 19 Eye Zen Art .............................................................................................................................................................. 21 Mugwumpin ............................................................................................................................................................ 23 OX ........................................................................................................................................................................... 25 Clerestory ................................................................................................................................................................ 27 Erika Chong Shuch Performance ............................................................................................................................. 29


Encore Theater ....................................................................................................................................................... 31 Organizational Capacity & Capability to Implement the Proposed Project ............................................................ 31 WE Players .............................................................................................................................................................. 33 Dandelion Dance Theater ....................................................................................................................................... 35 Scott Wells and Dancers ......................................................................................................................................... 36 Genryu Arts/Gen Taiko ........................................................................................................................................... 37 Post:Ballet ............................................................................................................................................................... 39 Bindlestiff Studio ..................................................................................................................................................... 41 Melody of China ...................................................................................................................................................... 43 KulArts, Inc .............................................................................................................................................................. 44

ORGANIZATIONS WITH BUDGETS SIZE BETWEEN] $150,000 AND $1 MILLION

Garrett Moulton Productions ................................................................................................................................. 46 Campo Santo ........................................................................................................................................................... 48 Liss Fain Dance ........................................................................................................................................................ 50 Theatre of Yugen .................................................................................................................................................... 52 Levy Dance .............................................................................................................................................................. 54 La Pocha Nostra ...................................................................................................................................................... 56 Shadowlight Productions ........................................................................................................................................ 58 Jess Curtis/Gravity .................................................................................................................................................. 60 Circuit Network ....................................................................................................................................................... 62 San Francisco Chamber Orchestra .......................................................................................................................... 64 Meridian Gallery ..................................................................................................................................................... 66 Joe Goode Performance Group .............................................................................................................................. 68

FY2011-2012 / Organization Project Grants – Performing Arts, New Work – PANEL COMMENTS page 2 of 74

San Francisco Playhouse ......................................................................................................................................... 70 Dancers’ Group ....................................................................................................................................................... 72 Margaret Jenkins Dance Company ......................................................................................................................... 74



GuyWriters PROJECT DESCRIPTION: GuyWriters requests $4000 to support two theater productions in FY2012-‐2013. The fall 2012 play will be a collaborative writing exercise utilizing more than one writer to create one story in one full-‐length play. The spring 2013 production will be the 5th installment in our annual Eat Our Shorts series with several local, gay male playwrights contributing short plays.

Artistic Excellence & Quality of the Proposed Art Project w The proposed project demonstrates originality, clarity and depth of investigation of concepts and ideas. w Quality of the proposed professional art activity, including its curatorial or artistic vision, programming, etcetera. w Qualifications and experience of the artists providing creative leadership for, or involved in, the project. The clarity and feasibility of the project goals.

Regarding the two work samples: the first seemed more like a beginning exercise. The second sample had more staging.

In the work samples, there are only two women portrayed. One is stereotypically menopausal and the other is ditzy. This raises a red flag for me.


Although tiny, they are working well and have the desire to grow more professionally.

They are asking for a small amount of funds. This kind of support would be validating to say keep on doing the work in the community.

They’ve done similar things in the past, but the jump to working with three artists on this project is a big jump for them.

Quality & Soundness of the Plan w The clarity, soundness and thoroughness of the project implementation. w The soundness of the project budget, including the ability to secure any additional resources needed.

Looking at their project budget, they are asking to pay their directors, designers a small stipend. Their budget allocation seems reasonable.

Their managing director has decades of experience.

What is the vision for the 3 playwrights coming together in one cohesive play? I don’t see the description here. When will that happen? They are figuring this out as they go along – this may not necessarily be a criticism because that might be okay.

• I agree. The second half of the proposal regarding the series seems well thought out. The collaborative writing exercise among three writers was also unclear to me.

I would also have like them to expound more on the writing collaboration as this was the newest thing.

Impact on the Targeted Audience w Whether a large audience, or a smaller audience drawn from a specific community, is likely to be well-‐served and enriched by the project. w The credibility of the organization’s plans for securing the desired audience or participants for its project.

It’s important for communities to develop their future artists in a way that they feel comfortable. This is such a cultural community. They do this by building small, intimate workshop, whether in homes, or bars.

Their 2011 calendar shows them reaching 10 – 180 people at events. They are building community in small increments. But, they are very active – the energy and vitality is there.

Organizational Capacity & Capability to Implement the Proposed Project w Qualifications and experience of the administrators providing management leadership for the project, and the support of the organization’s board. w Soundness of the organization’s overall financial health. w Organization’s history of carrying out projects of a similar scope and scale; or the organization’s demonstrable capabilities suggesting that it will be able

to carry out projects of such scope and scale.

This is an organization that is small but does a lot. They support playwrights, do quarterly readings, workshops and theater productions.


They are well-‐supported, with a growing base of individual donors, which signifies popular support. Have a board that donates 100%.

Their donors have grown by 10 times over past two years. As the organization grows, that will continue to grow.

I have one question – they are fiscally sponsored by Intersection for the Arts. But they do not mention any kind of support from Intersection, for example, on publicity. How are they taking advantage of the fiscal sponsorship?

I think they have the experience and the capacity to do this project.

The project budget however is twice their organizational budget – this could be a stretch in an organization of this size.

Any money for an organization of this size will have an impact


Barbary Coast Amusements PROJECT DESCRIPTION: This proposal requests $4,100 to support Cyclones, an all 40-‐and up female cast adventure play, to be staged over a 4-‐weekend run at SOMArts or BRAVA Theater during spring 2013. Cyclones is a family-‐friendly play that encourages children and their parents to understand themselves as an integral part of the planet’s health. Awarded funds will support artists’ and production fees.


I think this project is full of really talented people. This is exciting.

• Agreed. Knowing the creative team, I think they are powerhouses.

I agree about the caliber of the artist. They are veterans. They self-‐produce all the time. They are extremely experienced and talented.

• They want to combine storytelling and physical theater. I wish we had seen the physicality in the work sample.

• I googled some of their previous work and was able to see some of the physical theater your referenced.

There are not many women clowns out there. I’d love to see their work and be in the room wherever they are.


This seems like a natural progression for the organization. Quality & Soundness of the Plan

w The clarity, soundness and thoroughness of the project implementation. w The soundness of the project budget, including the ability to secure any additional resources needed.

The budget seems reasonable in terms of what they’ve asked for.

I had a question regarding the $500 facility rental – is this possible at SOMARTS for so many weekends? It looks like a low number.

• SOMARTS is a co-‐promoter for this project. That may explain the small amount for the venue rental.

• They have presented with SOMARTS in the past – true for this one? It says SOMARTS or Brava.

The project description there could have used more detail. It was straightforward – it’s clear – but it could have had more detail regarding the process of how they work together. It’s probably obvious to them – but it is not to us.

• They have a lot of smarts here. They will utilize all the elements, in particular the music in the show. As to whether certain details or funds are not in the proposal, I note that this was written a while ago – there may be project updates. Even without updates, I feel quite confident that this project will be executed.


I enjoy that they have a clear vision for their company and they are creating family friendly art. I don’t use the term art lightly. They don’t dumb it down for children, there is respect for children here.

Given track record of team – I hope that each of the members of the artistic team attracts their own following.

They have a history of bringing in people. They seem to know how to do this.

They are offering free programs to children and to people who have developmental disabilities.

They are keeping ticket prices low.

• It is smart to target children with developmental disabilities: not much in the field that does this and the art form good for range of audiences of children.

In terms of outreach it’s clear they have a small mailing list. As a small theater – they are still thinking about their mailing list and media plan.

Using social media seems like a reasonable way to bring in parents.




This is a big project – more than double their annual budget size. I didn’t see mention of that. I wondered if they really understand how major this is.

• There were a couple of things – because they clearly conceived of it as a large project – I had a similar question re: how their ideas may need to be scaled down. For example, they wanted to give every child a wristwatch compass, but I didn’t see it as line item in the budget. But, it is pretty cool that they are in this growth process.

Playwright is the star and the director. That’s a lot. I’d like to see more about how they normally create things. Maybe this is how they normally do things. In my world that wouldn’t be possible.

• I have no doubt that they can do this. The director/actor – she will have support. She has people who will input into the script and working on the side. There is a great deal of experience in this team. I am very excited by this project.

• The experience of these artists and their lengthy bios suggests that they will be able to do everything from the ground up.

The organization was just founded in 2009, so they don’t have a lot of history. This project may be double what they’ve done before – but they have experience.

I was encouraged to see the marriage of non-‐profit and for-‐profit work, for example, the entertainment and non-‐profit skills together.

I’m encouraged by their advisory board – I hope they are a functioning board – being used as a strong resource.


EmSpace Dance PROJECT DESCRIPTION: EmSpace Dance will restage “A Hand in Desire”, our original dance-‐theater piece inspired by “A Streetcar Named Desire” that includes 45 scenes based themes and characters from the classic play, from monologues to dances to songs to dramatic scenes and mash-‐ups of all of these. A game of cards determines which scenes happen in any given performance. We will be reworking material and creating new scenes for the restaging.


I was moved by the strong cast and collaborators in this project.

I really liked the work sample. It shows that the artists are very talented and have great potential. The American Theater magazine article and letter of support and work sample showed this. I was happy to see that.

Seeing the work sample helped me to see the intersection between the text and physical movement. This worked, and I didn’t know if it would.

The way they talk about “chance” in their show, this is most interesting to me. But, I didn’t see how that idea plays out. How does it work for this – to take a narrative that is so well-‐known to all of us – and to re-‐shuffle to make it new?

• Yes, how will this reveal something new about the work?

• I saw a letter that speaks to this.

• Yes, but I was interested in reading more on this.

• What are the organic reasons to want to re-‐stage this?

• I feel joy for artists that this would be great, to go back to a theater piece and use the original artists who took the first journey and take the project to the next step – this is amazing.

• These are strong artists. They really want to re-‐visit this work rather than bowing to what I call the “Tyranny” of new work – always having to do something new. I applaud the direction that this project is going in.


This project gives Emspace Dance an opportunity to collaborate with Intersection for the Arts.


The proposal was clearly stated. I appreciated that they clearly described why they are re-‐staging this piece.

I’m glad to see the corrected California Cultural Data Project form. That was a question for me. Financially – it looks like there was struggling going on. With this support could help the project come to fruition.

The project budget was sound – even though a re-‐staging can be a weighty cost. If you’ve already done it once – getting funding to allow the artists to grow can be challenging.


I would have appreciated some information regarding the work-‐in-‐progress performances in the timeline. When re-‐staging it can be helpful to know how they will get audience feedback.

• The work-‐in-‐progress performance and the audience feedback gathering can also be an audience development tool.

• There is strong potential with strengthening and building that relationship with Intersection for the Arts. There is accessibility for the audience. Certainly it is possible for them to get audience. I am hoping Intersection can support that. Working work-‐in-‐progress showings into the timeline can help that.

There is nothing in the timeline about incorporating the feedback of the audience in the re-‐working of the script.

I wondered whether they were depending too much on Intersection for the Arts to bring in an audience.


• Can you elaborate on your comment about relying too much on Intersection?

• They just say that they will work with Intersection for the Arts. They don’t talk about their own audience. They say that growing their audience is important but they don’t discuss their own role.

• There is not much information about how they will do audience outreach.

• If growing the audience is as important as they say, they should have articulated their outreach ideas.



They have a previous history of success.

This company is truly interdisciplinary. It has a history of successful collaborations across different disciplines. It makes sense to want to collaborate with Intersection for the Arts.


Guerilla Rep PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Guerrilla Rep’s production of Waterline, written by Claire Rice and directed by John Caldon, is an adaptation of a portion of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield. This classic novel gets a modern Tennessee Williams twist as Rice captures the social stratification of the American South. This play will be mounted as a professional theater production at Bindlestiff Studio in October 2012 as part of Guerrilla Rep’s residency.


The playwright is a good performer. The playwright is fun to watch.

The work sample that we read was not as helpful. I’m choosing to believe that what we read was in a very early stage of development. I am not sure if that is the case. I saw a lot of abrupt shifts -‐ or things that happen over and over again – those things are happening a lot in the written material.

• I had similar questions about the written work sample

• I echo all those remarks.

• I enjoyed the work sample – would have liked to see a sample that was an ensemble piece. Not sure what the production values would look like for multiple people.

They say that in the project they will experiment with use of lighting, sound, and design to transform Bindlestiff Theater. If this is the reason they want to do this project – the work sample did not help to demonstrate their ability to do this.


I appreciate the ambition of the project. They are aspiring toward things – they are good things.


(STAFF) Note that the maximum amount they can ask is $8,500 (down from original request of 15,000). But their revised budget asks for $5,000. Admission revenue remains the same. The biggest change is amount of foundation fundraising – it will go up to $10,000. From their first budget to their revised budget, the total budget is decreased $2,600.

They talk about seeking mentorship from professional theater artists and that they want to employ artists. But, I didn’t see information about how this would happen, what the process will be. I am unclear how this will happen because they don’t describe this. That they want it to happen is good – I’m just not sure how they will do that.

• (STAFF) The Roy Convoy letter of recommendation illustrates how this will happen

• Yes – but it is such a big part of their proposed project. It needs more information.

I’m not clear on why they want to do this particular project, and why they want to do it now.

• They say that this project fits in their mission. The project aligns to their mission

• Yes, I see this, but I am still confused about why this, why now?

There is a high amount of budgeted administrative expenses as opposed to artistic expense. At this point in project development – does this make sense? The playwright is getting a significantly smaller amount than the director. It seems to be a percentage of ticket sales. If they don’t get the ticket sales, what will happen with the playwright fee?

I need some clarity on the relationship between this proposal and Bindlestiff Theater since this project will be in residence at Bindlestiff.

They say that they will be afforded a spacious development process through this project. I’d like to hear from theater people regarding their perspective on this – looking at the timeline.

• In order for this project to reach the professional quality level they want to achieve – this will take a lot of work. In terms of the project timeline, I’m not sure if this is possible.

They have stated clearly where they see themselves in the theater ecology.


I was concerned by the fee for the managing director-‐ 30% of grants. It is the largest fee in budget and that concerned me. I was also irritated that they named the grant program incorrectly. That is a small thing, but still.

I have a lot of notes on the project budget – seems that the allocation of funds is off.

• (STAFF): Are you referring to where the project money is going as opposed compared to stated goals?

• Yes


I think that their outreach plan is “preaching to the converted.” Focusing on university students and departments seems narrow.

In some ways it seems ambitious in the timeline – how they will sync up with professors. However, they have a strong mentor and he is based in a university, and if you have strong potential support in cultural clubs, as can be the case in the Filipino community that has strong cultural clubs in universities.

Although the community center is based in the Filipino community, the play does not seem to have a connection to those communities.



They had a strong theater that they launched in December

This is an organization that is at a nexus. It is a training ground for new artists and performances. The Artistic Director nurtures work in the themes that they have identified: social justice, etcetera.

In this project, we see artists who wear administrative hats, particularly with Bindlestiff Theater, to get the project up and running. I think this proposal illustrates the new era of Bindlestiff.

• I read this thinking they are considering that they will be the professional artists and they mentor youth at Bindlesiff. I had some confusion about this.

• On page 2, in the second paragraph, it talks about residency at Bindlestiff – training the Bindlestiff constituency.

• In this way it allows the Bindlestiff workers/constituency to have theater experience.


Mary Sano and Her Duncan Dancers PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Kanrin Maru: A New Dream of Perseverance is the revised vision and further development of our original work, Ship of Dreams: Kanrin Maru, an evening-‐length dance/theater production with live music, acting, video and dance interwoven to tell the historical tale and contemporary significance of the Kanrin Maru voyage. The new work will hold a greater emphasis on environmental issues as our collaborators continue to expand upon the themes of human perseverance and cooperation while relating the Kanrin Maru story to contemporary issues and events.


The reviews and letters or recommendation are strong. This is a timely project.

I greatly appreciate the specificity of this artist and project. The artist is very clear on influences: it is Isadora Duncan and her cultural background.

It feels very organic that the various parts of her artistic persona have come together for this work.

This is a re-‐staging. The first time was a successful event; a lot of the work has happened. Significant historical events have happened since: tsunami and earthquake. It is interesting that she wants to revisit to adapt to address historic events.

• How much new work is there? They have the first half of a show and two pieces – so I wonder how the initial completed work will expand out to something larger. How much more is really being created?

• But, she says she wants to address the natural disaster. There is room for that.

• (STAFF) If we read the goals of the grant program, we don’t say that it has to be “new work” that is just how we grouped this set of applicants.

I was moved by the solos. And more excited about the new material rather than re-‐working previous work. To me it would have been more powerful to just focus on the second act, where there is new work. It seems ambitious.

The artist has a long history of working. I’m fascinated and pleased to see something that could be considered dated like Isadora Duncan, but she put it in a new frame – and makes it potentially educational – I think this is done well.

I am not so sure that the acting piece in the work sample – the direction of the text piece was as successful. It seemed rough in my mind. I think of her as a brave artist for all of the reasons that were articulated so well by the fellow panelist.


I like that this organization is going forward by both remounting and expanding on a successful past project.


She had great budget notes.

I think she has articulated very well her relationship to the material. This is an example of successful articulation: it has a timeline, it is topical, and yet she brings a sense of history to the work. I am moved by her sensitivity to the work.

I like the project. I think she’s an interesting artist – her way of combining things – it stays traditional but also contemporary. I had a question about how the first act relates to the second act. I understand that she is intending for them to connect-‐ but I was not convinced by the application about how organic the relationship will be.

• (STAFF): Does the first act provide a context for second act?

• Maybe so. But I got from the reading the proposal that she wants to create the solos as stand-‐alone pieces.

The project budget was sound – but it is a bit optimistic in the projected foundation support.

• (STAFF) Do you mean the CASH Grant of $4,000? Because the other foundation monies are secured.


• This budget looks fine then – I want to retract that concern about foundation funding – this was wrong in my notes.


The organization has a clear audience plan and has a connection to the Japanese community. To have an opportunity to come together over expanded work would be lovely.

I would like to have seen cross-‐marketing to build up the audience and expand the audience base.

She has a deep relationship with the Japanese and Asian-‐American community. Maybe I’m not understanding correctly, but there is an assumption that the audience will just come. The publicity plan is very general – what is the audience plan? It says it will go back to the same schools where she had gone before. A little more detail would have been nice.



The artists are completely capable. It is smart to do it in this in an alternative space. It is affordable and it is a good location.

She has done great partnerships to pull off previous work. She has a history of having completed the first half and it speaks to her ability to do this.


Navarette x Kajiyama Dance Theater PROJECT DESCRIPTION: BAILOUT! is a new evening-‐length performance work which addresses humanity’s relationship with the oceans, and how we cope in the face of disasters such as hurricanes, tsunamis, oil spills, and endangered ocean species. Created by Jose Navarrete in collaboration with Debby Kajiyama, the work will be presented in a non-‐traditional performance space such as the Joe Goode Annex in the fall of 2013. Other collaborators include Ricardo Rivera (interactive hypermedia) and Lauren Elder (visual and set design).


Re-‐interpreting cultural symbols – they do this very successfully. The visual elements and set design are strong and an important part of their statement.

I see integration of the visual elements, and a little less in media.

Strong collaborators are identified.

They say they don’t know if their work is “spectacularly unique.” This is artistic work that is welcoming change and embodies that perspective.

Their work sample reinforces what I read in the application.

The work samples were gorgeous. The work is visually arresting. I feel as artists they are very smart. The work is very provocative in the execution of the concepts.

Overall this is exciting and beautiful.

The work sample was very helpful. The narrative and description did not evoke any real images. But, I know from seeing this work sample that it can be executed. The writing is very broad – drawing from different events. Once you get removed from the narrative – you can see it.


What struck me the most about this application narrative is how they are ready to continually change their work. Even their show review from Rita Feliciano reveals critique of their work, revealing a humbleness about their work and a willingness to change it.

There has been an incremental growth of this organization. What they are proposing continues a feedback loop of information for their growth. It is related to that drive to change their work.

Yes, their ongoing growth is shown by their relation to Circuit Network.


The process will be a 6-‐month collaboration in the community. This process is how these artists work.

When they talk about “targeting community “ – they are talking about the community for which they perform – to get feedback from that same community. This how they have previously developed their work.

They have good budget notes, but the in kind funds are not explained. I didn’t see an explanation.


I have a couple of questions regarding audience outreach. They say that they hope people who care about the environment will come. But they don’t say how they will reach those people.

I’d like to encourage these artists to put out their work– even if people who are interested in the subject matter don’t’ know about the work. I’d like to see more people know about the work – to see them – to see a packed audience. I’d like to encourage them to market their work more.




They have had quite a bit of mentoring by organizations like ODC who have taken them under their wing. So there has been incremental growth as they have incorporated an artistic feedback loop.

They are moving along a trajectory of artistic and organizational growth now from working with Circuit Network.

They have clear organizational capacity and track record.

When I read the concepts they discuss, the overarching big ideas, they always have such a way of executing those concepts beyond what’s written on the page.


Performers Under Stress Theater PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Performers Under Stress Theatre requests the San Francisco Arts Commission’s support for You Need to Read Poetry, a new theatrical work premiering at The Garage Theater in the Fall of 2012. The play features works from eight influential 20th Century American poets which reflect our country’s rich and diverse composition, performed in a multi-‐disciplinary poetry slam style with live music, projected images and movement. The production is curated, adapted and directed by Artistic Director Scott Baker.


I was very excited by this proposal. The lead artist has an excellent track record and resume.

Having seen the work samples – I have questions regarding their execution of all the ideas.

• What are the questions coming up?

• The quality of the work. I had imagined something much stronger.

My question is about execution. I’m not clear how these eight poets hang together – other than their American-‐ness and their contemporaneousness.

What is the difference between staging a poetry reading as opposed to a poetry reading – why is this happening in a theater?

Project is laudable and interesting.

How do you hang together the work of 8 poets that are not identified?

The last piece in the work sample was magnetic. The first one was not so successful at integration of text – so I have some questions regarding the quality of the work.


The project seems to be a step up for them organizationally – to have the artistic director focus on this entirely and have someone else to direct their other project.

They are going to be at the Garage Theater, which supports organizations that might be marginalized, I think that will be good for them.


Their proposal and budget are clear.

I like their thinking on this. You have to sell me hard on translating mediums. I was won over by their approach.

Would like people to discuss the timeline in reference to their capacity?

• I thought the timeline was reasonable. It was detailed. They are planning for research, script meaning, rehearsals, readings, and workshops. This is a pretty traditional and thorough development trajectory.

They have a clear vision and goals. They provide an excellent description of the project – timeline, budget reasonable.

Are there issues of rights in using other people’s poetry? This is not in the budget. Are there copyright issues? I don’t know.

I hadn’t thought about the copyrights question. You do need the rights. If this comes to fruition – you can do public domain work to get around it – but this needs to be considered.

I think that there is a well-‐thought-‐out strategy – in how they will integrate poetry that may not be available to others.



I had a question regarding their statement that they reach 120,000 people through the web. But they don’t discuss web outreach in their plan.

• (STAFF): We don’t ask for documentation or evidence of numbers, for example, Google analytics. And does a casual visit to the website equal audience?

They have a track record with audience.

The plan for audience outreach is clear – they have broken it into segments and discuss each segment specifically.

Their audience plan was most specific.

I think there are several ways of approaching poetry and approaching different audiences. The specificity of they way they approach their different audiences, that gives me insight. I think they know who they are playing to.

They may not particularly be targeting poetry slam audience. They may be more interested in audience in literature and community arts.



I think they are working within their capacity. The project focus not too big. They are presenting at The Garage which has a history of supporting artists that don’t have other kinds of support. Their fiscal sponsor also has history of supporting artists who don’t get their work out as much.

They seem to have struggled – and I worried about that.

• (STAFF): Where do you see the struggle?

• They are small. But where they are presenting the project and their fiscal sponsor are encouraging. But what about having the capacity to develop this work?

• This could relate to the unevenness of work sample-‐ having time to realize the vision of set, movement, acting. This can speak to capacity – having time to develop. Do others feel confident regarding the timeline?

• (STAFF): Joe Landini’s letter does mention struggle.

What holds it together? I got a sense that they are trying to figure it out. This is part of the process. This gave me confidence that they could do that.


Charming Hostess PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The Ginzburg Geography is an immersive performance based on the lives and works of Natalia and Leone Ginzburg, mid-‐20th century Italian Jews famous for anti-‐fascist resistance and intellectual brilliance. This participatory musical piece explores themes of love, resistance, exile, escape, and liberation through the medium of radical cartography. The Ginzburg Geography will be a series of sonic maps that track the aforementioned themes in the Ginzburgs’ lives and in the lives of every visitor participant.


This is an interesting project and she has an interesting voice.

Materials she draws on musically make sense and they relate to her and her background.

I found the material fascinating. The project is well-‐structured, they are providing a home for this work.

Ginsberg seems like rich source material. It seems like an organic project.

This organization is exciting, very unique, and organic. They have obscure interests and put them together with a unique sensibility that is exciting. Radical cartography is exciting. When I think of art, here it is.

I’m encouraged that they are doing this for people whose memories will be gone soon.

The language of the proposal is inspiring. I love that they want to create divergent experience and sound landscapes. It is interesting. I am moved by the ideas and I like that it is free.

I like that the project is interactive.

It was savvy of them to show us example of their organic process in the work sample.


The project’s home is at the Italian Institute and there is buy-‐in from the institute to reach out to that community. This is an added interesting element and to their benefit, their growth.


This is a feasible project even though a lot of steps still need to be figured out. They will find way to achieve what they want to do.

The budget is feasible although didn’t break down artistic expenses. I don’t know how much they are paying for people. It is good that bulk going to pay for artistic fees.

They request $1,500, but in the column for the SFAC grant, it says $1600. That didn’t add up correctly, but that is minor.

I say this as a cautionary note and I trust they will approach it with great sensitivity. Wanting to interview Holocaust and genocide survivors – that relationship is tricky. It is not a light thing.

I want more detail about oral piece with the middle school students and the survivors – are they working together? A lot of work will have to go into doing this with integrity and respect.

There is a disconnect between the material and the end result. But I’m confident they will be able to iron it out. Expanding on that issue would have made me feel more confident that they are doing their homework.

The project has a life beyond San Francisco and it has an international component.

I do have some questions. $10k is allocated to production costs and they are fundraising for artist fees. Could they have done it with the resources the Italian institute gives them?

I also have a question about money juggling.

The work exists even if they aren’t performing and accessible to the audience. It increases the impact and is useful for disseminating the project.



As far as the project’s impact on audience – they are thinking about that.

This organization has a solid and dedicated small audience base because they challenge themselves to bring in new interests with each different project.

It is great that the audience is involved in both creating and receiving the piece – it is a constant cycle.

Yes, the audience is incorporated in an authentic way.



The project is not a far reach, it is within her language.

It is a stretch, but the dome gave a different perspective on the work, it gives me a sense of what they are able to achieve.

The project’s scope is feasible. They seem to imagine things that don’t exist and make them exist.

The project is ambitious. I have questions about the community partners. It seems like a lot.

The budget is sound. It is encouraging they have connections in the community as resources to support their vision and mission.


RAWdance PROJECT DESCRIPTION: In June 2012, RAWdance will present The Geometry of Us (working title), an eight-‐hour outdoor public dance performance that will celebrate our shared humanity. 24 dancers will take turns performing the same 20-‐minute duet in a loop, highlighting a singular connection across lines of color, gender, sexuality, and culture. An edited video piece of the installation will extend the life of the work, providing further opportunities to highlight the duration and diversity of the event.


Their work is beautiful and skilled.

The concept was intriguing.

There is a strong artistic team and collaborators.

They have a history of presenting finely-‐crafted contemporary dance. To see this in that environment will be fascinating, engaging.

They have rigor and complexity in their choreography, so I hope it will be inspiring.

Artistic quality comes through in the proposal. The artists have great credentials. The letters and reviews are positive.

They have excellent partnerships.

They have a clear dedication to artistic growth.

Their work is at a high and sophisticated level.

If you are taking a performance outdoors, you should articulate a significance of where you are doing it. It is not clear here.


The alignment with the mission and the evolution is that they are challenging themselves. They are thinking of scaffolding up to support that, to grow as artists.

Inviting in 19 dancers will challenge and stretch the organization.

It feels like an evolution for them, it is a challenge.


The project seems solid and fiscally responsible.

I like that there is a video component that will go beyond the public event.

It is savvy to have component to capture process through performance.

I have questions of how to deal with sound in that space at the plaza-‐ they didn’t address this.

• How that happens in an outdoor space is important because that is part of the project.

In the proposal, I had a hard time navigating. There was repetitive language, and I couldn’t find certain things like the goals. Lofty statements were made, but I couldn’t find tangible goals.

• The mission is broad and general didn’t capture essence of the work or distinguish their work from other artists or organizations.

• I have no idea of what this project is. I read it over and over but I didn’t come away with any answers. The goal of the project is general. I don’t know why this dance is to be placed outside. I had many questions. Are people going to be there for three hours? Do they expect people to stop in and pull out? Will people understand what they are doing with the project? Overall I don’t understand what this project is. It is not specified well, but I got that it was about their artistic process for one thing, and then in public what people are experiencing is another.


• The goal of the project came through clearly for me. Seeing relationships mapped out across diff combinations of people seems like a main goal.

This leads me to question. Does this format achieve the goal they are setting? In a public arena it is hard to get an audience’s attention for 20 minutes. If the objective is to show the same dance with different bodies, does the audience come away with that or do they only see one relationship?

They did good work with their budget.

This proposal is for the development of a body of work based on two people, but I couldn’t get a sense of their ensemble work. It makes sense for them to work with a larger company. It will be interesting artistically to see how their duets will work and how that will translate in the space.

Seem like a large part of this is to be in a public arena. It is different in more enclosed spaced, when you want to achieve an intimacy. This piece is abstract and I don’t know how they will do it.

I want to know what their prediction is and if that will match the outcomes of the project.


As far as engaging their audience, there is accessibility and the unexpected.

They have diverse audiences.

I like the idea of continuous performance of the work and capturing the audience response. I wanted an explanation of why doing it and what they want to do with it.

From audience standpoint, I’m not sure if they will get the artistic message.



They had a year where they exceeded their expenses.

I appreciate that they are challenging themselves with a public event and finding 19 dancers to handle the choreography.

I wanted to know about the status of production manager.

The location sounds great but at the time of proposal, no location is confirmed yet.

It is great to have response team addressing what they are thinking about creatively. This different way of working is smart and great to see.

They have a good track record.

The video component would also require seeing small components of the dance at best. Even the Youtube video gets small amounts of people’s attention. I wouldn’t be able to stand there for 3 hours. I am not sure if they can achieve what they want to achieve.

Taking the duets outside is what will be challenging to them. Having the logistics team will be key to how all this works.

How will the issues be resolved with this? The UN plaza has a huge amount of space. I wonder if there will be simultaneous activities? Will some other setup resolve it better? That just is me trying to figure out a better way for the project to work.


Eye Zen Art PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Eye Zen Art requests $12,000 to support the 2012-‐13 Buffet Flats series, a dinner salon combining local food and farming activists with LGBT artists and performers. Buffet Flats will take place four times between July 2012 and May 2013. The events will be developed at farms, gardens and studios and culminate at San Francisco homes attracting an audience of over 500. Funds will be used to underwrite the project’s artists’ fees and production expenses.


The first work sample had me thinking “how is this different than a party?” What takes this to a level of curated vision around artmaking? As we moved through the work samples there were more parts that gave me a sense of what was curated. The work sample is informative. There are some ingenious ideas at work here like taking art to the intimacy of homes as venues of artmaking.

Being in the home and having food in home are ideas that build organically on one another.

Buffet Flats is an interesting way to conjoin several ideas together. It seems an energetic way to bring people together in an exploration of these ideas.

The programming is interesting. It volleys from specific detail to large ideas and history of the communities and queer populations.

The ideas are interesting and intriguing, especially when you consider where this idea came from. It is re-‐appropriating from historic queer sensibilities.


I initially couldn’t see the goals, but it is becoming clearer to me as I see the biographies and project personnel.


As the narrative moved to this new Buffet Flats project, the description is diffuse for me. It is challenging to find why is this an LGBT event and what makes it LGBT and how does that connect with farming.

• How does farm experience inform the artist’s work? Is that a necessary link? What is the connection to the chef and the other groups? It is hard to find meaning in the connections.

• There is a timeline but it is hard to see what the artist is doing on the farm. It mentions a queer urban farmer who was photographed but I don’t know what he says or what he imparts as a queer in San Francisco. I had a lot of questions.

• The delivery from my point of view is what makes these connections salient. It becomes clearer with certain project personnel and with the bios and I see what they bring.

They are thinking about social justice in this particular organization. It may be a big thing in the LGBT community. There is a group of artists thinking about that and bringing their community together and doing storytelling around that in an artistic way. I saw reasons for the connections.

The co-‐curator and her linking of sugar with diabetes in the black community, that gives it content that I didn’t get in work sample. I find that so much more exciting in putting it all together. I felt a tension between the timeline and the workplan, but a lot is delineated well in proposal.

I have a question about the goal of bringing diverse individuals together to create dialogue and communication about racial issues, a variety of issues. I’m curious how dialogue is instigated. Art and sharing food is a great way of bringing people together but how do they facilitate that conversation and dialogue? We have information about the work being presented, but not the conversation or how it is facilitated.

In the California Cultural Data Project report, they have individual contribution amount at the same amount between two years, but the amount given per individual is big difference.



Addressing this in the queer community and addressing racial segregation is important. I see a mixed audience coming together and really calling out these issues.

A lot culminates right before June, before Pride Month. The target audience is accessible. The project’s audience goal of having 50% people of color is driving the project.

I wonder about audience access in homes. How are people selected and how do people come. That is hard for me to understand.

• There is more information about who is opening their homes and the interface on how people can be involved.

• They want to reach 500 audience members. They want 100 people per dinner salon. Is that reasonable for a home-‐based event?

• I don’t think all four events happen in a private home. It isn’t specified, so it could be in other venues.

• If that is the outreach, it is great way of expanding beyond typical venues and it creates intimacy.



It is hard to find homes with that kind of space and homeowners that get the experience.

The advisory group has great leaders and there is an incredible group to see this through, a brain trust. I’m excited to see this in different venues, particularly because doing this in home settings has vitality.

That this is an existing program indicates that they do know how to go about doing it.


Mugwumpin PROJECT DESCRIPTION: To develop and produce the original performance work “Receivers”, in collaboration with Z Space. The piece, created by the ensemble, will grapple with the role of prophetic voices from the fringe of American society, and what they can tell us about ourselves. The goal is to create an exemplary piece of performative art; to increase our audience attendance by 30%; and to create a touring piece that attracts national presenters.


The artistic team has a strong point of view in the project proposal.

The concept is intriguing – bringing awareness to people having responsibility for the future. They are truly building from the ground up.

They operate from intellectual, conceptual place, you see it in the work sample.

• They are heady and intellectual in their writing.

I had to review it many times to capture what the conceptual thought is. The work sample helped. I feel like the blueprint is in the first step and how the team will take those steps to make it into art is unclear to me.

The performance has artistic excellence and they will be adding to the cast.


The budget is a step up. If awarded this grant, this would be a launching pad for them. It is an exciting idea as an investment.

They have artistic hunger. They will explore what they want to explore. I think they will end up somewhere.

They have a larger space to work in and parameters, a larger net to work within. It seems like an exciting time for a company that has the potential to grow.

My takeaway is that this organization is on an upward trajectory and for good reason. They have talented people who have a clear idea of what they want theater to be for them.

I am encouraged that the work in progress is in timeline and it will help them grow and develop.

It would have been good to hear how they view their work as impeccable to other people.


There is a direct point of view and a strong concept, but the blueprint of the plan is not clearly stated.

What is possible for their own growth and enrichment artistically is in their plan and that is important.

I want to see how it can expand into a work of art based on the work plan.

They acknowledge that they haven’t figured out the themes of the project yet.

This is an ambitious fundraising goal. They are projecting 4 times the amount from previous foundation contributions. There is a huge chunk that is unsecured.

I need a better artistic statement. They have this idea of site-‐specific work that tours – how does that work?


For publicity and outreach, they have support from Z Space. Also Z Space will be helping with designers. They have resources put in place for this project.

• I hope that Z Space will help them reach their targeted audience goals. As an organization, they have a track record of making things happen. I have no doubt they will succeed.

Their target audience is people in their 20s and 30s.

They want to broaden the socioeconomic background of their audience. They describe their audience thoroughly.


Leveraging outreach with Z Space to help with the project is good. It is in alignment with their mission and vision.



I like that there is history of creating successful projects and building on what has been successful in the past.

I’m a huge fan of this organization. It is one of the few ensembles that work and train together. They have toured internationally on a shoestring budget. They are very creative and wish they had described that more.

They are smart in leveraging resources and use that to help their artistic process. They’ve made smart decisions. I’m continually impressed with artistic work and decisions.


OX PROJECT DESCRIPTION: This proposal requests $15,000 to support “Masterwork,” a conceptual performance piece exploring themes of violence, technology and identity through the narrative of a fallen, failed hero. The 80-‐minute performance utilizes classical texts combined with rigorous dance and movement scores set against a soundscape and videoscape of America’s best pop-‐culture. Masterwork will have a 6-‐night run at CounterPULSE in Spring 2013.


This is a successful drag queen organization.

The lead artists are credible and accomplish what they want to accomplish.

This is an exciting project that aims to re-‐imagine drag, the marginalized, and underground theater.

There is talent here in so many respects.

They have clearly stated that they are taking elements of drag and nightlife, artifice and how bringing that into more mainstream theater will create change.

• I wonder what vivaciousness will remain, and what is more accessible in mainstream theater?

Seeing the work sample makes me not clear because they will do it in their own style and holding things together is not necessary. So what is their goal?

• I got a clear sense of visual aesthetic from the work sample.

Are they really an ensemble, or is it just an artistic director vision and s/he plugs in performers?


This is nice moment of growth for this company – that much is clear. The work sample was good because we could see the innovation.

The interface between drag and “mainstream” theater will capture a lot of the theatrical energy. It makes sense that the 1st work in theater will push them in new ways. They are up for the challenge.

Quality & Soundness of the Plan w The clarity, soundness and thoroughness of the project implementation. w The soundness of the project budget, including the ability to secure any additional resources needed. w The project is aligned with their mission.

The project is aligned with their mission. I have a question though. Why this project, why make a longer show?

• Developing a 45 to 80 minute piece, I’m not sure why that is necessary.

• The 45-‐minute piece feels like pilot phase and they want to develop it into a full vision. They want to frame it in a way that they want to finish the work rather a having a raw version.

The budget allocation does not make sense.

• The artistic director fees are budgeted at $10,000 versus the guest artist at $1300 each. They seem to be collaborating, but this is a huge difference.

There is a focus on education and immersing themselves. Not sure about the three sections because it seems piece-‐y, although they say they want an entire vision.

I have some confusion of the structure of the final work. They think in episodic ways, which if fine. The show doesn’t need to have linear logic, but don’t know if can sustain for 80 minutes. It is considerably longer than what they normally do. What happens if they have longer period? This is a big step for them.

The proposal mentions training, but how that works is not clear in the timeline.


I still question why they want to transition in this direction. This is the only grant they are applying to and their previous income has come from individual sources. Why is this an important juncture? The decisions seem arbitrary. They are doing what they are doing already.

The individuals create their own personas, yet they held together well in the ensemble piece they showed. The trajectory isn’t a straight arrow but it is one that I’m enthusiastically ready to live with.


The project appeals to a specific audience, and their plan for reaching that audience is credible.

Although audiences at the venue may appreciate it, it is also a step in educating larger audiences that they are creating an art form.

• There is a shift here, in calling people art goers versus audiences. An audience that comes weekly to see personas and then taking that to create in a different context – there are lots of possibilities.

Using social networks to outreach and pre-‐show their work is smart way of making work available.



They have experience, and a track record, and their goals seem to be clear.

Most of their income is earned.

They list board giving but the total seems odd.

They got a great letter of support from Keith Hennessey.


Clerestory PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Clerestory is requesting support from the San Francisco Arts Commission for the commission and performance of a new choral work by the Seattle-‐based composer Eric Banks set to poems by Herman Melville. As the opening to our 7th season, this project will be Clerestory’s first commission, and will anchor a program of American poets and composers.


The bio of the artist seems impressive.

The work samples are exquisite. I was pleased to hear the work sample.

The composer has a strong reputation in Seattle, so it is good to see him in other parts of the country.

I’ve heard their first concert and know many of these musicians. They are all top-‐notch musicians. They could have done better on their sample, but they are very good.

My feedback is that they need to have longer work samples and including the text of the songs is important and also providing a context for hearing the music. To have the music review come from composer is a slight disadvantage without getting the music palette.


While most of the money is coming from this grant, this project would be important step for them as an organization.

This would be their first commission as an organization.

It is good to see them take this step. This will be a lovely piece. The musical language of the composer is accessible. I can see that piece of music performed by other ensembles and I can see them extending the impact of this project in that way.


It seems reasonable that most of grant will go towards commission.

I am compelled by the composer’s letter of recommendation.

For a volunteer organization the commissioning fee is high but in line with the artist’s artistic caliber.

I like the project idea.

I love that they are commissioning a piece. They are committed to making this happen.

• I am pleased to see they want to commission somebody.

For a first commission, I’m surprised to see the level of fee – it is quite ambitious.

The proposal doesn’t talk about how long the piece is. It is an anchor work for the program. As they progress, they need to define that part of the project.


Their audience is small and the hope is that the partnership and project will help them grow their audience. The advertising costs seem low for their activities.

They are encouraging people of all income levels to come and hear the music.

As for the San Francisco Opera connection, does going to the opera’s Moby Dick translate to wanting to hear other Melville pieces?


This project will introduce the organization to new audiences. The San Francisco Opera will direct audience attention to other activities going on around the bay area. The exposure is valuable for them, but whether that translates into direct audience support is unknown.



This is an organization that rotates leadership.

The letter from a composer is interesting and they’ve built a nice relationship. The relationship with the San Francisco Opera will leverage their work.

The partnership with the Opera is big, and it comes at an important point for the organization.

Their board giving and donations seem good.

They are young as an organization, but have done incredible work.


Erika Chong Shuch Performance PROJECT DESCRIPTION: We are requesting support for the Bay Area development and production of “Dogsbody,” the 16th play in Erik Ehn’s Soulographie cycle of plays on genocide. The play will be workshopped through a community development process and then presented in conjunction with a symposium on performance and creative responses to violent conflicts. Following the Bay Area performances, this production will be part of an international effort to mount all of the plays in the cycle at La MaMa in New York.


This is an intriguing project.

The subject matter is powerful.

There is a strong group of performers attached to this company.

The artistic leadership is strong.

The work sample and the past work are masterful in moving great numbers of people through space and it has a strong theatrical sense.

• There is beautiful attention to choreography and energy and different types of movement vocabulary.

The key personnel’s talent is strong.

It is curious that there is no work sample from the writer. I saw phenomenal choreography, but I have no sense of what the writing is like.

• It is ESP that is writing the play. The writer’s plays have been adapted in different ways. He has deep roots in Japanese performance aesthetics. That ambiguity is what is exciting to me.

• Reading more about how the play is structured would have been helpful for me. I want to recognize Erik’s years of writing about genocide. It would be nice though, to see how they will handle the topic without killing you emotionally at the end of the night.


They have excellent partnerships, artists, venues. It is a great opportunity for this company that is so talented to receive national visibility and recognition.

The mission and vision of having a place in a national theatrical context is an expansion of their artist vision and it is great to see.

This project is huge undertaking so the collaborative effort is huge. The sum total would be interesting to see.


There is no San Francisco venue confirmed at the time of the proposal.

• I’m sure the artist will secure a place, but I’m not sure how that will impact the performance.

There could be collaborations around the university – I would have liked more information.

It wasn’t clear if the performance would happen there.

I have questions about the relationship with Tam High in Noe Valley. Why that school in the discussion about genocide?

There is a play written and script as well, but no dancers?

I don’t have a sense of how she will map movement on text.



In terms of audience building, once a venue is secured, there is a possibility of leveraging media coverage since is part of a national piece.

They had a good audience outreach plan.

• I agree they have a good outreach plan.



The artist has a track record of doing strong and provocative work.

The organization seems to be healthy.

I have questions, and they relate to people who have suffered great trauma. I don’t like seeing those things placed randomly. There is a great sensitivity in the subject matter, but the process needs to be explained, to describe how people are coming together and how they will conduct the outreach. How does that really happen? I wonder about choice of that particular high school as well.

The artist has a proven track record. It is an exciting opportunity.

Novick has a lot of history with Erica and has experience in abstract performance. This collaboration is exciting in figuring out how they will handle the experience.

They have credible organizational partners that will help them reach those audiences. Partnership with The University of San Francisco is useful. Certain people are already attached to issues in the project.

They have an excellent track record. It is a large project and huge collaboration but I got a sense of them handling it with care and detail.



Encore Theater PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Encore Theater will collaborate with the musical duo The Bengsons to create “100 Days,” a mixed-‐media folk opera following a young couple who face the sudden diagnosis of terminal illness. 100 days features original music written by the Bengsons and performed by a cast of 15 and a live band. The Bengsons will work with a full design team for the first time to create their most ambitious project to date.


I did not understand who the music duo was. Who are they? How did they start? I did not have enough information to make the leap to the piece but they have given a generous timeline that should allow them ample time to create.

It would have been nice to see a letter from the actual artists describing why they want to do this.

I question the choice of work samples -‐ the first one. It would be nice to see some ensemble action. The first work sample was not as helpful as it could have been. The work sample didn’t seem like an Encore Theater production. They are usually more intimate. It was a strange choice.


This project is in line with Encore’s goal of supporting new work.


There are references in the bios to original musicals, but I wasn’t clear. Did those musicals involve other artists?

I didn’t see anyone identified to write a book for the theater piece. The transition from songwriting to a 15 cast member production is significant.

There is a $100,000 dollar budget line that is for moving this production into commercial musical theater. It could be very exciting.

I’m a little stuck trying to ferret out the marketing language from the plan.

I think the work plan is thin.

What is the impetus for this project -‐ why this partnership? What is Encore Theater doing in developing this piece? There are not enough details in the project plan.

The details that support the budget are thin. It is too early in this project and there is not enough information in the proposal.

• There is no breakdown in artistic expenses or the tech expenses. That’s a lot of money to be making estimates.

• Key personnel/collaborators are listed as consultants in another part of the application. Which are they going to be? The roles are unclear.

They have set aside 1.5 years to develop the project, which is a generous amount of time.


It is so early in their planning process that I cannot say much about their audience or audience outreach.



This is a very ambitious and interesting project, but it is a big leap forwards for the creators.


I have initial questions in terms of the skills they’ll need to develop rather quickly in terms of theater-‐making with the Bengsons. It is their first collaboration that involves other artists with multiple cast and components.

They do have a good track record.

The marketing budget, in relation to their CCDP, seems very ambitious.

Encore has a strong reputation. But the proposal did not give enough evidence to back the reputation.


WE Players PROJECT DESCRIPTION: We Players is beginning a multi-‐year, multi-‐site investigation of The Odyssey and the themes of the hero’s journey, maritime navigation and relationship to our homes. We will present an island-‐wide production based on The Odyssey in summer 2012 on Angel Island, as well as visual art exhibitions and educational programming through 2013. We will continue to develop project themes in creating a new work at SF Maritime/Aquatic Park, to premier in summer 2013.


I am intrigued by this project and the company.

The work sample did not help. I wished to see how they did Hamlet. Were people standing the whole time?

I was unclear on how they work in this unscripted manner. Is that clear to anyone?

• It doesn’t say how the script is being developed.


The proposal suggests that The Odyssey is a jumping-‐off place.

• Yes, but it does not indicate where they are jumping to.


I don’t know this organization, so I’m learning about them from the proposal.

So they are doing site-‐specific work, working with the parks department. Their process is organic and this is very much their method.

I am not sure why they are applying for two plays.

Presenting during the Americas Cup is a good idea.

The plan is well laid out.

There are no CCDP budget notes.

I had trouble with this one. Staging the Odyssey in this location seems obvious with the water, the boats. It is a choose-‐your-‐own adventure play, but who is writing it? The Odyssey is a book, not a play. It is exciting all the elements, but when you get down to it what actually is it?

• I wasn’t clear how they would work this project, developing the script.

• I also couldn’t find how they would develop the script.


This is a great thing for the community to have access to. They are also addressing the need for schools to get involved. They acknowledge that it is expensive to economically access this type of production.

I would have liked to hear more on the potential audiences.



Their budget has grown 10 times.

They are continuing the success of the public art work they have started.

The budget is huge, how will they manage it?


They have a good track record. They have experience with interactive work and their letters of recommendation are very good.

It is impressive that Ava Roy has been able to create the partnerships with the park and with Alcatraz. It is a 4 year relationship.

• That is impressive, but I would have liked to see more of how this will manifest in reality.

What’s really strong is that they have met the challenges of the location and they have great pay for their production manager et al and the partnership is solid.

They are using a theatrical text and I do not see that experience or expertise reflected in the proposal. I don’t know the process of how they intend to use the text, or adapt it, etcetera. It is not in the proposal.


Dandelion Dance Theater PROJECT DESCRIPTION: "Power Play" will be an evening-‐length interdisciplinary performance work which tells stories of our relationship to power and self-‐discovery. Under the direction of Eric Kupers and guided by a series of dance/theater mentors, the interdisciplinary performers of Dandelion Dance theater will weave together original dance, music, and theatrical material to take place around artist Mickey Kay’s interactive set piece, which will attach to the power wheelchair of one of the dancers.


The company is multi-‐disciplinary and believes in their process sharing that with community activism. It is tribe-‐like in the sense that they are very connected in process. Sometimes the process is so internal that it is not executed as well.

The second work sample did not showcase their work as well.

This is a very realistic model that honors their process. The people they are working with are very well known and respected mentors. Rhodessa Jones and Fran Shaw are veterans. This is terrific company for addressing these issues.


Their next endeavor is to deepen the work they are doing with differently-‐abled bodies and dancers. They are going to give themselves a month with a mentor artist. Then perform it and move to the next mentor artist. And they will be able to re investigate the same material in many different ways.

QUALITY & SOUNDNESS OF THE PLAN w The clarity, soundness and thoroughness of the project implementation. w The soundness of the project budget, including the ability to secure any additional resources needed.

I question how rigorous this mentorship will be.

There are no bios in the proposal.

I am intrigued by the large sculptural set piece made by Nikki K. There is not a lot of information about this piece that provides the artist space to play with. There is no description of the set piece or images of Nikki’s work in the work sample. Is the budget enough to execute the work and the sculpture.

• The sculpture expenses don’t seem to be in the budget.

• Is $1,400 enough to cover the production of a major sculptural piece?

The goals of the organization are very clear and fit well in to their model.


They are also looking to their mentors to bring in new audiences, which is a great strategy.

Their marketing strategy relies on the mentor artists. What is the depth of the impact on bringing in audiences?



This is a healthy company.

They have been financially healthy.


Scott Wells and Dancers PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Scott Wells and Dancers is requesting funding to create an evening length multimedia dance performance exploring various aspects of masculinity in former Cold War countries as well as contemporary dance societies.


The work can be characterized by intense physicality that is not simply acrobatic dance contact improve. It is all the things that it isn’t that make it very, very skilled.

It is powerful and speaks poignantly about living in your body as males and it is also universal. It is done with masterful investigation and curiosity and from mining that intensity comes this project that uses his autobiographical material to create the trajectory of this piece.

The work is moving even on video.

I like the specificity of the artist exploring male movement in an open way. It work is very skilled.

• Even without a dance background it is clear the skill that is being displayed.

Their raw sophistication is very authentic. It is also smart, provocative and humorous.


He mines physicality, and that continues in this next project, of power, of the military. It is a trajectory that makes sense for the organization, it is a next step.


I appreciate what everyone is saying but I felt the proposal was laid-‐back and uninspiring. I would have liked to get a sense of the urgency: Why this? Why now? I was left hungry. What about the military? Where is the relevance? The project plan is there but it feels very business-‐as-‐usual.

• I think we have moved into more mid-‐career artist and maybe the work does not need to move his career to new place.

• I felt the proposal was very direct and straightforward without a need to embellish or overstate. I think this proposal is consistent with his track record and voice as a mid-‐career artist.


It terms of target audiences, I did not read that there is any effort made to attract new audiences, is that fine, or should they be looking for new audiences?

• (STAFF): All they need to do is outline the target audience clearly.

• Well then they do.

They are very family-‐oriented. The work is a great entry point



The proposal is within the structure of the company in the past.

I have no questions about their capacity in executing and it is also different than what he has done in the past.

Their project and budget are sound and the history of the work speaks to the fact that he will be able to implement this project.


Genryu Arts/Gen Taiko PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Genryu Arts respectfully requests a grant of $15,000 to support the creation and presentation of “The Art of Peace”. Melody Takata will collaborate with zashiki shamisen, gintenkai taiko artist and filmmaker Tatsu Aoki, grandmaster of the Kineya shamisen school Chizuru Kineya, NEA Heritage Fellow Madame Fujima Kansuma, minyo and shamisen master artist Hideko Nakajima, and calligraphy and iaido (sword) master Reverend Masato Kawahatsu.


I am not sure if the first work sample enriched my understanding of what they are proposing. A different work sample closer to what they are proposing would be nice.

There are a lot of components in a short piece, but it doesn’t raise a red flag but also it strikes me as a lot.

• I was pleased to see that they are using the different classical forms, but I wanted to see how that gets translated into the piece. Even if it serves the community, how well will it serve them if it is done in poor quality?

I would have liked to have seen some of the classical forms.

She is working with a master musician in her nineties who is considered a national treasure. She is not explaining enough about the strong markers of quality in the traditional work.

Her trajectory as an artist has been in the study of music and classical dance. It is really significant to be a 3rd generation artist and classically rooted. It is a real challenge. The fact that her teachers are so invested is a very meaningful endorsement.

Melody is trying to meld and synthesize something. There is a lot of artistic and community value that is combined in this work.


The project is aligned with the mission.

This project has the potential to impact the organization through the collaboration.


I like their interdisciplinary focus, the strategy is very cohesive and the budget is fine and reasonable.

• Except that the artistic budget was confusing. Is the ensemble amount split between the five members?

• It appears that the fees are for performance and creation but it was unclear what they meant as far as creation. They seem fiscally responsible. Their goals seem clear.

I had a hard time with the goals and how all the pieces would come together.

• I felt like the proposal was unclear. The pages were out of order.

• Taiko is the newest of the forms and her combining the old forms with the new forms is very powerful and important cultural markers are at play here. This is a leap of faith here because she is not explaining enough but these collaborators are very strong.

• I could not figure out what it was going to look like. Things were touched on but not explained.

The mission and voice are rooted in Japantown and illuminating this history and is really important. It is a significant community nationally and there is some threat of changing it from developers etc.


I have no questions or concerns about their audiences and their ability to reach them.


They are cooperative and collaborative in the community. I trust they have an audience.

The organization is active, with sixteen years of serving over 100,000 people.

• Do you think it is overstated, the way they claim to serve audiences?

• No. She is a community organizer.



This organization is interesting to me because it has such a strong educational component.

They are not trying to do anything different from what they’ve been doing.

She is working in Japantown and the consulate and Melody plays a huge leadership role.


Post:Ballet PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Post:Ballet brings its third annual home season program, "Triads," to San Francisco’s Herbst Theater on July 20 $ 21, 2012. Featuring the choreography of Artistic Director Robert Dekkers, this season’s concert includes the reprise of “Milieu,” featuring an original score by Daniel Berkman; an encore performance of the Interference Pattern, with cinematography by Amir Jaffer; and two World Premiere collaborations, featuring composer Jacob Wolkenhauer and sculptor Jeffrey Zygmunt, respectively.


I think this is one of the best work samples that we have seen and that gives a strong idea on how the elements work together.

They clearly understand the language and elements of their own aesthetic.

This is a new company but the artistic directors have a strong history of dancing in the bay and nationally.

They will be engaging artists as inspiration for the work.

Being interdisciplinary is endemic to who they are.


They are hungry for taking on serious work in this project.

I think that these collaborations will be really enriching to them going forward.


The rehearsal time is only 1 month. I would love to see them spend a little more time. I have to infer that they know their process and maybe the work that fast.

From the proposal the collaborations seem enriching to the artist.

Even with online outreach I caution around trying to find artists that way. They may need to start with their own artist networks.

The proposal talked about the sculptures, but did it talk about the dance. I am not clear on what the dance is.

• I read it to mean it was interactive. They may not know how it is going to look.

• I did not have a problem with the dance not being articulated. I just wished they had explained that.

They have a very integrated process of all their elements.


In the project narrative they say they have a cohesive programming component. It seems to inform what they do on stage and their process and connects with their online community, which in turn leverages their youth audience connection.

The cross-‐marketing can’t be forced. Regarding of what their focus groups say. They need to first find something that is feasible to them.

Their attendance increased 80% in the past year.

Their audience generation plan is reasonable and in keeping with what a lot of dance companies are dealing with.




The company is heading into its third season. There is a great potential for success considering their past experience.

They have solid fiscal sponsorship and their ability to carry out projects is feasible.

They are very impressive. Their budget doubled in the last year.

They have generated a lot of buzz in the arts community, not just in the dance world. I hope they can leverage that.

They have a really strong board of directors, which shows their thoughtfulness and seriousness.


Bindlestiff Studio PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The project we are proposing for the Organization Project Grant is the production of “The Strange case of Citizen De La Cruz” written by award-‐winning writer, Luis Francia, which is scheduled to be premiered at Bindlestiff Studio in September-‐October 2012.


The playwright’s resume is impressive.

I enjoyed the work sample.

In a particular scene in the work sample, I do not know where I am. Is this realism or non-‐realism? The play gets murky.

• I got political satire.

• Yes but we have not established who these characters are.

• Oh, I noticed that this sample is not consecutive. They have given excerpts. Oh well, the first 2 scenes I had no question about, but it would have been helpful to understand why the scenes were selected.

I think it would have served them well to provide a live theater work sample.


This organization is deeply rooted in the Pilipino community at an important juncture: with their new space and the development of this new work in that space.

It is a fantastic thing that the studio exists and they want to grow it. I like that the theater could become a training ground for teaching the staff theater management.


I wanted to be more excited and feel more certain of its chance to succeed but the proposal was unclear. There is a small error on math in the budget and I worried about the organization’s capacity for paying attention to the details of the work.

They definitely have a track record but their description of the plan was inadequate.

They are shifting their focus from short works to full-‐length work. There is evidence in this application that says they haven’t done the appropriate planning.

Their budgets are totally reasonable.

• Their math does not add up. As the budget adds up it appears that they do not need this grant to produce this play.

It is fantastic moment for the organization with good aspirations, but the goals feel somewhat not well thought out. They might benefit from mentors.

I would have liked some explanation on the interface with Guerrilla Theater.

They have a real leadership role nationally and internationally so understanding how these elements interface would have been helpful.


Their audience estimates for growth are high. They project sold out shows for a 3-‐week run. It is possible, but I wouldn’t plan it that way.

• Aren’t they used to having sold out audiences?

• Yes but I would not plan based on that.

• (STAFF): But does the marketing plan satisfy your concerns?


• No.

I love what it means for the community in SF and the Bay Area.



They do have a track record.

The play script is good, it had a good tone, but I had questions after reading this. Neither the dramaturge nor the playwright has playwriting experience and it is a different kind of writing. How are they going to handle that?


Melody of China PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Melody of China will collaborate with Earplay ensemble to present a concert featuring the world premiere of a new work by composer Joan Huang. The piece, “Along the River During the Qing Ming Festival,” will be composed for Chinese and Western instruments including yangqin, pipa, sheng, guzheng, dizi, flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, and performed by Melody of China musicians and Earplay ensemble. The concert will take place in San Francisco at Old First Church on November 2nd, with a follow-‐up performance November 9th at a venue yet to be determined. The program will also include other chamber works by 20th Century composers.


Melody of China has a great artistic reputation but the work samples do not showcase the intricacy of their work.

I would like to have heard a music sample from Joan Chung to get a sense of why her.

The proposal did not share enough about the actual piece that they are going to do.

There is no clarity about the other project composers . I also do not understand how the painting inspires the project.

Better audio speakers in the panel deliberations would make the work sample sound quality better.


They do not explain how this project will impact them, so I don’t know what to say about the project impact.


The marketing and timeline is not fully fleshed out and does not make sense.

• I see actually that in the timeline they have time scheduled to work on planning.

• It is unclear because of the brevity. The artistic and presentational capacity is there, but I am unclear on what the project is that they are executing.

I think they had a very cool work sample. Hearing a saxophone used in traditional Chinese music is intriguing, but again the proposal lacks organization, clarity and detail.


The community outreach with youth is not fully realized and is a missed opportunity. But the project is exciting.

• But they have not taken the step to identify the schools within walking distance.



The organization needs to consider some organizational structure. It is preventing them from organizing details and planning. I think their organizational capacity is truly lacking. Perhaps the board needs to consider an Executive Director to help stabilize the organization.

I am excited about the cross-‐pollenization of the artistic elements, but I echo the panels concern.

The work sample demonstrates artistic and presentational capacity, but it’s unclear if they have the capacity to do this project.


KulArts, Inc PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Pilipino folkloric choreographer Jay Loyola and Kularts are proposing to create the world premiere dance production of "Ibon Ng Adarna" (The Adarna Bird) to highlight the beauty and power of Palawan’s indigenous healing traditions. Using traditional Pilipino dance methods and Pilipino mythology, the 40-‐minute work will be performed for two shows by Parangal Dance Company in November 2012 at the YBCA-‐forum.


The work sample looked detailed and gave me good idea of what this piece might look like.

There are great artist bios and reviews.

Jay is creating an original piece – using movement from traditional art forms and creating new dance theater pieces. He is creating a new world onstage.


They want to see that this piece they’re working on performed by other Filipino companies. There is generosity in creating work for a larger community that we don’t often see in the world of competitive performance.

This project is a move towards serving as an educating force in the community.


The timeline makes sense, it seems reasonable.

• I am curious what the July intensive phase is.

In the budget, I am struck by the difference between the director fees and the project coordinator fees. I would like to know more about their thinking on that.

• Are those commonly understood titles?

• It is an administrative and technical role.

I like this application quite a lot.

I am surprised there is no mention of the music ensemble. It may not be so inherent to what they do, but I’d be interested to see how that element informs the choreography and educational component. I was looking for that.


In terms of audience outreach, it is clear how they will get the audience. They have a network to get the audience.

The public dance workshop gives people access to unique thing they might not have otherwise have access to.



They show that they are flexible enough to understand the need to change and adapt to the environment in order to make their work.

They are fiscally responsible. They reduced expenses. There are no red flags.

Admissions went down significantly in the California Cultural Data Project.

They seem very active.

Jay is well-‐respected for his research and teaching, for working with other Filipino companies rather than starting his own.


• Jay is teacher that people want to work with. He has corps to work with and will cast from wherever he wants to. This is an exciting development in this community and meaningful for young artists.

I am impressed with 200 volunteers for this organization.

I’m encouraged they are leveraging Creative Work Fund support.



Garrett Moulton Productions PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Garrett Moulton Productions is seeking support for an evening length work, "Giants," that examines the impact of technology and the current digital information explosion on our ability to experience states of enchantment. Weaving together movement, text, music, and song, choreographers Janice Garrett and Charles Moulton will construct a modern day fairytale that alternates dramatic action with high-‐octane choreography. The piece features five dancers, a narrator, singer, string quartet, and original score by SF composer Dan Becker.


There is a great musicality to their work.

This is a great collaboration, including Charles. They are both brilliant at moving large groups of performers.

The intricacy of the individual duets is very special. Together they can have a strong vernacular that is enriching.

The work sample is compelling and illuminated the forum at YBCA.

The letters of recommendation are strongly supportive.


They have past success in working in partnership and are now going into another major work. The topics are different although have developed a language. The idea is unique and a creative stretch. It will be impactful.


I’m interested to see the free workshops and discussions.

It would be nice to see how they felt the discussions would impact the work – if there is clear idea how they will use the information.

The project budget is sound.

They have a sound timeline and workplan.

How does narration fit into the work and how well that will be realized? I am heartened that they mentioned costumes and that they are included in the budget.

• He is doing his research and asking how to use a more theatrical/verbal vocabulary in his work, but it would strengthen the proposal to explain his process of working/thinking about this.

I appreciated learning the history of their collaboration.


The project idea will be attractive to audiences and will be a challenge to translate into dance. I’m interested to see it come to life.

It is great that R.J. Luna is giving time for marketing.

They are addressing outreach & expanding audience and have a large following already.

They are continuing a collaborative relationship and the community is excited about that.



Their collaborative projects have been wildly successful.


They are getting financial support. It is feasible and already happening.

They have the capacity to pull off a project that is incredibly strong.

The capacity is there. They have worked with Del Sol and they are familiar with musical configuration that is at an exceptional quality.

This proposal has an economy of description. This reads more like a workplan than a mining of ideas. That is just reflective of their experience and professionalism.


Campo Santo PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Campo Santo will work with MacArthur Genius Award Winning writer Luis Alfaro to create an outreach process and a new play, "Alleluia, The Road," inspired by August Strindberg’s The Road To Damascus, exploring seven stops on California’s Highway 99 from Disneyland to the Golden Gate Bridge. Through a research and development process engaging urban and rural communities, the play will reflect on issues of outgrowth and community and on how families and communities can sustain in these times.


It is exciting that it is to work with the theme of Route 99 and the places they are planning to go – from Disneyland to rural communities.

They have a process in the way they work. They immerse themselves in the community.

The idea of first hand narrative informs the piece.

The raw materials and way they have worked promises innovative and exciting material.

I love the idea of modern-‐day pilgrimage. They are covering a distance from Disneyland to the Golden Gate Bridge.

The collaborators are high caliber.

It is wonderful to see John Moscone working with many theater companies on this project.


The rationale for project makes sense. The impact of the project beyond the Bay Area lies in bringing theater to areas that don’t have access to theater. That is part of mission.

The artist they will be working with is huge. The work is developed with community. It advances their work because it is so completely integrated in their proposal. The project is building on a model they have in place.


The timeline and workplan look reasonable. The project budget goes mostly to the artistic team.

The project budget is sound and I am encouraged that they already have support confirmed.

• It is great that in the budget they included an interpreter.

The format of the text is challenging to read. I’d encourage more brevity to bring forth the character of the work.

This is a compelling proposal and an admirable way to approach art-‐making.


They are one of the more diverse companies in terms of number of communities involved. That has been their hallmark and it influences their outreach to audiences that may not be inclined to participating in art-‐making venues. The method involves workshops and having outreach teams. I’m curious how that goes. They explained well but I would like to know more.

It is important that they are documenting the history of the community. I think this work will last for generations to come and make an important contribution.

I have a question of how they’ll use the web. They will collect memories and pictures and share them on internet. But I don’t know if the community they are interviewing will be using the internet, but may be an opportunity for them to get involved. So my question is how will they facilitate that.

This company embodies spirit of what this grant program is about. They are so diverse in reaching out to communities and asking what they are about. This is integrated completely into how they are working. They are so community-‐based. I have nothing but good things to say about this.



w Qualifications and experience of the administrators providing management leadership for the project, and the support of the organization’s board. w Soundness of the organization’s overall financial health. w Organization’s history of carrying out projects of a similar scope and scale; or the organization’s demonstrable capabilities suggesting that it will be able


Related to their emphasis on process, which they call pivotal, and long history of success, they have 30 collaborators involved.


Liss Fain Dance PROJECT DESCRIPTION: "The Things That Are Spoken" is an evening-‐length performance installation created by Liss Fain, choreographer, in collaboration with set and lighting designer Matthew Antaky and composer Dan Wool. The architecturally-‐designed set and an immersive sound environment surround the dancers, the actor (speaking short stories of Lydia Davis), and the audience. The performance is structured like a gallery show, with the audience moving freely between the delineated areas of the set, close to the performers.


This project stays in line with her sensibility of architecture and art affecting the way she builds the choreography.

I loved that she shows how she works with text that she uses as a point of inspiration.

Her dancers are sublime.


There needs to be learning about making organizational choices and deciding on the scale of work.

• They have an opportunity to tour abroad and at home. How can you say no? But I am concerned about decision making in the long run and how prudent is it to mount large work at this scale until you get some help?


Z Space is an adequate space for what she wants to do – it can be transformed.

This is not a light budget.

I loved her sophisticated sensibility. The music is unusual, I wanted to see more text in the work sample, but I am fascinated that she has realized the installation structure already.

There is an explanation of the organizational deficit.

• I have questions about why this project now and why partnership with Z Space given the financial situation? I am concerned about the budget.

Because the work sample was a precursor, I’m curious to know how this would be different. I am not clear on how they are building on what they did before. My impression is that they are doing that, but I’m not sure how.


I like that this proposal is about audiences moving around the work – breaking the proscenium feel.

But she has strong individual support and has a following. Having that audience is feasible.

The workshops with 826 Valencia and working with young writers was an interesting component. It expands their reach and impact and audience in the long run.



Because of the economic environment – she has been working in a deficit, but creates a project budget that makes sense. Finding support for projects has become more challenging, but she is figuring out a way to do that.

She has strong collaborators for the project, especially Matthew.

She has already tried to integrate writer’s text and worked with performers. So parts of this project are already known variables.


I find the deficit daunting.

• That the board has given a loan for the deficit is a huge statement of supporting her vision.

• But this is a significant deficit with a great deal of risk.

This is the board everyone wants. The board is carried by five people and one of them is the artistic director.


Theatre of Yugen PROJECT DESCRIPTION: “A Minor Cycle” is five new one-‐act plays by playwright Greg Giovanni written for Theatre of Yugen and performed at NOHspace, their home venue in San Francisco (December 2012); and then subsequently on a US tour in 2013. Using the thematic structure of a noh cycle, the plots are derived from Western children’s literature, folk tales and ballads, each employing a classical Japanese performance art (kyogen, bunraku, noh, and kabuki).

Artistic Excellence & Quality of the Proposed Art Project

w The proposed project demonstrates originality, clarity and depth of investigation of concepts and ideas. w Quality of the proposed professional art activity, including its curatorial or artistic vision, programming, etcetera. w Qualifications and experience of the artists providing creative leadership for, or involved in, the project. The clarity and feasibility of the project goals.

They are unique in what they are doing.

They have excellent artistic quality.

Their collaborators are impressive.

It is like a parallel to Grimms Fairy Tales, they are children’s stories for adults.

They had great reviews and letters of support for past work.

I think that the work sample is not reflective of the proposal. It is an unfortunate choice because the photographs showed a sense of use of space, design and careful choices. But the strength and singular role the theater company plays in choices and method of working.

• The work sample didn’t demonstrate strength and perhaps in the work sample it was because of the camera angles or something.

They have a singular role not just here but with the advice of the professor and ethnomusicologist celebrated in Japan, some of the work being done in San Francisco by this company is holding on to a tradition that isn’t being done in Japan anymore. That is an interesting diasporic dynamic.

• The company’s potential to be an innovator in traditional forms is profound.

The artistic team is impressive – the mask designer, the artistic director from Japan. The people creating this work are high caliber.


Their mission and project makes sense. This is an opportunity for the company to go to Philadelphia for the first time -‐ through collaboration with an artistic partner. Some funding is already secured because of the touring opportunity.

The company has been working with a sensei who has transitioned and given work to Jubilith Moore – they are working in new directions and collaborations.


I would have liked to know more about the process and how the collaborators were selected.

The organization is financially doing well. I didn’t have questions about the organizational budget.


They have a history of education and audience development. They have a plan for the public workshops.

I’m confused about the target audience. Is it youth/children or adults? I wonder why they are choosing children’s stories. If it is targeted for children, then I have different questions about their choices.

• The playwright developed the short narratives. The playwright’s esthetic is aligned with children’s stories, but there is no strong plan to present it to children.

Organizational Capacity & Capability to Implement the Proposed Project w Qualifications and experience of the administrators providing management leadership for the project, and the support of the organization’s board. w Soundness of the organization’s overall financial health.


w Organization’s history of carrying out projects of a similar scope and scale; or the organization’s demonstrable capabilities suggesting that it will be able to carry out projects of such scope and scale.

This organization has an amazing history and track record.

The project plan seems ample. The resources are more than adequate.

The potential of the work given their history is really strong.

Five cycles of the plays happening over long period seems luxurious and I’d be careful.

This is a great proposal and I’m basing that thought on their history.


Levy Dance PROJECT DESCRIPTION: LEVYdance respectfully requests support for AMP, a program that will invite a guest choreographer and two of his or her dancers to engage in an eight-‐week residency to collaborate in the creation of a new work with LEVYdance while simultaneously researching ideas for a new work for their own repertory. The project’s outcome will be the San Francisco world premiere of a split bill performance presenting new work by both LEVYdance and the guest choreographer.


His sensibilities are set enough to welcome other choreographers’ languages. It says a lot about him and his relationship with his dancers.

The work sample showed a variety of movement language. I would have liked to see ensemble work.

The idea of just selecting collaborators out of proposals and jumping into collaboration seems challenging. To collaborate, I would think the artists would already have a shared aesthetic.

The work sample helped me develop an appreciation for the collaborator, but not so much for the company. It did not reflect well on the caliber of the work I’m reading in the proposal.

The project stems from the desire for choreographers to work in an expanded way. That seems like the artistic impetus.

It’s a type of commissioning program but in an interesting way. It is about looking at choreography in other areas they might not yet know about. Also the interest from applying choreographers opens an opportunity for the relationship. It is exciting for the Bay Area for choreographers to come in.

The work sample shows an interesting match between the choreographers it will be an energizing relationship.


It seems like the project impact requires a bigger study. A field study versus a project evaluation.

I thought it was exciting to see this proposal. The easy thing would be to choose collaborators you know. This is a way of looking at a 10-‐year company in a savvy way, of looking at forward momentum and looking at the organization’s structure.

The structure of inviting choreographers and housing them is incredible. They are doing a residency themselves. I applaud this model for sustainability here.

Quality & Soundness of the Plan The clarity, soundness and thoroughness of the project implementation.

The soundness of the project budget, including the ability to secure any additional resources needed.

This is a sophisticated proposal. It raises many useful questions about how to run and keep company alive and growing.

The timeline sounds feasible.

They have committed funding. All of that reads very well. The company is also smart administratively to achieve what he has.

The proposal is heady. It is confusing. At first, I thought there would be an open call for collaborators, but then I saw that one of the collaborators had already been chosen.

• I think it is smart to have one collaborator set so we have one confirmed. They have set up the scaffolding.

I don’t understand how or why the topics are selected.

I was confused by the proposal. I did like the residencies and the documentation plan. But I have questions about the foundation financial commitment.

There is a lot of good planning necessary in order to make this creative process happen. But as a studio that is sustaining the artistic company, there is outreach to other artists to use it. They are another center of artistic output.


In the project budget I didn’t see travel and housing expenses. Specificity is not there.

The proposal is strangely vague because I got that the artist is of high artistic caliber, but I couldn’t get the artistic sensibility – who this person is as an artist.


There is also a vagueness in their way of describing a target community, although I appreciate that they have a faithful audience base.

Yes, the audience description is general.

In touring they can expand their audience.



This is a young growing company that has access to resources – space and people.

I like that he has the ability to bring in people and has rehearsal space for that amount of time.

This is a financially successful organization. The rental income is twice the rental expense, and that’s fabulous.

There is clear feasibility to this project.

For company of this size and this point and what has been achieved and secured is phenomenal.


La Pocha Nostra PROJECT DESCRIPTION: This proposal requests $15,000 to support the development and production of "Psycho-‐Magic Actions for a World Gone Wrong," a full-‐length performance art piece created by La Pocha Nostra’s core artists. Through a series of “corporeal transformations”, including sampling performance classics and new work, La Pocha Nostra will address and try to make sense of the current culture of far right isolationism, xenophobia, and the violence of organized crime.

ARTISTIC EXCELLENCE & QUALITY OF THE PROPOSED ART PROJECT w The proposed project demonstrates originality, clarity and depth of investigation of concepts and ideas. w Quality of the proposed professional art activity, including its curatorial or artistic vision, programming, etcetera. w Qualifications and experience of the artists providing creative leadership for, or involved in, the project. The clarity and feasibility of the project goals.

This is an interesting organization. They occupy a place of their own in the landscape. They have a history of doing things that are uniquely them.

The work sample gave me a sense of their work. This is an interesting choice.

• I had difficulty with the work sample.

• A live work sample with the power of the oratory would have helped. Reading work sample 1 gave me an idea of the power of the work. Work sample 2 seems like a list of ideas. That an artist at this level isn’t conveying this with more power is disappointing. But there isn’t anybody else doing this. He is really a subversive master.

• It would be useful to have a video of past work.

I liked what they said about themselves, but I wasn’t excited about the project.


I don’t see how this advances their mission and goals?

And I don’t see how this is anything new for the company.

I am not convinced this project will move the organization forward.


They want to create a new piece but sampling already existing pieces. It is interesting, but I wanted to know why they are doing that.

• But I think it makes sense in the way that they work and communicate with audiences. They are concerned with crossing borders, they are crossing borders between new and existing works. It feels right.

Do they mean generalized violence or the violence of organized crime? They are different pieces.

The budget is fine for me.

A budget question I have is that a chunk is pending on foundations and I raise my eyebrow when people are banking on the MAP Fund grant because it is so competitive.

The proposal is hard to read for people who don’t understand what they do, but it is an indication of what they do.

I would have loved an explanation of the organizational budget – by budget notes. It would have helped give a clear idea of the budget, especially since they are in strong shape but had dip year.

I wanted more description about the violence and more about the goals and impact of the project to the organization. That was not clear.

o I have a lot of respect for this artist. I understand they are trying to address the level of violence in Mexico that is incredible. I understand their description of how to set up the space. But I didn’t get a sense of how this is different than what the company has done – in that sense I’m less excited about this project.



They include audience and community in a way that the point of their existence is to work with community and work with people they are making work for.



I am encouraged that CAC is supporting the company.

I emphasize that this organization’s mission is to change the world. They have done that and the impact this artist has is immense – to open up conversation about race relations in performance is nothing short of revolutionary.


Shadowlight Productions PROJECT DESCRIPTION: "The Rebirth of Apsara" (Heavenly Dance), is a full-‐length experimental dance/shadow theater work created by classic Cambodian dancer /choreographer Charya Burt and shadow master, Larry Reed. The work explores the history of classical Khmer dance from its Golden Age in the 1960’s to its present day resurrection. Funds are requested to support the first development phase, which includes 2-‐week workshop culminating in 2 in-‐progress presentations for the public in the Fall of 2012, and community outreach/PR planning.


They have a deep understanding of their work and how to produce it.

The first work sample was very moving and successful. The idea is creating a new piece and taking this through its initial phase to explore the key issues.

Charya is a beautiful performer, I’m so interested to see what she will do in shadow theater. I’m interested to see how her background will translate.

I was completely moved by the work sample. Integrating the dance is an amazing idea.

I am a fan of Chraya Burt and I’m thrilled that she will be a part of this and is being supported in this way. The artistic collaboration and growth excites me.

This is an exciting project because the collaborators are working at a high level.

In Charya’s career she has been trying to innovate within the tradition – she’ll perform with string quartets and with traditional Cambodian instruments.

Charya is a master artist.

I look forward to this project. How to innovate within tradition without sacrificing tradition is the challenge and this has all hallmarks of keeping integrity but being innovative.


In her process as an artist on this project, she wants to expand. Shadowlight will now be in the role of mentoring for her to help her understand her next steps. The marriage makes sense.

The artistic collaboration and potential for growth all around are great.

This project is entirely in line with their mission.


I appreciate this proposal focusing on this phase of the project. They are recognizing that they are taking on a large project and they have done large projects before.

It is clear what they want to do in this time.

I like when organizations collaborate with other artists – something beautiful comes out of it.

I like that they recognize that collaboration requires a team-‐building phase.

I have a question on the organizational budget, it had in-‐kind revenue but I didn’t see an explanation.

I like the evaluation section – they know what they want and artistically it is sound.


In line with the organization’s mission and vision this is their first collaboration with the Cambodian community.

I appreciate the artist’s caliber and the personal nature of the story and what it means to the Cambodian community. Organizational Capacity & Capability to Implement the Proposed Project

w Qualifications and experience of the administrators providing management leadership for the project, and the support of the organization’s board.


w Soundness of the organization’s overall financial health. w Organization’s history of carrying out projects of a similar scope and scale; or the organization’s demonstrable capabilities suggesting that it will be able


In the project budget, although there is plan to raise funds and some confirmed funds, I also encourage orgs to take some time to research whom to approach for additional funds. I would like more details about where they’ll raise funding.

I think they are capable of raising funds for this.

They have done large productions before.

The timeline is long, and it shows that they understand how serious it is to take on this scale of an undertaking.


Jess Curtis/Gravity PROJECT DESCRIPTION: “Performance Research Experiment #2” is a new work by choreographer Jess Curtis in collaboration with renowned French/German dance and circus performer Jorg Muller and Iranian neuroscientist Ida Mommenejad that will examine the collaboration/collision of science and art-‐ and the relationship of live art to the body-‐ by measuring specific physical reactions experienced by audience members throughout a sequence of performative events.


This artist brings tremendous physicality and intellectual curiosity to his work.

He is trying to engage a number of disciplines.

The work along with loftiness, also has self-‐deprecating humor.

He is a choreographer with a vision in experimental theater.

He works with talented and inventive people. He himself got a prestigious award from the Albert Foundation.

He is hungry for work and for bringing disciplines together and it shows in his history.

This work is what interdisciplinary truly means.

• He takes interdisciplinary creation into new directions, with this neuroscience theme.

The work sample made me want to know what is next. It had a sense of drama and narrative and spectacle I found intriguing. I think maybe they can pull it off.

In theater people are talking about neuroscience and this is a way that merges the two things and that is exciting.

I think he has a great intellectual curiosity.


They will document their process in detail, and this will let the company contribute to the field and it could change the way we do performance and audience engagement.

This project definitely builds on their previous work.

This will deepen their ongoing experiments in interdisciplinary work.


The project budget is incorrectly added.

The way they plan to meld science and art made my heart sing.

He invented the word “scienturge,” examining the scientific in dramaturgy.

The MAP Fund was projected as fully a third of the budget. I’m concerned that that hyper-‐competitive grant represents so much of the budget.

They have done a good job of explaining budget items and the project in detail.


Science people will be fascinated by it.

They take audience engagement to another level by engaging their bodies this way. This artist can take heady ideas and make them accessible and provocative. It is exciting and feasible to see.

They have an extensive and feasible plan for reaching an audience.

They have a huge audience as it is and they’re getting existing audience in through the door.

They offer classes to bring in new audiences.




This is ambitious. Almost ludicrously ambitious. But if he can pull it off, it will be amazing.

The body and work and history of the organization are evidence that they can pull this off.

Yes, I agree that he can pull this off based on his past work.

They have done work like this in the past, and the scientist has worked with artists before.

This project sounds wacky but they have done it before. Still, they take the time to explain.

This project builds on their previous work.


Circuit Network PROJECT DESCRIPTION: To support “Juan Juala: Music for the XXIII Century” an experimental multidisciplinary project about Mexican composer Guillermo Galindo’s confrontation of his musical heritage and education against taboos of the musical “avant garde” by training Mariachis to perform John Cage’s “Variations #2.” The live performance will be set within a multilayered and immersive media environment created by Jen Cohen. The project will debut in September 2012 in honor of John cage’s centenary.


In terms of artistic concept it is interesting.

This is an interesting proposal. It was useful to see a portion of the score, to see that they are working with a graphic score.

My reaction similar to Charles’ of “why not?” I found those questions interesting.

The music community I work in doesn’t have the issue of taking the work seriously. New music people that I know wouldn’t have issue with it. The inquiry of it would fit in a music festival interestingly.

There are so many loaded metaphors and that is the meat that they will be working with.

It is fascinating and the letter from Guillermo Gomez Peña makes sense because it seems to be part of that world.

In terms of cultural exploration – it is a fascinating proposal. Some of the language reflects the artistic impetus and highlights the exciting challenges.


It’s about access, perception, and the perception of acceptance. That is not a goal, but it is.

This project is right in line with Circuit Network’s specialty. It is work of high quality, provocative, strategically-‐timed, and inspirational.


I like challenging proposals, but I had to read this several times.

I struggled with some concepts – how does it happen in the process with the music?

• It happens in process with creating. Like that John Cage was the choice in experimenting with mariachi music. It was intriguing and puzzling.

I like the engagement of having film and of documenting the piece as part of the project. It’s exciting.

The budget appears to be in line.

• I have no questions about the budget.

The proposal’s organization, you have to fish for information, could be better.


The project seems sound. It has a great tie-‐in with the Cage programming. If they can place it in time, they will have an audience for it.

It is a curious line of thought. The part that is interesting is what they want to do not how other people might respond to it.

If this performance is tied into the Cage centenary it will be interesting for audiences to reflect on Cage through this lens. It is an interesting question of the limits of the openness in Cage’s work.




I love that Circuit Network is providing this level of support and infrastructure.

There is a risk-‐taking element around whether people will understand it. I love that there is support from Circuit Network in finding funding and support. That is encouraging.

I am not going to pretend to understand the project, but based on the bios and track record I’m supportive.


San Francisco Chamber Orchestra PROJECT DESCRIPTION: “Isicha and Pistaqo” is a bilingual, orchestral folk tale featuring a score by SFCO Composer-‐in-‐Residence and Latin Grammy Award winner Gabriela Frank and narration by the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Nilo Cruz. The work is conceived as a contemporary, cross-‐cultural analogue to “Peter and the Wolf.” The piece will re-‐imagine the Andean folk legend of the evil monster Pistaqo and his demise at the hand of the courageous young woman Isicha.


The caliber of artistic collaboration is high.

This project is not trying to fit Gabriela into a cultural mode. She is able to do this work.

This is an odd first work sample. She wrote it for the orchestra. This is a side of Gabriela that I haven’t heard recently.

• The work sample shows the orchestra well, they are capable of complex work, but that is not what the project is calling for. The project is about musical accessibility – can she do that well for this project. The orchestra is in a good place to do this.


This is an organization that wants to keep current and reinvent itself, suggesting a lot of flexibility there. They are trying this route to achieve that.

• They are cognizant that some reinvention needs to happen in classical music.

I am happy to see them exploring different things. Their concerts are free and they are charging for membership.

In terms of longevity of this initiative on reaching out, this is the first composer-‐in-‐ residence program.

Gabriela is the first composer in the program cycle.

After the premiere there are opportunities outside of the area to show this work.


Planning and fundraising have already begun.

What is the experience of the playwright with youth?

• Nilo does have some experience.

I don’t see expense for travel in the budget, and there need to be several trips.


They have a large audience base.

They have an impressive audience outreach plan. They are recognizing the role the Hispanic community plays in the growth of classical music.

• I have questions about outreach and how outreach to the Latino community will impact current audiences.

That music-‐making at this level is available to audiences for free is great.



The new executive director brings new energy to the organization.

• Ben has injected a different personality into the organization that has a long history.


They have won several awards.

The organization is in a great place to support this project.

The capacity and support are all there. There is a history of board giving.

The organization has good membership income.


Meridian Gallery PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Meridian Gallery is seeking consideration of a grant in the amount of $15,000 from the San Francisco Arts Commission for “La Mujer Rebelde: The Effects of Circular Motions,” a major collaboration with choreographer Sara Shelton Mann and THE OFFCENTER to develop and premiere a new dance work performed alongside an exhibition of contemporary video work by young women Cuban artists.


The idea is her working with seven women artists from Cuba and interacting with their video installations is not an unheard-‐of way to use video.

What I like is the international boundary crossing. It’s a way to interact with people not from here and it’s a window into working with those people.

I like that it is a call-‐and-‐response, and I like that it is interactive.

The work sample was useful, but I’m not sure how helpful it was to have pictures when we’re talking about a video project. I wish there was some video from the proposed artists.

I like the idea of representing Cuban artists.

It seems like an add-‐on where Sara is in residency and mentoring artists.


I was excited about the Offcenter collaboration because in dance they are taking often-‐marginalized artists and giving them a platform and an incubator for queer performance. This is a new step for the organization.

It is questionable that this advances the organization’s mission.


The budget seems reasonable.

I wish they had more clarity about how Sarah’s work will be inspired by the video work.

• It seems like two things that are happening in same space, but I want to know how they will be working together and with each other. They are not specific about those connections and that would have excited me more.

• Sara could be so great about reflecting those conversations. But it is not here in the proposal. How will she be interpreting or connecting the work?

• This type of work happens often -‐ putting dance and visual work. What is the connection of Sara to the content of visual work?

I’m confused about the 7 visual artists, 7 choreographers, and Sara interacting with visual artists. Do the 7 correlate in some way? It isn’t clear. Are they 7 choreographers or performers? It is not clear.

A lot of how she is going about this isn’t clear. I was reading into it a lot but it is not in here. It would have been stronger if they had included more information. It is confusing.

Having the Offcenter in this is unexpected.


I like that they are working with a publicist to get an audience that is not their normal audience, they’re getting the mechanisms to do that outreach.

I don’t understand if the organization is rooted in Latino or queer communities. They do some dance, but mostly they do music and visual arts. I have questions on why they are embarking on this. I don’t know how the choreographers will be selected.


• This organization wants to reach out and partner with the queer community. It is not an organization that has current history with that community. Their only plan to reach the new community is to hire a publicist and partner with the Offcenter. This initiative could bring in new audiences to the organization but it is questionable.



There are many dimensions to the project. The question is, do we believe in the project concept of the master artist with the raw material and with the call-‐and-‐response.


Joe Goode Performance Group PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Choreographer Joe Goode will create an ongoing performance/audience engagement project known as “The Human Kind Series.” Taking advantage of his newly acquired, permanent studio at Project Artaud, Goode will produce an intimate, quarterly series of works-‐in-‐progress that also include lecture/demonstrations, question/answer sessions, and a responsive social networking component that will solicit audience engagement in the process of creation. Interwoven into the project will be larger-‐scale works (”Home Season”) developed from these interactive experiments.


This is a master artist moving into a new phase and trying to keep his work moving forward.

The proposal includes a bit about exploring the process of aging, and different questions that begin to emerge for a dance artist. It is artistically interesting.

Impressed by how this artist takes the simplest ideas and turns them into something sublime that touches you and makes you think. This is another example of that.

It is interesting that an older artist is considering this approach.

I get the modern storytelling aspect of it.


The project is well-‐aligned with their artistic mission and how the mission has shifted through the years.

He is exploring new technologies and the opportunities that that afford him for audience development.

The proposal is for creating a project that will allow the organization to get enriched audience engagement. One portion of that is through technology. They want to put their space to use. There are questions about depth in terms of interaction on FaceBook. The proposal is looking at it from a large perspective.


Where I question is whether the social networking on Facebook and twitter will give the raw material that the company will want to use. What makes it in? Is this an active site? Will they have the staff and dedicate resources to be committed to it?

They are a part of the Leveraging Social Media Initiative. The description is not technologically sophisticated and as such I’m not sure the blog will achieve anything.

• But the route of exploration is a useful one.

In general, I would have liked more specificity in this proposal.

It is an experiment. This is the first audience-‐informed season for them. They have their own studio now and what are the things you can do in there? And how to turn it into a home that can appeal to different community members?

The big budget makes sense to me. The tech expenses make sense, such as renting lighting equipment and projector.

The project is driven by work and openness to experiment with feedback. It reflects a good curiosity.


It is exciting to have regular engagements with audiences that lead to the creation of material that can become new work.

They have a deep and long-‐term relationship with a loyal audience base.

To have source material for these discussions and presentations of some small aspect of being human, and soliciting stories from audiences to drive the performance is interesting.

I’m curious about how the feedback mechanism of working with an audience actually works.


I’m encouraged that the proposal put forth an idea & concept that will bring people to the space. I like that there is a tie-‐in of the work to the new space and the impact on the organization’s audience.



The contributed income is higher than what the CCDP report suggests historically.

They have the space and an interesting way to explore his career.

This is an organization that is successful in its capacity to implement projects.

There are more resources committed than one usually sees, but I’m not sure if it will be successful.

I’m thinking about allocation. I think he’ll get there anyway, but I just don’t know. I see the project as grant-‐driven, if not for the grant could it be here anyways? But it doesn’t feel as solid. It may be my individual wondering, but it is hard to have an interactive website to this extent.

I want to just clarify the emphasis of the proposal. What is normal procedure? Is this an effective way to proceed? I want some expounding on whether they have audiences that will take time to respond on FaceBook or the website?

There are questions with the ambiguity in terms of this proposal, and the viability of them meeting the goals it has outlined.


San Francisco Playhouse PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The SF Playhouse respectfully requests an Organization Project Grant to fund the 2012-‐2013 Sandbox Series, which will nurture two emerging playwrights through the process of writing scripts, resulting in several community readings and culminating with a fully-‐produced world premiere production for each new play.


The critic reviews and awards give a sense of how successful this organization is.

The work sample is good and has potential.

Submitting a written work sample is a risk.

The content of what they are doing is good.

John Tracy is incredibly talented theater artist and he is on his way to accomplishing even more.


This is a worthy and fitting project for this organization.

They are moving deeper into new play development. I strongly disagree that a workshop production is a crucial piece of development. There are some plays that benefit from it but not all plays do. That is a red flag to me. It indicates that this is new territory for them. I don’t know why this particular play wants a workshop production. Every play is different and needs different things to get it to where it needs to go. This feels like a formula. I just feel like they have more research to do.


I don’t see in the mission something specific about who they are.

• They are largely devoted to new work. They choose plays that are not being done elsewhere and giving voice to artists that are not necessarily being represented.

What their work means is for local artists to have an in-‐between step. In terms of artists being able to build a career there is a step missing, a step from small to large theaters.

The language is contradictory between “workshop production” and “world premiere.” I’m pretty certain a sandbox production is not a world premiere.

There is nothing here that describes how they develop a play or a playwright.

It was confusing that they want to produce emerging artists, but John Tracy is not emerging. This proposal has so many words thrown around that are contradictory.

• In the national landscape, he is emerging, but locally he is established.

The impulse to shepherd new work is laudable but it is helpful to hear bout roadblocks.


The mission statement is curious in that they want to serve specific segment of the community, but also broadest possible audiences. And what does “splinters” mean?

• The way they talk about audience is contradictory and confusing.




They are growing faster than they may be able to support.

They have huge ambition, filling the landscape of San Francisco mid-‐sized theater.

But they have been operating in a deficit for several years. For a nine-‐year-‐old company, that is not a long time to be around, to have this kind of deficit gives me pause.

Whether they have the tools and resources to push it to next phase is questionable. I’d like to see them take more time. They seem to be caught up in the momentum.


Dancers’ Group PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Dancers’ Group will present “He Moved Swiftly” as the next free, large-‐scale, site-‐specific performance in its ONSITE program. Through Dancers’ Group’s ONSITE series we will commission choreographer Amara Tabor-‐Smith, in collaboration with poet and writer Marvin K. White and composer Anthony Brown, to create a site-‐specific dance theater work that explores the life and work of Ed Mock.


The artistic project and the impetus are great.

The collaborators are very strong and they have a vested interest in the history. They are paying homage to the history.

Everyone involved is working at a very high level.

I don’t question the artistic excellence of the people involved.


This work is about San Francisco dance history, so it seems to be in line with the organization.

• Dancers’ Group is central, so it makes sense for advancing the organization’s mission.

I think the project is central to the organization’s mission.


After reading the proposal, I’m interested in reading more about it.

There is a reason and a motion behind the work. It can only happen here in San Francisco.

The work feels organic to them. The subject matter, the location, the artists involved. All the people involved have reasons to be involved.

There is no earned income. They list $100K from foundations. $10K is secured. A lot of money is not secured.

I have a budget question. Is that disparity between the pay for the choreographer versus the pay for the composer normal?

It is a site-‐specific piece, but they don’t have a site.

• The investigation is to go through neighborhoods and place this. They are mining the neighborhood and venues. The site is to be determined, but they have a roadmap.

• It wouldn’t be without precedence to move sites.

• What could also help is to acknowledge where they are in thinking about the location. I’m not clear on possible sites.

• It is an investigation of looking at sites and it is part of the creative process.

• (STAFF): They do talk about a multi-‐site process that audiences get to choose in a modular way.


They are targeting those audience members who know the history. I’m sure they can target those. I’m more excited about accidental audiences.

This will deepen their relationship with their audience base. They have a clear plan to broaden the base.




They have the capacity to execute this project well, assuming the funds fall come in.

This is an established program. This will be a new project within an existing series.

Given that they have done this series before, that people have lived and been personally informed by having done it, what they create next will be of great relevance.


Margaret Jenkins Dance Company PROJECT DESCRIPTION: In collaboration with her company, set and lighting designer Alex Nichols, artistic advisor Michael Palmer and composer Paul Dresher, Margaret Jenkins will create “Times Bones,” a new work inspired by a retrospective uncovering of the recurring underpinnings of her artistic cannon. “Times Bones” will premiere at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in fall 2013, prior to embarking on a United States tour.


This is a master artist in the Bay Area. She is a choreographer and a pioneer.

She is speaking metaphorically in the proposal. It is taking what is old and looking at it afresh.

The collaborators are worthy and talented.

It would be a lovely way to look at her work, that in-‐depth way she works with dancers she will see younger dancers interpret her work. She’s done that over the years.

She talks about older explorations. There is something really beautiful about that.


For the organization, this is an important project.

This is a lovely way for the organization to commemorate their 40th anniversary while inviting their historic audiences back in to reconnect and revisit them.

This is a great opportunity for her to engage in-‐depth with her dancers, and that will be good for the company.


The project sounds exciting.

The planning isn’t too detailed.

The budget seems reasonable.


They have an extensive history of reaching their audience.

The audience is there. They hope to increase their audience with new work. They could mean to do that through open rehearsals, though I don’t know how they will reach audiences of such diverse backgrounds. Still, it’s fine.

The 40th anniversary is a big marketing point to draw in audiences and invite them back in.

• Even if they are not building new audiences, it allows them to approach their historical audience.



The resources are lined up, there is funding in place.

This is a solid organization.

There is no doubt about the organizational capacity to implement the project. There is a long history of carrying out projects of this kind. She is reconnecting with collaborators and they are incredible collaborators.

Cultural Equity Grants FY11-‐12 Panelist Biographies Organizational Project Grants Performing Arts -‐ Presenting Jennifer Bilfield Executive and Artistic Director, Stanford Lively Arts Since joining Stanford Lively Arts as Artistic & Executive Director in 2006 Jenny Bilfield has stewarded the organization’s transformation from university presenter to a campus-‐based arts producer. Hired during the early days of Stanford’s arts initiative, Bilfield has collaborated extensively with faculty and program partners to develop new pathways for immersive, high-‐impact arts experiences for students and arts-‐goers in Silicon Valley and the wider Bay area. She has also been a member of the core planning team for Stanford’s 844-‐seat Bing Concert Hall, which will open in January 2013. With a refreshed mission, to “engage artists’ and audiences’ imagination, creativity and sense of adventure,” Lively Arts and Bilfield received early accolades for programming, including special mention on the San Francisco Chronicle’s list of top 10 notable Classical music developments of the decade.

Prior to joining Stanford Bilfield held numerous leadership roles in the arts throughout her 21 years in New York City. Best known for her specialized work in the strategic management, promotion, and presentation of contemporary music and cutting edge artists, Bilfield spent 12 years at music publisher Boosey & Hawkes where, as President, she was part of the international management team that led the company’s public-‐to-‐private transition. While there, Bilfield had a key role in business development that was both content-‐oriented (catalog acquisitions, new publishing lines in band and choral music, Boosey’s first foray into Jazz) and operational (a new strategy for printed music production and distribution, integrated management of composers). Bilfield also stewarded several high-‐impact composer focused initiatives for the company, notably The Stravinsky Project, Steve Reich @ 70, and the international multi-‐year Copland 2000 celebration. As Executive Director of the National Orchestral Association and founder of the New Music Orchestral Project, Bilfield launched new American orchestral works through readings and premieres at Carnegie Hall and Manhattan School of Music. For this work Bilfield received an Adventuresome Programming award from ASCAP, and an orchestra leadership award from the League of American Orchestras. Bilfield is an active participant in industry convenings, foundation and presenter panels, and has held seats on boards of organizations including the American Music Center and League of American Orchestra. She holds a BA in Music from the University of Pennsylvania

Patrick Dooley Artistic Director and Founder, Shotgun Players Patrick is the Artistic Director and founder of the Shotgun Players. He launched the Shotgun Players with a production of David Mamet's play Edmond in July of 1992. Patrick received a BA in English from James Madison University of Virginia and studied in the Atlantic Theatre Company's Practical Aesthetics Workshop. He was a founding member of the international touring company, The Shenandoah Shakespeare, and has scores of other regional theatre acting and directing credits. He has directed over forty plays since founding the Shotgun Players. Some of Mr. Dooley's Shotgun Player directing credits include: Iphigenia in Aulis, Merchant of Venice, The Bacchae, Dr. Faustus (for which he won 2 Dramalogue Awards for Direction and Production), The Birthday Party, Baal and Henry V (for which Shotgun won the 1998 Bay Guardian Black Box Award), Skriker (2000 Dean Goodman choice award for Best Director, Overall Production & Ensemble) & the critically praised Mother Courage & Her Children. Shotgun Players have won Best Overall Production in 1999, 2001 and 2003 at the Bay Area Critics Circle Awards. Patrick received the Barbara Bladen Porter award for bringing innovation and enthusiasm to new works and classics in 2002. Under his direction the Shotgun Players have become a nationally recognized for producing original works from some of America's most exciting playwrights. In Summer of 2007 Shotgun concluded a successful capital campaign to raise the money to become the nation's first 100% solar-‐powered theatre. He currently is co-‐chair of the New Plays League, a member of the Berkeley Cultural Trust and is elected to Theatre Bay Area’s Theatre Services Committee. Christine Lim Director of Education and Artistic Administration, San Francisco Performances Christine Lim serves as the director of education and artistic administration for San Francisco Performances. She is in charge of the organization's education campaign, which serves over 14,000 participants through more than 150 programs. She also directs backstage operations and liaisons with the artistic managers.

Before Lim started working for S.F. Performances in 2002, she was program director for the Cypress String Quartet in San Francisco, and worked for Mother Jones magazine. A UC Berkeley graduate, she has trained as a classical pianist, and is a native speaker of Korean.

Sherri Young Executive Director, African American Shakespeare Company An M.F.A. graduate from the American Conservatory Theatre, Sherri Young founded The African-‐American Shakespeare Company in 1993 and has been its Executive Director since. She has directed twelve productions, produced and executed four programs for the organization and speaks at various colleges, universities, and conferences such as

the National Council of Teachers of English “Shakespeare Why 2K” Conference in Washington, DC. Ms. Young hires and manages the 30 company members and four directors every year to perform productions throughout the Bay Area. She also coordinates their arts education program, which includes a low-‐cost theatre program.

Ms. Young has served as a panelist for the San Francisco Arts Commission, Creative Assistance for Starving and Hungry Artists (CA$H), and the Alameda County Art Commission. Ms. Young also served on Theatre Bay Area’s Theatre Steering Committee from 2003 to 2004, and served on the Vanguard Foundation’s Multicultural Diversity Committee in addition to serving on the San Francisco Arts Commission.

Isabel Yrigoyen Performing Arts Manager, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Ms. Isabel Yrigoyen has been a longtime member of the San Francisco Bay Area arts community, as programmer, producer, concert coordinator, and publicist. Ms. Yrigoyen is currently the Performing Arts Manager at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) in San Francisco. She also serves as the Music Curator of New Frequencies, a new annual music series at YBCA that showcases experimental and adventurous international non-‐genre specific music from around the globe; New Frequencies is committed to presenting San Francisco Bay Area emerging and world-‐class musicians who are innovators in their specific genres.

Prior to her joining YBCA in 2003, Ms. Yrigoyen launched Zunzún Promotions & Productions in 1999, Zunzún was an entertainment dedicated to producing and publicizing concerts, festivals, and events with an emphasis on jazz, Latin jazz, world music and dance. For a short period, Isabel stepped in as visiting Artistic Director at the Brava Theater Center in 2002-‐03 while the Founding Artistic Director was on hiatus from her position, and promoted, produced and programmed a series of concerts and theatrical productions in her stead. Prior to starting her own freelance business, Ms. Yrigoyen worked as publicist and concert programmer for the San Francisco Jazz Festival from 1994 to 1999. In addition to her work as publicist for a number of institutions and individuals, Isabel has coordinated and/or curated a diverse array of musical events, concerts, and festivals for major institutions and organizations throughout the Bay Area.

Ms. Yrigoyen has a B.A. degree in Women’s Studies, with a minor in music. She received a certificate from the San Francisco Renaissance Entrepreneurship program focusing on business and marketing skills. Currently, Isabel studies piano and singing at the Jazz School in Berkeley, CA. Originally from Ciego de Avila, Cuba, she resides in Oakland, California.

FY2010-2011 ORGANIZATION PROJECT GRANTS -PERFORMING ARTS: PRESENTING

RANKINGPanel Rating Organization Name Grant Request Grant

115.2 Fresh Meat Productions $15,000 $11,850114.6 Playwrights Foundation $15,000 $11,850113.4 ME’DI.ATE $15,000 $11,850112.8 Yerba Buena Arts and Events $15,000 $11,850112.2 Stepology $15,000 $11,850112.2 ABADA Capoeira SF $15,000 $11,850112.2 EXIT Theater $15,000 $11,850112.2 Queer Cultural Center $15,000 $11,850111.0 CubaCaribe $15,000 $11,850110.4 Queer Rebel Productions $8,347 $6,594109.8 Croatian American Cultural Center $15,000 $11,850108.5 San Francisco Friends of Chamber of Music $15,000 $11,850108.0 Women’s Audio Mission $15,000 $11,850108.0 PlayGround $15,000 $11,850107.7 ODC Theater $15,000107.4 San Francisco Live Arts $1,500105.3 Other Minds $15,000105.0 Del Sol Performing Arts Org $15,000104.4 San Francisco Hip Hop Dance Festival $15,000103.8 Old First Concerts $15,000103.8 Arab Cultural and Community Center $15,000102.8 Crowded Fire Theatre Company $8,000102.6 Switchboard Music Festival $9,600102.5 Cypress String Quartet / Cypress Perf Arts Assc $15,00099.6 Central Market Arts $12,00098.9 foolsFury Theater Company $15,00097.5 San Francisco Shakespeare Festival $15,00096.8 Amy Seiwert’s Imagery $10,00094.8 LIKHA Pilipino Folk Ensemble $15,00094.2 The Bay Bridged $15,00091.2 Door Dog Music Productions $15,00090.6 Dance Council Movement Theater $3,00090.0 Au Co Vietnamese Cultural Center $15,00087.0 Asian Improv aRts $15,00078.4 Mangos with Chili $5,00076.2 Magik*Magik Orchestra $15,00072.0 Young Audiences of Northern California $15,00067.8 Fictional Artists’ Cont Theater / SF $10,000

TOTAL $502,447 $160,644

2012OPG

Cultural Equity Grants OPG PA Presenting

ABADA Capoeira San Francisco

ACSF requests support for its “spirit of Brazil Festival”, which commemorates 20 years of performance and artseducation in the Bay Area. The Festival joins together ACSF’s performance troupe and founders, with guestBrazilian artists from around the world, as well as local artists and ensembles. The Festival includes stagedperformances, and master workshops and lectures. A “meet and greet” reception complimented by art exhibits andperformances by local Brazilian artists will kick-off the Festival!

Project Summary

Amy Seiwert’s Imagery

SKETCH: New Works 2: The Women Choreographers features world premieres by local and nationalchoreographers with a mission to expand the definition of ballet by exploding preconceptions of what ballet is andcan be. The lack of female ballet choreographers in a field where most of the participants are female is an oddphenomenon, and SKETCH 2 is a perfect vehicle for addressing this lack of opportunity within the field.

Project Summary

Arab Cultural and Community Center

The Arab Cultural Festival is the largest celebration of Arab arts and culture in Northern California. Since1995, this day-long event has showcased the arts, entertainment, cuisine, traditions, and, mostimportantly, the spirit of Arab Americans and of the Arab world. The festival reflects and embraces ourcommunity’s diversity and its contributions to the Bay Area's cultural landscape.

Project Summary

Asian Improv aRts

Asian Improv aRts seeks a grant to support a 25th Anniversary Festival tentatively scheduled to be held November15-17 at ODC/SF Theater.

Project Summary

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2012OPG


Au Co Vietnamese Cultural Center

ACVCC seeks an OPG grant in the amount of $15,000 to support the 2013 Southeast Asian Arts andCulture Expo in May 2013 in the Tenderloin of San Francisco. The two component activities willinclude: 1) an afternoon of performances, lecture/demonstrations and a temporary exhibit to be held inSamsung Hall at the Asian Art Museum ; and 2) The Faces of Asia Procession on Larkin Street inassociation with the Asian Heritage Street Celebration.

Project Summary

Central Market Arts

Central Market Arts will produce the Third Annual 24 Days of Central Market Arts from September 21 throughOctober 14, 2012. The festival will include free activities: 3-days on Mint Plaza, 21 days of satellite events, eventson UN Plaza, art walk on 6th Street, performances, workshops and open houses.

Project Summary

Croatian American Cultural Center

This proposal requests $15,000 to support the 2013 San Francisco Tamburitza Festival, an event that celebratesthe long-standing influence of the tambura on the cultural lives of Croatians, featuring 3 of the nation’s leadingTamburitza groups and master artists. In 2013, five acclaimed Croatian American Tamburitza ensembles andsoloists. Awarded funds will support the fees of the participating artists, and the Festival’s technical production,outreach, and promotional expenses.

Project Summary

Crowded Fire Theatre Company

We are seeking continued support for The Matchbox: commissioning and Developing New Works program thatchampions the voices of a diverse body of playwrights. The Matchbox, including three different componentsintended to support project development, meets playwrights’ needs towards creating a new production-bound play.

Project Summary

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CubaCaribe

CubaCaribe s seeking support for the 9th annual CubaCaribe Festival at ODC Theater in Spring 2013. The festivalwill include as its centerpiece an artistic collaboration between Alayo dance Company cofounder andchoreographer Ramon Ramos Alayo and and Cuban choreographer Eduardo Rivero, artistic director of Teatro dela Danza.

Project Summary

Cypress String Quartet / Cypress Performing ArtsAssociation

Call & Response innovatively embodies the Quartet’s mission to present music as a vital and ongoing process ofinspiration. for 2013 we commissioned internationally acclaimed composer Jennifer Higdon, for a 25-minute stringquartet for soprano (Christine Brandes) based on work by American poet V.S. Merwin. Program activities willcoincide with National Poetry Month and include free community and school outreach events. finally, andimportantly, this high profile commissioned work will have an SF world premiere.

Project Summary

Dance Council Movement Theater

Dance Council Movement Theater is requesting support for the WERK Collective and it’s pilot year program of“evolutionary development”, a new mentorship project designed to bring together six San Franciscochoreographers and to create a model for presenting work across genres. WERK will present its first fully-producedconcert at ODC Theater in July, 2012. Funds from the San Francisco Arts Commission in the amount of $3,000would go towards artist fees and production costs.

Project Summary

Del Sol Performing Arts Organization

To present “Del Sol Days,” a 20th anniversary series of concerts and workshops with collaborating artists at ZSpace in 2012-13 to illuminate the creative process of composing and playing new chamber music. We willcommission and premiere new works by established and emerging composers, including Chinese-Americancomposer Kui Dong, and hold an open workshop with composer Lena Frank and composition students from localuniversities.

Project Summary

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2012OPG


Door Dog Music Productions

Door Dog Music Productions (DDMP) respectfully requests $15,000 from the San Francisco Arts CommissionOPG Program to help support the US artistic commissioning and live technology production fees for “The OperaProject”, a trans-Pacific multi-dimensional opera employing the use of simultaneous live performances andinteractive virtual technology in both San Francisco’s Eugene & Elinor Friend Center for the Arts and Taipei’sNational Theater Concert Hall with live feed from Beijing’s Zhenyici Peking Opera Theatre, slated to premiere over2 days on November 9-11, 2012 as part of Door Dog Music Production’s 13th annual San Francisco World MusicFestival.

Project Summary

EXIT Theater

EXIT Theatre is seeking funds to support the 2012 San Francisco Fringe Festival.

The SF Fringe is a 20 year old theater festival, open to all artists, that presents over 150 performances by over 35performing groups over 12 days in September in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood.

Project Summary

Fictional Artists’ Contemporary Theater / SanFrancisco

In July 2012, FACT/SF will develop its POv Project further, engaging four choreographers and 20 dancers to workwith the POv Choreographic System. Over five days, each choreographer and their cast of five dancers will createa 15-minute work. These four new works, collectively called POv.5, will be performed in three evenings ofperformance. The creative process will be open to the public at no cost, and tickets to performances will be pricedat just $5. The project directly benefits a significant # of artists, and provides the general public with an opportunityto both see how work is made and view a series of works that focus on juxtaposition.

Project Summary

foolsFury Theater Company

FoolsFURY requests support to fund stipends for artists and technical personnel for the 2013 FURY Factory. Athree-week festival of cutting edge ensemble theater, the FURY Factory has become one of the region’s mostexciting and acclaimed gatherings, and is vitally important to the Bay Area’s live performance ecosystem.

Project Summary

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Fresh Meat Productions

This proposal requests $15,000 to support the 3-day 11th Annual Fresh Meat Festival of transgender and queerperformance at The Brava Theater June 15-17, 2012. Awarded funds will support the participating artists’performance fees and theater rental costs.

Project Summary

LIKHA Pilipino Folk Ensemble

Saludo, LIKHA’s gala 20th Anniversary production, salutes and pays tribute to the company’s continuing impact inthe community. Honoring Director Rudi Soriano’s unique artistry and acknowledging LIKHA’s vast body of workfrom the past two decades, the upcoming production will allow our loyal and longtime supporters a welcomeavenue to celebrate our accomplishments, while providing newer audiences with a unique opportunity toexperience the depth and variety of our impressive repertoire.

Project Summary

Magik*Magik Orchestra

Our project is called “The Girlie Show,” a live concert produced by M*MO featuring two female artists: onenationally recognized headliner supported by a large orchestra and choir, and one up-and-coming local artistsupported by a string quartet of M*MO musicians. “The Girlie Show” will focus on promoting women artists in themusic industry by utilizing the power of the orchestra.

Project Summary

Mangos with Chili

Mangos with Chili is a Bay Area based performing arts incubator committed to showcasing high qualityperformance of life saving importance by queer and trans artists of color to audiences in the Bay Area and beyond.Our goal is to produce high quality multi-genre performances reflecting the lives and stories of queer and transpeople of color and speaking out in the resistance to the daily struggles around silence, isolation, homophobia andviolence that queer and trans people of color face.

Project Summary

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2012OPG


ME’DI.ATE

ME’DI.ATE seeks support for or fifth season of the Soundwave Festival, San Francisco’s innovative arts biennialexploring cutting-edge works through sound. Held once every two years, this season's theme HUMANITIES, willinspire audiences with 36 experiential performances and talks by over 50 local and international artists re-envisioning the sonic connections to our human condition in the backdrop of 2012’s MesoAmerican Long Countcalendar end and “rebirth”3

Project Summary

ODC Theater

SFAC funds will support the inaugural presentation of the Walking Distance Dance Festival- SF featuring ten ODCTheater Resident Artists, 3 artists from the SCUBA Touring Network’s 10th Anniversary roster and the campus’flagship company ODC/Dance. Coinciding with the national convening of Dance USA in San Francisco, this festivalwill provide an enticing range of dance offerings for current audiences and new patrons and, we hope, whet theirappetite to continue cultural participation all year long.

Project Summary

Old First Concerts

The OFC Musicians Residency will expand the audience for Bay Area emerging musicians; introduce newcompositions by local composers; deepen audience involvement in 21st Century chamber performance throughpre- and post-concert talks and master classes; increase musicians programmatic skills essential to their careerdevelopment.

Project Summary

Other Minds

Other Minds will present its 18th annual international New Music Festival to the Bay Area public on February 28-March 2, 2013 at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. The event will include at least two commissionsand three world-premieres. Artists will include: Sunleif Rasmussen, Jose Evangelista, Malin Bang, HenryThreadgil, Dohee Lee, and GS Sachdev, amongst others.

Project Summary

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2012OPG


PlayGround

PlayGround requests support for the 17th annual Best of PlayGround Festival, PlayGround’s annual showcase ofthe Bay Area’s best new playwrights and their short and full-length work. The festival will include 27 publicperformances of 18 short and full-length plays as well as a series of symposia, master classes, and communitydialogues on new plays and Bay Area writers, taking place at Thick House, May 2-26, 2013.

Project Summary

Playwrights Foundation

Playwrights Foundation will present the 35th Anniversary Bay Area Playwrights Festival in July, 2012. The Festivalgives the theater-going public access to the development of new plays by some of the most gifted new writersworking today, while serving the needs of those playwrights and bringing greater visibility to the Bay Area as athriving new play community.

Project Summary

Queer Cultural Center

This proposal requests $15,000 to support Creating Queer Community, a DIY capacity-building professionaldevelopment program that will enhance 10 emerging LGBT artists and arts organizations’ ability to conceive,create, promote, finance and produce compelling art projects as part of the June 2013 National Queer ArtsFestival. Awarded SFAC funds will underwrite 10 productions at an average cost of $1500, including artists’ fees,space rental, publicity, and technical production expenses.

Project Summary

Queer Rebel Productions

This proposal requests $8375 to support three performances of Queer Rebels of the Harlem Renaissance at theAfrican American Art and Culture Complex in late June/early July 2012. This production will present new worksrooted in or inspired by the Blues, Jazz, modern dance, burlesque, poetry, storytelling and other genres thatflourished at that period. Awarded funds will support the fees of the Queer African American artists and technicalstaff appearing in the 2 performances.

Project Summary

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2012OPG


San Francisco Friends of Chamber of Music

Chamber Music Day . Live + Free is an all-day festival showcasing the quality, diversity and vitality ofchamber music in the Bay Area. In 2012 this dynamic event featuring 30+ ensembles in performances ofbaroque, classical, jazz and contemporary music, will take place throughout the SF Conservatory ofMusic. SFFCM collaborates closely with musicians and presenters to engage new audiences, andintroduce new voices to seasoned listeners in a welcoming, accessible, and free event.

Project Summary

San Francisco Hip Hop Dance Festival

The San Francisco Hip Hop DanceFest is respectfully seeking funding of $15,000 for it’s 14th DanceFest in 2012,which will take place in four performances over three days at the SF Palace of Fine Arts. Featuring a dazzling arrayof performances by companies and artists from the SF Bay Area and throughout the world, the festival reflects ahigh degree of artistry, an array of cultural influences, and serves to bridge generations and communities.

Project Summary

San Francisco Live Arts

Roots Music & Beyond: From the Bay Area to the World is a series of 12-15 concerts featuring artists exploringpaths of traditional American and world roots music in innovative, contemporary ways. Each concert will feature twoto three ensembles or solo artists, drawn from both high profile artists and new voices from the region and beyond.Roots & Beyond will serve as the centerpiece of the organization’s SF Live Arts at Cyprian’s series.

Project Summary

San Francisco Shakespeare Festival

The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival requests support for Free Shakespeare in the Park, one of the cityʼsmost eagerly anticipated cultural traditions, and a collective experience that embraces the ethnic, political,educational and economic diversity that is a hallmark of San Francisco. Free Shakespeare in the Park is also agateway to our vibrant arts community, the first traditional theater experience of 75% of our audience each year,who subsequently seek out additional arts activities.

Project Summary

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2012OPG


Stepology

The 2012 Bay Area Rhythm Exchange 10th Anniversary Spectacular features artists from STEPOLOGY’s 10thannual Bay Area Tap Festival in a 1-night-only production at Herbst Theatre in the San Francisco War Memorialand Performing Arts Center. Today’s top tap artists celebrate the traditions of tap dance alongside contemporaryinnovations in the form. The program also features live musical accompaniment, and mixed-genre collaborationswith special guest artists.

Project Summary

Switchboard Music Festival

The Switchboard Music Festival is an annual 8-hour marathon event in San Francisco that features performers,composers, and other artists who create innovative music that challenges traditional genre distinctions. Bypresenting and commissioning this music, Switchboard fosters a community for talented musicians otherwiseunderrepresented in concerts and venues around the city, and a place for audiences to discover and engage withnew sounds and artists from the Bay Area.

Project Summary

The Bay Bridged

Phono Del Sol combines the local food and music communities in one free, all-ages outdoor event, engagingaudiences with live music. This family friendly event draws thousands to an under-utilized park, in an area wherefew or no comparable events are currently held. In addition, this food and music festival highlights two nationallyrecognized recording studios in the neighborhood, creating opportunities for youth and musicians to gain exposureto resources for artists close to home.

Project Summary

Women’s Audio Mission

Women’s Audio Mission is seeking support in the amount of $15,000 from the San Francisco Arts commission’sOrganization Project Grant for our Recording & Performing Residencies: Preserving Culture program, whichprovides underserved traditional folk artists and ensembles from diverse cultures with access to recording services,enabling them to produce, present, preserve, and distribute their musical works for posterity.

Project Summary

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2012OPG


Yerba Buena Arts and Events

To support the public presentation of 10 performing arts events demonstrating the cultural diversity and artisticrange of YBGF’s 2012 season & featuring only local artists: Circus Bella on 6/29 - 6/30; Na Lei Hulu on 7/28; Dr.John Calloway on 9/23; Gamelan Sekar Jaya on 10/13; plus the premieres of 2 new, YBGF-commissioned works:Marcus Shelby Orchestra performing "Green & Blue" on 9/15; and AXIS Dance presenting a contemporary dance"untitled” on 7/14.

Project Summary

Young Audiences of Northern California

In conjunction with the Presidio Trust, YANC will present a series of four public programs in The Presidio. EachYoung Audiences at the Presidio program will include a performance, a teaching/engagement workshop in whichchildren participate in art-making with artists, and a perform/inform element for children to demonstrate theirlearning. At least one program will include visual arts. This project is an outgrowth of a pilot project we mounted inJuly 2011 with great success.

Project Summary

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FY11-‐12 OPG PERFORMING ARTS -‐ PRESENTING Article I. TABLE OF CONTENTS ORGANIZATIONS WITH BUDGETS SIZE $35,000 AND UNDER

Dance Council Movement Theater ........................................................................................................................... 3 Queer Rebel Productions .......................................................................................................................................... 5 ME’DI.ATE ................................................................................................................................................................. 7 Central Market Arts .................................................................................................................................................. 9 Switchboard Music Festival .................................................................................................................................... 11 Mangos with Chili ................................................................................................................................................... 13 Fictional Artists’ Contemporary Theater ................................................................................................................ 15 The Bay Bridged ...................................................................................................................................................... 17


LIKHA Pilipino Folk Ensemble .................................................................................................................................. 19 Amy Siewert’s Imagery ........................................................................................................................................... 21 Crowded Fire Theater Company ............................................................................................................................. 23 Magik*Magik Orchestra .......................................................................................................................................... 25 CubaCaribe .............................................................................................................................................................. 27 Au Co Vietnamese Cultural Center ......................................................................................................................... 29 Stepology ................................................................................................................................................................ 31 San Francisco Live Arts ............................................................................................................................................ 33 Old First Concerts ................................................................................................................................................... 35 Del Sol Performing Arts Organization ..................................................................................................................... 37 foolsFury Theater Company .................................................................................................................................... 39


San Francisco Hip Hop Dance Festival .................................................................................................................... 41 Fresh Meat Productions .......................................................................................................................................... 46 Women’s Audio Mission ......................................................................................................................................... 48 Door Dog Music Productions .................................................................................................................................. 51 Asian Improv aRts ................................................................................................................................................... 54 SF Friends of Chamber Music ................................................................................................................................. 56 Playwrights Foundation .......................................................................................................................................... 58 ABADA Capoeira ..................................................................................................................................................... 60 Croatian American Cultural Center ......................................................................................................................... 62 EXIT Theater ............................................................................................................................................................ 64 Arab Cultural & Community Center ........................................................................................................................ 66 Queer Cultural Center ............................................................................................................................................. 68

FY2011-‐2012 / Organization Project Grants – Performing Arts/Presenting – PANEL COMMENTS page 2 of 81

Young Audiences of Northern California ................................................................................................................ 70 Cypress String Quartet ............................................................................................................................................ 72 ODC Theater ........................................................................................................................................................... 74 Other Minds ............................................................................................................................................................ 76 Yerba Buena Arts & Events ..................................................................................................................................... 78 SF Shakespeare Festival .......................................................................................................................................... 80



DANCE COUNCIL MOVEMENT THEATER PROJECT SUMMARY: Dance Council Movement Theater is requesting support for the WERK Collective and its pilot year program of “evolutionary development”, a new mentorship project designed to bring together six San Francisco choreographers and to create a model for presenting work across genres. WERK will present its first fully produced concert at ODC Theater in July 2012. Funds from the San Francisco Arts Commission in the amount of $3,000 would go towards artist fees and production costs.

Artistic Excellence & Quality of the Proposed Art Project w The proposed project demonstrates originality, clarity and depth of investigation of concepts and ideas w Quality of the proposed professional art activity, including its curatorial or artistic vision, programming, etc. w Qualifications and experience of the artists providing creative leadership for, or involved in the project w The clarity and feasibility of the project goals

• The program that was conceived is kind of brilliant. There is a need to support mid-‐career artists.

• The sample shows that these are companies and choreographers that are at a point to take the next step.

• There is a planned idea of how this development would occur. They are giving choreographers the artistic time and support, including administrative.

• In the sample, I saw that they are at a level where they are expressing a contemporary vocabulary, and it is something we need to support in San Francisco.



• I couldn’t figure out the way they laid out the project. Six choreographers will donate $2K each. They’ll be compensated as staff members, not artists. It doesn’t sit well with me that they’re not being paid as choreographers.

• This project will bring in new artists, but what does that mean for staff roles?

• Since it is supposed to be a two-‐year process, when the choreographers leave the project, will new choreographers take over the administrative roles?

• There are not a lot of opportunities for this kind of work to be self-‐produced.

• By gathering together they are helping to produce an audience to match what they are projecting for income and audiences.

• $4,500 would be do-‐able if they have the resources and publicity.

• They have Quinn and Associates.

• Happy to see that the artistic fees relative to the budget seem to be in proportion, but I can’t help but worry about the expectations of work versus resources. It’s spread thin. I wonder if working with three choreographers they might have given each one more resources.

• It is a two-‐year project. Are we funding them for ODC in July, or for the second part of the pilot project? I was missing the implementation of their plans for ODC. What are we being asked to fund? Maybe it was the wording of this as a two-‐year plan.

• STAFF: It is all right that it is a two-‐year project. In the budget notes it talks about some activities that take place before our grant period. On the project application, it describes the request period from 6/15/2012.

• When they talk about timeline, I would have loved to see the project before 2012 July.

• It concerned me that their budget is 36K and their past history of raising funds is a lot less. It looks good on paper, but sometimes the reality doesn’t pan out. You want to set people up for success.

• They’re getting the choreographers to chip in. They’re really getting folks invested; they have skin in the game.



• This project will change the organization in a fundamental way.

• I was also looking at the support they were getting for the project like the support from Joe Landini at the Garage. He’s the one that encouraged these choreographers to band together. I really think it is a great to pool resources for shared evenings. It really empowers them to present their work. It can bring a larger platform for their work, as well as the Garage support. They will produce three weekends, and then they will self-‐produce weekends at ODC Theater.


• They have excellent plans to cross-‐promote audiences between artists and venues. They are drawing audiences through social media, YouTube, Twitter, and NPR. They also have access to a publicist and free publicity.

• STAFF: The participants will do public relations.

• Will each choreographer have enough time to develop their work given the choreographer fees? I worry that there is a lot of great potential that will be spread too thin to achieve this impact.

• They’ll get the word out to their audiences.

• Still, they have a range of tools they are using.

• The marketing seemed ambitious, but exciting. I was really excited about the mentor part of it.



• Their partners have a track record.

• This seems like a really collaborative effort.

• I had a lot of questions about the budget and the structure that is laid out.

• They are moving from their current budget, which is under $10K, to a $36K budget.

• This program will be the main work of the organization, but it is a really big leap. I did not find out how this leap would occur. How will the project happen if the money does not occur?

• I didn’t understand how the funding is coming in at this point.

• This organization has gone through several major changes.

• They have some history of adjusting and adapting to major changes, which made me wonder about this huge step in the organization’s nature and mission.

• I felt uncertain that the structural and budget size matched the amount of work they are putting in.

• I had some questions about the long-‐term resources and operation.

• They’re going to Zellerbach and they’ve got Quinn helping with grantwriting. They need an extra above contributed and I felt okay about the funding part.


QUEER REBEL PRODUCTIONS PROJECT SUMMARY: This proposal requests $15,000 to support Creating Queer Community, a DIY capacity-‐building professional development program that will enhance 10 emerging LGBT artists and arts organizations’ ability to conceive, create, promote, finance and produce compelling art projects as part of the June 2013 National Queer Arts Festival. Awarded SFAC funds will underwrite 10 productions at an average cost of $1500, including artists’ fees, space rental, publicity, and technical production expenses.


• I love the concept. This is not the first time they did the Harlem Renaissance. I love the linking in of sexuality. Artistic and sexual freedom is the theme.

• I liked the fact that they are committed to looking at this subject of the Harlem Renaissance in depth over a period of time, as opposed to perpetually re-‐inventing.

• There is more they want to say. The success of earlier iterations suggests they can go deeper. It felt like a solid, achievable and very textured project.

• They’re thinking deeply about the subject. I love that it is historical.

• Some people are coming back, such as Jewell Gomez, and a whole great production team.

• I saw Jewell Gomez, Earl Thomas and Mona Webb named. These are people I know and some I don’t know, but I didn’t see red flags around artist qualifications.

• The artists represent a range of artistic excellence, like Jewell Gomez. They also represent the community. It is a forum for that kind of diversity.

• I like that they are doing free panels to contextualize the work.



• They have some money already going into this project. They are adding another performance. It was reasonable.

• They kept their estimates conservative. With a 200 seat theater and they predict 500 in audience numbers.

• That is reasonable.

• They mentioned in the CCDP having 35,000 audience members. Is that web-‐related? I just wasn’t sure what that was based off of.

• They were part of the full festival.

• STAFF: If you go to the 2011 calendar of activities, they included doing the TransMarch and Oakland Pride.

• They are very rooted in the community.

• It was a very clear plan. It seems like their timeline is doable.

• They go into a lot of distinctions about how the artistic director will review tapes, ask artists to change work as needed.

• They are really well organized. I loved their timeline.

• I like that they’ve got artists secured.


• I really liked that the growth feels really organic. The success of the project is the reason for the organization’s development. It is a logical pattern of growth. They’re fulfilling a need. It is a community-‐building exercise.




• Their outreach plan looks legitimate.

• They know who their audiences are. They know how to reach them.

• This is one group I’ve seen in action. I know they get a packed house. They have a lot of community crossovers.



• I remember being excited by them last year. They’re thorough. I’m still struck by the small amount of dollars going to artists, a lot of the money goes to the fees of just the two staffers. So my critique is tilting the scales more towards paying the artists. I just want to go on record saying it would be good to see more money for artists.

• STAFF: If you look at the CCDP, you see the $40K for administrators is an aspirational wage.

• Aspirational wages are great, but what about raising the fees for artists to $800?


ME’DI.ATE PROJECT SUMMARY: ME’DI.ATE seeks support for or fifth season of the Soundwave Festival, San Francisco’s innovative arts biennial exploring cutting-‐edge works through sound. Held once every two years, this season's theme HUMANITIES, will inspire audiences with 36 experiential performances and talks by over 50 local and international artists reenvisioning the sonic connections to our human condition in the backdrop of 2012’s MesoAmerican Long Count calendar end and “rebirth”3.


• This proposal makes me want to get out more.

• I agree. Looking through the materials, I thought, “how could I have missed this?” It is so imaginative.

• I second that. I’ve never seen them but I really want to see them.

• They had a really cool vision for the project. I was trying to imagine what the work would look and sound like, so I was looking forward to seeing the work sample.

• It is site-‐specific.

• That was a great sample. It was a selling sample. It is what was promised. They explained what the impact of having something like this in the environment -‐ the visual arts, media arts, and sound. This is a big ideas team.

• This is one of my favorite applications. I was excited to see the second work sample. The first work sample didn’t include the actual sounds. It had background music. If you’re a sound organization, I want to hear how what the sound was going to be. The chime, and the wind elements were cool.

• It is a curated project. They are asking to commission works on a theme. You get this whole experience. There is theme underneath everything, and lets you look at the work in that context.

• I like that the focus is on San Francisco Bay Area artists. The idea is enriching the community with these projects. I was really impressed.

• I love this. We’ve done instrument and sound development work at Stanford. This part of the country is a center for that because of the engineering industry and beauty of nature.



• They have cool, creative and interesting partners.

• They are based within Intersection, a well-‐respected organization.

• Good budget.

• The proposal was well written and thought out. It looks realistic and doable.

• I like that they showed an actual project timeline. It is really well thought out.


• The project really aligns with why the organization really exists.

• I felt like this was one organization with immense growth. The application inspires growth in that they can do this.

• This very exciting part of the growth is that they plan to increase artist fees. They plan to do this. They’ve clarified this and articulated this.


• Their publicity shows they know how to reach their audience. They are going to connect with them. They’re finding the people who are already excited and prone to going to these events.


• I always appreciate seeing letters from people who have been touched by the events.

• With an idea that can be so amorphous, they make it relevant to this particular community and also internationally. I was very impressed. I’ll be there next year.



• They are sharing financial burdens. It is well considered.

• My only hesitation is that I’d like to have seen the artists be given more than a $500 commission. It is labor-‐intensive. It’s great to show that much more work, but I’d love to see them getting more. It is very Bay Area to be doing this sort of work.


CENTRAL MARKET ARTS PROJECT SUMMARY: Central Market Arts will produce the Third Annual 24 Days of Central Market Arts from September 21 through October 14, 2012. The festival will include free activities: 3-‐days on Mint Plaza, 21 days of satellite events, events on UN Plaza, art walk on 6th Street, performances, workshops and open houses.

Artistic Excellence & Quality of the Proposed Art Project § The proposed project demonstrates originality, clarity and depth of investigation of concepts and ideas § Quality of the proposed professional art activity, including its curatorial or artistic vision, programming, etc. § Qualifications and experience of the artists providing creative leadership for, or involved in, the project § The clarity and feasibility of the project goals

• This is visionary. It involves artists, community, and the general public.

• They are getting the local community to come together and coordinate this. It’s a huge thing for San Francisco.

• They’ve also pooled artists that are based in this area, and also local community centers, such as the Garage and Lines dance center.

• It is a dance rich section of the city, so it makes to bring these people together.

• It is in such a needed section of Market Street, between Fifth and Ninth Streets. This area has always had difficulty getting a positive profile. They are bringing in that positive energy.

• I was very excited. This is a worthwhile project. Central Market needs it the most.

• This felt like an art group and community collaboration. They’re really trying to partner with the business community. I didn’t see how this would foster a deep appreciation of the arts, but it would make people feel like Central Market is a good place to be.

• They did great work with Bandaloop.



• The way they brought forward ideas in this grant is impressive. It is also impressive that they raised money in six months.

• A volunteer advisory board launched the successful first festival, now they’re working on the second installment.

• It is also going to impact the economic profile and help the businesses.

• They’ve banded together and have a central calendar.

• I didn’t see budget notes.

• The budget notes are in a weird place. They don’t go through everything.

• I was wondering how many people would get the $5k and what the $6k admin fees were for.

• $5k was spent on artist fees for about 30 groups.

• That is about $200 each for artist fees.

• Yes, about $165 to $200 per honoraria.

• It is a very marketing-‐heavy event on the budget. Everything else looks good.

• I was struck by $10K for advertising and an ad in the Examiner. There was no specific explanation of it.

• Looking at this year’s proposal versus last year, it is much better. I’m glad that they can get funding to get better.

• It is not part of the budget, but I feel like last year they had mentioned money from Redevelopment Agency?

• It was from the Neighborhood Arts Collaborative.


Impact on the Targeted Audience w Whether a large audience, OR a smaller audience, drawn from a specific community, is likely to be well-‐served and enriched by the project


w The credibility of the organization’s plans for securing the desired audience or participants for its project

• It is a real community effort. It has already had an impact on the neighborhood, and helps create the sense of a real arts district.

• They got PR coverage. They have good marketing strategies.

• To go to the audience is an appealing way of developing audiences.



• Although it is a small budget, they’ve proven that they can attain their goal. This has a lot of potential.

• The group feels ad hoc. They are made of dance groups. I’d like to see others involved.

• There are two or three people are making decisions.

• It would be great in the future if they could involve other members of the community in the planning.

• I definitely get the feeling that a lot of these stakeholders are performing arts groups. They see it as community building. I don’t think they see this as a revenue stream. They just need that at this point.

• It didn’t seem that anyone was taking the real leadership role. It seems like everyone is founder or curator, but no one seemed to take the leadership role. I know there is a big working group pulling it together.

• Mary Ellis is the coordinator.

• I mean someone from the advisory board saying, “let’s do this.” Without leadership, those kinds of projects will go away easily.


SWITCHBOARD MUSIC FESTIVAL PROJECT SUMMARY: The Switchboard Music Festival is an annual 8-‐hour marathon event in San Francisco that features performers, composers, and other artists who create innovative music that challenges traditional genre distinctions. By presenting and commissioning this music, Switchboard fosters a community for talented musicians otherwise underrepresented in concerts and venues around the city, and a place for audiences to discover and engage with new sounds and artists from the Bay Area.


• The marathon format is a great way to build community.

• There is a stylistic inclination but there is also a plurality.

• The artists are teasing out percussion and world instrument techniques. The decision-‐making and sense of aesthetic feels solid, rooted, and adventuresome.

• The ensembles range in size.

• I like seeing what real audience members thought of this. I remember at the end, they asked if anyone had been there for the whole thing. Three or four tired people raised their hand. This format means people stepping in and out of the theater, which is a distraction.

• Can audience members get immersed in the experience? If they only come for a couple of bands, what is the point of the marathon format? It made me less excited about what it meant to do this in eight hours.

• It means they save on the production crew.

• For me, the badge of honor, of going for 8 hours, is an incentive. When I went it was not for eight hours. It is kind of a bonding experience.

• The curatorial voice is really important. It is artist-‐driven.

• A lot of the music was accessible, but interspersed with visual art.

• It was good to see the work sample. For some reason, I thought they would have bands in the main stage, and in the other theater as well.



• I like that they really know what they are doing.

• Good job here. I agree.

• I like the mix of income. Even though the SFAC would be a quarter of their budget, they feel balanced and healthy.

• There are a lot of groups. They have broad funding.

• They need to grow in production values. That is partly budgetary.

• They didn’t have a timeline.


• They have a sense of integrity and mission.

• This is really a make or break project. They need to do this to be who they are. It is not an add-‐on.


• Everyone talks about using social media. This was the best articulation of how they use social media. It is exemplary. I thought very highly of this.


• I was there last year. I saw the whole thing. Really, the artists were the audience. It is about those artists engaging as a community and seeing each other’s work, being peers, and learning from each other. That was the most amazing part of it.

• I was scoping out what is going on in the local scene, this was a great place to see a showcase, and great for me as a presenter. Many came in for their favorite bands, and didn’t stay for full eight hours.

• The festival pulls in a certain type of quirky musician.

• I’d have liked for them to describe who the audience was. Is it college students? I love their marketing plan.



• This is an artist-‐driven organization that has made some very smart choices. They have sustained a festival that honestly reminds me of Bang on a Can.

• They’ve built a lot of goodwill.

• They are growing in an organic manner and coupled with the board growth, it gives me a favorable response.

• They need to develop their board.

• I see a lot of potential for growth and prominence in terms of the music festival scene in San Francisco. They need to develop their board, structure, and ways to develop with other institutions. They should look at sharing resources and cross-‐promote with a larger institution. Also they should look at other parts of the year.

• This is self-‐incubated.

• Staff: What do you mean by board development?

• The board is not locally based. They need a stronger board making financial commitments.

• These are some big names on the board, but they’re not able to be there for eight hours.

• The question I had is in looking at the letters. Paul Drescher used same paragraph in the letter of recommendation as he did last time. Kronos didn’t experience the project, but supported the organization.

• I echo the positive things others have said. They are financially sound.

• They are focused on original work, and that is really important for this festival.

• The personnel are well qualified.


MANGOS WITH CHILI PROJECT SUMMARY: Mangos with Chili is a Bay Area based performing arts incubator committed to showcasing high quality performance of life saving importance by queer and trans artists of color to audiences in the Bay Area and beyond. Our goal is to produce high quality multi-‐genre performances reflecting the lives and stories of queer and trans people of color and speaking out in the resistance to the daily struggles around silence, isolation, homophobia and violence that queer and trans people of color face.


• They’re very interested in deepening awareness of LGBT social and political history through performances.

• They contextualize the work of LGBT artists in a mash up of different disciplines. I’m not excited about the work sample. Their goal, in terms of the diversity of talent and cultural expression is valuable, but they are not getting at the artistic excellence that I am looking for.

• They did a good job in really writing what their vision is for the work.

• I wish they’d spoken more of the life saving elements of this work.

• The narrative felt really passionate, really blood and guts. It feels like a really personal and not academic at all.

• I agree. The narrative is strong. They set up a high standard in the narrative about doing work of “life-‐saving importance.” The sample did not meet the standard they set. What they say was compelling. The curatorial part is not as strong.

• They are aligning themselves with the movement. They’re also very aware of the political impact that they have in creating this work.

• The project demonstrates originality, relevance, and depth. It is a queer cabaret. I haven’t heard of that before.

• The project has good elements of video production.

• I wonder if they are doing an audition now because they thought, “wow, it wasn’t so great, now we want performers to prove to us again that they should be in this project.”



• They give a timeline that is clear and sound.

• I question whether two shows is what they should be aiming for. Their budget is really small. They have a total project support of $12,000. They want $5,000 from us. It might be better if they put their energy into one production instead of two, and then build as they grow and work on their infrastructure.

• They have a plan to make that happen. But how do they seek new artists?

• The budget and budget notes do not match.

• In number 19 on “administrative’ costs, the numbers do not match.

• They hustle, so maybe there is not a lot of time to get budget in order.

• They have toured. They hustle their show.


• I believe this project can impact the organization.

• I want to give them credit for their good accomplishments, but they are not quite reaching their aspirations.



• From a community standpoint, it is a really impactful and empowering project for these artists. Both as they are developing their collaboration, but also for them to bring together something for their community.

• Their audience quotes are really touching.

• It seemed like they spent a lot of time on quotes from the audience. That was great, but other people didn’t do that.

• STAFF: Any applicant can choose to do that.

• It is great that they want to make this free and are working with the National Queer Arts Festival.

• Like most small projects, they know how to sell their projects through guerrilla marketing. They’re doing the right things. They’ve been able to sell out their shows previously.

• This is a miracle of grassroots queer publicity. They have sold out performances.

• The impact on audience is unique. It is a benefit for the community. The free performance is desirable.



• I enjoyed that they really took the time to develop a strategic plan to build their internal structure.

• Their process for developing the board and future fundraising is clear.

• They got a grant from the Horizon Foundation.

• They have a fundraising consultant, leading up to their performances in April.

• They’re making really good decisions. They need to continue to go in that realm and develop more infrastructure.

• Both founders work as a team. This is a project-‐based group.

• The financial health should only be measured on prior project accomplishments.

• Their budget in 2009 and 2010 is exactly the same. They seem to still be figuring things out. They’re a small group just doing things for the community, and they are not ready for putting numbers together. They don’t have the personnel or people to go beyond that.


FICTIONAL ARTISTS’ CONTEMPORARY THEATER PROJECT SUMMARY: In July 2012, FACT/SF will develop its POv Project further, engaging four choreographers and 20 dancers to work with the POv Choreographic System. Over five days, each choreographer and their cast of five dancers will create a 15-‐minute work. These four new works, collectively called POv.5, will be performed in three evenings of performance. The creative process will be open to the public at no cost, and tickets to performances will be priced at just $5. The project directly benefits a significant # of artists, and provides the general public with an opportunity to both see how work is made and view a series of works that focus on juxtaposition.


• I really needed to see the work sample for this proposal. This is all about process.

• This project has gone through several iterations.

• The idea is that this is an open source method that the choreographer has developed. It’s about documentation and integrating the creative process in the final product -‐ integrating the experience of the process in what is communicated on stage, and bringing in the audience that way.

• The proposal lays out how there is a built in idiosyncrasy about experimentation. The product gives insight into the choreographic process. It is a little hard to wrap one’s mind around the product. The sample helps do that, but I’m not sure if that four-‐minute sample is enough to get us into the practice. It seems like this theory or new structure that is proposed requires buy-‐in from the dance community, and that was something I couldn’t see in this application. Is that there? Again, it is a really amorphous sort of idea-‐driven proposal. I had a really hard time visualizing the execution.

• The system is what the project is really betting on. I was not entirely convinced that it would be successfully executed. I found this application difficult to process.

• The big question really is whether other dancers and choreographers will buy into this whole project.

• I had a similar reaction. I had a hard time reading the narrative. When you’re trying to tell the story, make sure someone else who is not steeped in this method, but who is reading it, can understand it.

• There are technical and production issues involved when you bring in the video that adds cost and complications and in production values, so it was a compelling idea.

• If it is really important that it is about the process then to actually put that process in writing. I don’t understand how everything will come together. The work sample does not show the process or thinking. I would have shown the process instead of snippets of the performances.

• But I think for this idea, they haven’t got a video of the work in progress.

• It is so intellectual and daunting that unless you are steeped in what this person thinks of as that tradition, it is very difficult to follow what is in this person’s head. They need to recreate a language easily understood by a lot of people.

• It seems like original work.

• It seems like it is not about the end product, but the rehearsal. I wish that were better spelled out.



• It seems like they do have a lot of credible sources and projected growth. I almost feel like I need to wait and see further into this project’s iteration.

• The budget is fine.

• The budget item for technical stuff was $240, but what about budgeting time for hanging lights, cues?

• The $800 administrative fee isn’t balanced to the project. It seems lopsided. It seems like too little given the amount of administrative work that needs to go into the project.


• It is a very condensed process.

• How will they have time in that condensed tech period to integrate the video portion? I spent time trying to untangle that. There was not a lot of time set aside for that, but maybe that is not as important.


• I didn’t get a good sense of the impact of this project on the organization.


• I’m really excited about having audiences watch process. But I didn’t see how they’d get people in to watch the rehearsal process. How do you market that to people, to come see the rehearsal?

• This is about serving a small group of people, performers and choreographers really well.

• It seems like they spend more time talking about the creation of the work instead of the impact of the work on audiences. It was insular. They mentioned their audience as a peer group of dancers. I didn’t get a good sense of who their target audience was. Who does it attract outside of the participating artists?



• The reviews were great. “It is steeped in intellectual theory but physically grounded.” Jessica Robinson is someone whose opinion I respect.

• I had a hard time understanding it in this narrative.


THE BAY BRIDGED PROJECT SUMMARY: Phono Del Sol combines the local food and music communities in one free, all-‐ages outdoor event, engaging audiences with live music. This family friendly event draws thousands to an under-‐utilized park, in an area where few or no comparable events are currently held. In addition, this food and music festival highlights two nationally recognized recording studios in the neighborhood, creating opportunities for youth and musicians to gain exposure to resources for artists close to home.


• This is a very cool proposal. It seemed to have an eclectic feel, with music, food, and community.

• They want to give musicians the opportunity to promo their work outside of small bars.

• I liked the food making.

• It really didn’t share what groups will participate or how they will be chosen.

• I didn’t get that sense of who they are inviting.

• I love that this is an investment in the Bay Area art scene. It is something that does not get as much visibility.

• Support tends to go to other types of art making. This is a forum where people can connect their own art making in this sort of festival. There is a bridging, for example, studios get a piece of this. This is part of the artistic and cultural economy.

• It helps to create more of a focus on the Bay Area indie scene, which is quite strong in San Francisco. They have a focus on emerging artists, and I like that.

• I have a sense that they curate, but I’m not sure what the curatorial voice is. That does not trouble me, but it is a question mark.

• I agree that the curatorial vision is not clear.



• They are detailed in their implementation and planning process.

• They are including things to do such as visiting nearby studios as part of the festival.

• The artist fees are timid.

• A lot of costs are going to the police, security, and infrastructure. It is the nature of the beast when you perform in such venues.

• I liked the partnership with KQED.

• $15K in corporate sponsorship was predicted. It’s a big part of the budget. Who is it from?

• I remember their previous proposal. I wondered if they were doing the Rock Made festival again, but they’re actually doing this in addition. How will they do all this plus the online outreach?

• They’re young and ambitious.

• STAFF: They have a large number of volunteers, as you see in the proposal.

• Their timeline could have been better executed. It was a little vague. It didn’t stand out to me.


• This activity felt essential to their mission.

• This project is stretching them by creating a live component to what they do online.




• This project has the ability to track a great amount of audience. It takes into consideration the community.

• I like how they started with webcasting and podcasts.

• It is clear is that they are a great resource for independent musicians and bands to get more exposure.

• They guessed 8,000 people attended, but that is a lot of people. How did they know that many people were there? I wonder how they come up with that.



• The management seems fine.

• They have a steady stream of financial progress. They’re building.

• The letter of support was great.

• I was surprised they were not applying to grants from other organizations. Usually you see Zellerbach grants listed by every other organization. I’d like to see them expand their funding sources to other organizations.

• They did get sponsorship support from businesses. They got it in the past.

• They got a music and parks grant. It is in the budget notes.

• But is that secured? It’s not clear. That is a lot to project in this economy.



LIKHA PILIPINO FOLK ENSEMBLE PROJECT SUMMARY: Saludo, LIKHA’s gala 20th Anniversary production, salutes and pays tribute to the company’s continuing impact in the community. Honoring Director Rudi Soriano’s unique artistry and acknowledging LIKHA’s vast body of work from the past two decades, the upcoming production will allow our loyal and longtime supporters a welcome avenue to celebrate our accomplishments, while providing newer audiences with a unique opportunity to experience the depth and variety of our impressive repertoire.


• They’re doing a traditional art form.

• There was not a whole lot on the artistic excellence. I would have liked to seem to see a broader display of the pieces.

• They’ve been in the Ethnic Dance Festival. That work sample was excellent. It showed the actual breadth of that form, and really capturing the essence of that particular tradition. For someone who has grown up around ethnic dance and traditional dance, maybe it is much more informative for my viewing. For the kind of work they do, it is a very good work sample.

• The work sample was really strong, I agree.

• What appeals to me about this proposal, is that this has the ability to bring a level of depth that is rarely possible when a group visits from another country and shows only one style. The people who are curating this have a resonance in the community. They are helping create new works.

• This is one of those unique groups we don’t see very often. I’ve never seen anything like their work sample. They offer something unique and different. It is engineered on the passion of artists and volunteers.

• This is a great group. I didn’t understand what they were talking about till I saw the videotape. They should be supported.



• They have a picture of what will be done in May and July. That is a well-‐oiled machine.

• I was struck by the modest artistic budget.

• I see they are spending a lot of money on the gala for a couple of thousand dollars of net profit. I don’t know if the $9,200 of marketing dollars for $15,000 of admissions is a good investment. I question that allocation, but not the impact of the work.

• I agree that these expenses are not proportionate to the money they’ll get at the box office, so they should focus on free publicity.


• They are doing new commissions of traditional works. They’re still looking for new ways to explore traditional dance forms. I was intrigued by that.

• This project, in terms of celebrating this legacy as the 20th anniversary, it is a very important part of their mission.


• The marketing and outreach could have used more detail.


• How will they do these “concerted outreach efforts.” How will it happen? How will they fulfill the promise of bringing in other cultural organizations? Who are these other communities?

• They are focusing on audiences they know. They’re getting free publicity and grassroots marketing.

• Their audience really dropped between 2010 ad 2011. What happened there?

• They do seem to know how to reach out to the people they want to attend.

• They expose audiences to dances that are rarely seen, and they do it through volunteer work.

• There is a huge Filipino and Asian community in San Francisco. They are bringing that community together, and educating it. They are bringing them together, and contextualizing the work.



• They’re celebrating their 20th anniversary. They have a lot of experience doing this work.

• They’ve been around for a long time.

• They have a great community member letter of support, which makes sense. They’re community-‐based.

• The other letter praises Rudy, who has been doing this work for years.

• I want to put these previous points in context in terms of their contribution to the Filipino community and the Asian community. They produce Asia on Stage. It is a mini-‐ethnic dance festival of ethnic arts. Rudy is a master artist. He is established as a leading authority on this type of dance. They also represent the breadth of traditional dances from the Philippines, from Muslim to Christian.

• They’ve gotten themselves on more solid ground. They were operating with deficits, now they are back in the black.

• They really need to focus on their financial status.

• They need to solicit money from the board.

• The 20th anniversary is a great time to reach out to new board members.

• There is always a pressure to get board members to cough up money, but that is easier said than done. In such organizations, you’re just glad they’re on board and helping with what they can, but for the longevity of what they are doing, that will change for longevity reasons.

• STAFF: Be cognizant of different organizational models. This is an all-‐volunteer organization and also a community-‐based organization, so the expectations should match that.

• They had a significant drop on foundation support in 2011. They’ve focused on corporate support, but they need help strategizing how to get more support.

• This proposal is a big improvement from the last proposal, so they’re working on their professionalization. They are very thoughtful and I see progress.


AMY SIEWERT’S IMAGERY PROJECT SUMMARY: SKETCH: New Works 2: The Women Choreographers features world premieres by local and national choreographers with a mission to expand the definition of ballet by exploding preconceptions of what ballet is and can be. The lack of female ballet choreographers in a field where most of the participants are female is an odd phenomenon, and SKETCH 2 is a perfect vehicle for addressing this lack of opportunity within the field.


• You can see the professional polish from the work sample. She’s clearly been out there and working at a pretty high level. She is ready to move to the next level.

• The letters of recommendation spoke more clearly about who she was as an artist, especially from Rob Bailis.

• She has good coverage. She is on the radar. She is on a promising trajectory.

• The narrative wasn’t as clear as it could have been.

• As I read this, I didn’t have as many issues. It does not feel to me that the project description is lacking.

• I wish more attention were spent on thinking out the process. That was a missed opportunity. She has worked with some great people before. I don’t have any questions, but the narrative was really lacking information for me.

• She addresses the lack of women choreographers in this season. She makes a good point that women choreographers are not as visible in a form that is as female-‐driven as ballet. There is a real need she is trying to address.

• I have an awareness of female choreographers across the board, but had not thought about the dearth of women choreographers in ballet.

• The work is beautiful and shows an investment in time and resources. This company can do this effectively.

• I love her work.

• One of the work samples was from a man, which is notable in a project that is supposedly going to support women composers. It might have been cooler to have another woman choreographer.

• I think it is because last year the focus of the first sketch was not on women choreographers.



• There are strong partners.

• This idea of self-‐producing seems credible.

• Doing the first self-‐produced season is a bold step, but I think they are in a good position to take it on.

• I like that the artists are getting paid.

• The written narrative lacked information. The timeline is a problem.

• I appreciate the post-‐mortem they are planning to do.


• Rob’s letter really contextualizes the project, explaining how this will affect the organization taking them to the next step.

• Self-‐producing could be a next step but it is also a big risk. I think an earlier version of this project was done earlier.

• 2011 in Z Space was sketch one.




• It is about new work by choreographers. It is really relevant in the dance community here.

• I liked the fact that they are going to engage with Zaccho director Joanna Haigood on designing outreach for the Bayview District. It says they don’t want ballet to be only for those immersed in historical forms.

• I’d like to have more thought about how they’ll engage these audiences but I encourage that kind of thinking.



• She has healthy financial funding. She is on solid footing.

• They have $30K of surplus. If they don’t get the Rainin Foundation money, they could use that.

• The board has committed money.

• They have a history of getting funding, but a lot of the money projected is from money they haven’t gotten yet.

• If they don’t get the $20K from Rainin Foundation, what will they do?

• They have a strong base of individual donors.


CROWDED FIRE THEATER COMPANY PROJECT SUMMARY: We are seeking continued support for The Matchbox: commissioning and Developing New Works program that champions the voices of a diverse body of playwrights. The Matchbox, including three different components intended to support project development, meets playwrights’ needs towards creating a new production-‐bound play.


• They’re proposing workshops and reading series through the Matchbox Program. It is a unique opportunity for playwrights to work with directors and bring it to a reading series.

• The fact that they commission works tells me they are sustaining the art form and the artists.

• I’ve seen their shows before. I saw Drip. They do powerful work.

• For those of you who don’t know, equity has restrictions on video taping performances.

• It was very hard to evaluate the work sample based on still images.

• The application really didn’t touch on a direct curatorial description.

• At the top of page 3 and on page four, second paragraph, they talk about the evaluation criteria for scripts.



• There is a new hire they talked about that is a part-‐time position.

• I was not able to tell if the position could be sustained the following year.

• Their timeline is one of the best ones I’ve seen.

• I couldn’t wrap my head around the process initially, but their timeline really spells it out well.

• I also thought the timeline was clear. There is a clear division of labor in the staff. They’ve really shown how they are going to do this, how they’ll grow these talents.

• This is a pretty thorough narrative and explanation of how they are going to carry out their artistic vision.

• I like how they specified the role of each staff member and partners.

• They have a partnership program, but I wish they had fleshed that out.

• They talked about La Casa de las Madres, Lighthouse for the blind, and youth programs. But how are they enmeshed? Are the people of those organizations coming to see the commissioned works as patrons?

• I know they have a reading series, but I didn’t get an explanation of what happens in the public readings.


• It is a great program for developing new works. The project seems really organic to what the organization is.


• They talk about the target audience. They talked about having 28% people of color, but who are those people of color?

• In terms of diversity of audiences, when you represent diversity in the programming, you’ll get more diverse audiences.

• In the context of what is in the ecology, people of color, disabled playwrights, and women don’t get that much opportunity, so this organization’s diversity is really commendable.


• They talked about how they would engage audiences.

• They seem to have really good audience development. They have these free ticket offers and work with very specific youth programs, and I thought that was promising.

• Their numbers have grown and improved over the last two years.



• They have a well-‐rounded personnel team.

• There was a position I was asking questions about.

• How will they sustain that position?

• Small organizations know they need to fill staff slots, but how will that be sustained?

• It is needed, though.

• I didn’t see any red flags on the budget.

• Financially, they seem to be in good standing.

• I wonder about. I know they do workshops.

• They have nicely spelled out the board members responsibilities. They seem to be well balanced.

• There was a letter of recommendation that I think came from one of their personnel or employees doubling as an artist. I question a letter coming from a staff person of the group.

• STAFF: I don’t see that person on the staff. There is one from Amy Meuller and from a playwright who has worked with them before.

• Lauren Gunderson is who they mentioned.

• Lauren is being commissioned.

• Oh, she’s not on the board? My misunderstanding.

• They have some promising sources of support.

• They got a big infusion of funds from the NEA.

• They’ve also gotten so much support. They have not yet gotten state or federal funding.

• They went through a development process, and it paid off.


MAGIK*MAGIK ORCHESTRA PROJECT SUMMARY: Our project is called “The Girlie Show,” a live concert produced by M*MO featuring two female artists: one nationally recognized headliner supported by a large orchestra and choir, and one up-‐and-‐coming local artist supported by a string quartet of M*MO musicians. “The Girlie Show” will focus on promoting women artists in the music industry by utilizing the power of the orchestra.


• Couple of concerns, I was expecting strippers from the name of the proposed project and I know it was meant to be provocative, and I love when things cross over, but I don’t know that bringing in Neko Case is empowering to the orchestra.

• As a feminist, I have a hard time with the name, even though they are trying to be provocative. It is outdated and doesn’t work for me. It isn’t putting the great work of the director at the forefront.

• It will be serving the headliner in a secondary role.

• It is underselling themselves with the larger name. I am mixed up about it. I know that it is a collaboration with a strong woman. I think it could be more.

• The orchestra is going to be empowered through working across styles, but it is not being empowered by working with the headliner.

• After seeing the work sample of the Herbst performance, I would encourage them to submit a better sounding sample. I couldn’t get a handle on the group from that sample. With the star person with the lights, and the focus is not on the orchestra.

• The orchestra needs to create things it can take on the road.

• I admire the organization for being so entrepreneurial and doing something new. Yet, I was disappointed for imagining themselves as the secondary artistic talent.

• What they are doing is so great, but I wished for a better application. They are changing what this art form is. And I needed to see something stronger. I hope they will come back in the future.



• I would encourage them to diversify their funding streams, such as with more grants.

• I don’t know what Fiona Apple or Adele may charge.

• The budget is problematic with the Herbst Theater and they are union houses. The previous event at the Herbst was from five years ago, and also was a Bay Bridged produced event, which means that this organization wasn’t taking on that cost.

• They need to do more research about the numbers that really go into this.


• I felt that this organization is trying to make orchestras hip, and there’s a lot of potential there.

• It is happening, and they need to reach a greater number of people.


• To have 1000+ hits, how does that happen? That’s significant.

• All you have to do is link to Coldplay or Radiohead or someone will have that impact. It’s tapping into their networks.




• I was struck by the pluck of the organization. They are ready, active and proactive.

• I was so excited about this proposal. They have huge energy. There are some steps to go through first, to cut their teeth on something more manageable. Presenting yourself is so big. It is more than just showing up, ready to go.

• This is a labor of love for the founder who has absorbed some economic impact herself. That’s a choice, and a generous, and optimistic gesture for an organization that is living its goals. I haven’t quite seen that level in the other applications.

• For something this big, and again I admire the ambition, but the executers are volunteers and interns. The Director may live it as well, but many people will be doing double duty on something of this scope. It is a huge challenge. I am not sure that they are ready for this leap.

• STAFF: You received notes in a later packet. You may also have additional information outside the application, but it says that the scope with be similar to the shows previously produced and performed.

• There were big shifts in the CCDP between 2009, and there weren’t any notes for it. Contracted performance fees in 2009 went way up. When you are finding your income stream level, things can fall by the wayside.

• I see $30K donation from a family member, and that was one-‐time.


CUBACARIBE PROJECT SUMMARY: CubaCaribe s seeking support for the 9th annual CubaCaribe Festival at ODC Theater in Spring 2013. The festival will include as its centerpiece an artistic collaboration between Alayo dance Company cofounder and choreographer Ramon Ramos Alayo and and Cuban choreographer Eduardo Rivero, artistic director of Teatro de la Danza.


• The work sample was interesting and shows a broad range of vocabulary that the company has. It shows traditional forms of Uruba, and etc., to contemporary forms of salsa and other forms but all deliberately executed and choreographed beautifully.

• To bring dance here is really wonderful. He brings talent from Cuba. There is a community of artists here and the classes he teaches brings the talent from Cuba. They also go back to Cuba. There is a rich intercultural exchange that happens continually. This is an exciting group.

• This is a well-‐written and well-‐documented narrative.

• They are on the forefront of this form.

• The letters were great in addressing the quality.

• This felt uniquely Cuban and l loved watching them.



• Dance Brigade is behind the project. They have an iconic San Francisco history and legacy and they have been instrumental in helping Cuba Caribe develop audiences and get support.

• From the proposal I feel confident that they can do the project. They will hire someone to take charge of the program. They have a strategy.

• The project budget notes are thorough.

• They pay their artists.

• They will be securing visas from pragmatic perspective. That they are plugged in gave me confidence.


• This well-‐written narrative that ties disparate parts together. How the resident ensemble fits in the project, and with the organization’s mission and role in the community, felt natural. This feels like a moment of growth.


• Ramon has niche in San Francisco and brought it to community. There is a tiny Cuban community in San Francisco but they have embraced it. What is important is there is not any other company in the area doing this work. It is relevant and keeps San Francisco in touch with Cuba.

• In terms of the targeted audience, there is a focus on people interested in art form.

• To get word out, I would like to see them do more talks and reaching out of that community to a larger community, such as into schools.

• It is eclectic dance. People are fired up at this festival. The event that inspires and invites people.

• This festival gives a sense of center to the community.

• It is exciting to see this approach and how immersive it is. In the Bay Area there isn’t as much as in New York.




• Ramon, a talent in the Bay Area, has been here for 20 years. He grew up and was educated in Cuba as a professionally trained dancer.

• He is highly respected and has received great press.

• They have a dedicated steering committee. They are also a professional team rooted in the tradition, and who have studied the art form and understand it.

• They still need to develop funding sources but they have diverse sources.

• There is potential to increase their funding and potential to tour.

• The organizational budget is solid.

• They are getting a range of income and have board and the advisory board giving money.

• They have grants and foundation support.

• There is a nice, diverse funding pool.

• This is a great group. It is great to see he has persevered. I wonder if he will start mentoring talent.

• They are where they need to be. He needs more time and funding support to get to the next level.


AU CO VIETNAMESE CULTURAL CENTER PROJECT SUMMARY: ACVCC seeks an OPG grant in the amount of $15,000 to support the 2013 Southeast Asian Arts and Culture Expo in May 2013 in the Tenderloin of San Francisco. The two component activities will include: 1) an afternoon of performances, lecture/demonstrations and a temporary exhibit to be held in Samsung Hall at the Asian Art Museum; and 2) The Faces of Asia Procession on Larkin Street in association with the Asian Heritage Street Celebration.


• I loved the concept. This is a grassroots festival where the founder wants to keep cultures and traditions that were being lost. The second generation wants to learn about the cultures they came from.

• It didn’t talk enough about performances other than the highlights.

• They have wonderful, specific musicians that play instruments.

• The originality is based on the purpose of connecting with culture.

• I love that this cultural center is a force for that texture of distinguishing cultures.

• The work sample is strong and illustrated the richness and inclusivity of this center. It is beautiful in showing the differences and similarities and how a center bringing together different aspects of community.



• They talk about partnerships with other cultural associations. I wanted to hear more about how those organizations will be participating. They do have artists that they will involve. I thought those organizations will be performing, but the proposal didn’t clarify who were partners, performers, etc. It was hard to decipher.

• STAFF: They did not specify the different traditional cultural arts they are bringing. They talked about it in some cases talked and not in others.

• They mentioned cultural groups but don’t mention their role in participation.

• I felt like they know what they are doing but it could have helped to structure the information for the reader.

• The acronyms that weren’t described.

• The budget notes are sparse and the terms are confusing. How many artists are being paid?

• I wonder about project because they asked for 100% of the budget. What happens if they don’t get it? I know its fine for them to make that request for this grant.

• I’m confused about the project budget in relation to the organization budget. It seems like they are putting all their eggs in one basket.

• STAFF: They have a $15k surplus.

• In regards to the procession, there would be more expenses. It could be attached to a larger event.

• They do have high presenting fees.


• The proposal addresses the lack of opportunities to explore Vietnamese culture.


• They are advertising on different language medias. I don’t know if they are doing it in print/flyers?

• They are engaging on a cultural level in their marketing efforts. It sounds sensible.


• I liked the sense of inclusion, which was well demonstrated in the video sample.

• I liked that the festival had workshops and performances to serve as different entry points for generations. It underscores it as a community asset.

• They have multiple things going on as part of the festival.

• It felt generative in an interesting way, for example for schools to talk about this region of world in more depth. This seems like a community resource.

• This is a one-‐day festival that serves 80,000. That is 10% of city’s population!

• That could be people watching the parade.

• I wasn’t seeing that in the work sample because I was looking for these massive groups of people.

• STAFF: In the CDP last year they said they reached 40,000. It would have been nice to have notes on that.



• This is a strong Vietnamese community center.

• They can accomplish this but the proposal could be clearer about it.

• There was a drop in the budget that is reflected in the CDP.

• The situation happened to many organizations.

• The project personnel bios are not as tied to the work at the center or to cultural development. I was looking to that for capacity.

• STAFF: This is a different kind of organizational model. When looking at cultural/service centers and the different range of community-‐based services, think of that relative to the background of the organization.


STEPOLOGY PROJECT SUMMARY: The 2012 Bay Area Rhythm Exchange 10th Anniversary Spectacular features artists from STEPOLOGY’s 10th annual Bay Area Tap Festival in a 1-‐night-‐only production at Herbst Theatre in the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center. Today’s top tap artists celebrate the traditions of tap dance alongside contemporary innovations in the form. The program also features live musical accompaniment, and mixed-‐genre collaborations with special guest artists.


• The quality of artistry is at the highest levels. It is great to see how they integrate genres, styles, all ages, and the entire community.

• That they are starting to bring in tourism to this event speaks to the quality. I love that they really include audience in the celebration.

• There is showmanship and fun entertainment. It makes me happy to see it.

• Using live musicians and is so rare in dance. It is great to see them accessing that.

• The artists are great.

• The way they present tap is interesting, fun and I wish for more tap to happen.

• I look forward to watching their 4 minute trailer each year.



• They are thoughtful and prudent in only doing one performance. It’s a reasonable expectation to sell out the house and maximize capacity.

• They are doing one show. That shows a sense of maturity to see the bottom line.

• They have diverse funding and support.

• The timeline is similar to prior years.

• They have the survey as a feedback mechanism.

• They’ve done excellent job at securing funds and demonstrating capacity for the festival.

• The budget is cognitive about providing artists with something as well as to the venue.

• I wonder if another other venue might not be so expensive.

• The Herbst is not that bad. They couldn’t do this in New York City with this venue cost.

• As we see these recurring costs, I wonder how it relates to urban planning and artist use. It brings up all those profound questions for these reasons.


• This proposal goes to heart of this organization’s purpose and mission.

• They are connecting other parts of the year to build for this event.


• They are fulfilling a niche in the Bay Area. There are not many places to see tap.

• They have created community and have classes, workshops, and public programs outside of this one day.





• This is a celebration of a dance form that is rarely found in the U.S. The Bay Area, with this festival, has become its preservation and promotion.

• The organization has stable finances.

• The growth of the organization seems organic. They are expanding their influence outside the Bay Area. They have managed growth well. They have local and national impact. They are proud to see this centered in the Bay Area. They are embracing diversity across different lives. They are making an art form relevant.

• There is only one other art organization in the Bay Area doing this work – the body music festival. I would love to see these two work together. It is an interesting way to see the extent of using the body.

• There has been a healthy attendance and earned income in the past. This is a good organization.


SAN FRANCISCO LIVE ARTS PROJECT SUMMARY: Roots Music & Beyond: From the Bay Area to the World is a series of 12-‐15 concerts featuring artists exploring paths of traditional American and world roots music in innovative, contemporary ways. Each concert will feature two to three ensembles or solo artists, drawn from both high profile artists and new voices from the region and beyond. Roots & Beyond will serve as the centerpiece of the organization’s SF Live Arts at Cyprian’s series.


• They haven’t selected the artists yet.

• The sample gives a sense of the quality and eclectic taste of music.

• They are bringing in artists at different places in their career.

• It is an intimate venue with good sound quality.

• I love their vision statement. I felt like I heard all that in the music.

• In the context of history in San Francisco, this was a place for me where I grew up listening to music in my 20s and saw interesting, exciting things and was introduced to different artists. There is a diversity of artists presented. It’s very in the pulse of what’s happening in the moment and capturing that in an informal, relaxed setting. You’re there for the music and as part of a community that is discovering something.

• That it has a vibrancy and part of cultural history and to expand on world roots and American music, without being commercial venue, is unique.



• What struck me is they moved to another place and included great article of relationship with church. They are making the most of it.

• This is something they needed to do and that ended up benefiting the organization in different ways.

• They have affordable prices.

• The budget looks good.



• There is a sense of community access and social alliances that is sustaining.

• They are trying to draw a different audience from the neighborhood. There is a sense of getting a specific community involved that is unique and appealing.

• They mentioned having community coming in within walking distance. They do traditional outreach but also sell tickets online in multiple languages.

• It seems like they have a historical audience, and are going for younger and other cultural audiences.

• It is amazing to have found a new place and brought a built in audience and a new community building happening in conjunction with the church.

•




• This was an exciting organization to read about.

• Larry seems like he is always there.

• I like the “mom and pop” neighborhood organization.

• The budgeting had a blip but they have a surplus and steady income stream. They are adjusting to the economy like everyone else.

• The board gives a little to the organization. I hope that expands because this would attract certain enthusiasts.

• This type of music often gets excluded from grants so it is wonderful that the SFAC provides a forum for this to be submitted.

• Historically, this is an important place for many people to explore music. They are financially sound and can pull it off. They have found a home. They are focusing on the Roots music is exciting, and which is still vibrant and alive.

• The Hewlett Foundation taking them off the roster is a bit of a concern. They are in a good place but seems like a major chunk of support so hopefully they will augment that in other support. It could be a statement of maturity of an organization that can sustain their staff.


OLD FIRST CONCERTS PROJECT SUMMARY The OFC Musicians Residency will expand the audience for Bay Area emerging musicians; introduce new compositions by local composers; deepen audience involvement in 21st Century chamber performance through pre-‐ and post-‐concert talks and master classes; increase musicians programmatic skills essential to their career development.


• These are great clips to work with audio. The piano forehand and trio are challenged ensembles.

• It takes a committed presenter to understand how to frame ensembles for audiences.

• They are helping them anchor in a series and build a set of materials that build capacity and dimensionality. That is something a presenter can help emerging groups do and gives an extra leg up to an undernourished pool.

• The organization is behind the artists, with resources and mentoring. They are thoughtful about it.

• The staff resources are valuable especially in getting new ensembles from launching to sustaining themselves.

• I loved the focal point in the two ensembles.

• It is smart for the presenter because they have to look carefully at how to sustain an audience. This seems to cross boundaries of having an in-‐house ensemble and bringing in different presentations. The hybrid is strong and beneficial to ensembles.

• They are able to make classical music sexy.



• There is a great, thought out timeline.

• That is a good price for a composer.

• It is nice they are working with the alumni of the conservatory. They have a lot of conservatory faculty involved, which brings it back. That is nice.

• There is great thinking in the residency model. I wish they would share plans of model in the proposal. It is great to use this model and give artists the opportunity to perform.

• It is hard to launch a group with other presenters without those tools.


• I liked that they are building the residency for the first time for something ongoing.

• The project addresses the organization’s commitment to music.


• The programming ideas include artists’ input.

• They want to be interactive with community through the marketing materials and evaluation. It seems like they want full participation.

• They see audiences in a basic way, similar to other proposals. I’d like to see more about social media plan.




• The budget is really sound. It is not that big of a budget. The admissions line item seems realistic.

• The expectations of funding are realistic. The notes are thorough.

• This is based on the sweat equity of staff.


DEL SOL PERFORMING ARTS ORGANIZATION PROJECT SUMMARY: To present “Del Sol Days,” a 20th anniversary series of concerts and workshops with collaborating artists at Z Space in 2012-‐13 to illuminate the creative process of composing and playing new chamber music. We will commission and premiere new works by established and emerging composers, including Chinese-‐American composer Kui Dong, and hold an open workshop with composer Lena Frank and composition students from local universities.


• This is a great example of the kind of work they do and how they stretch themselves.

• They work within a global community of classical artists that utilize traditional instruments and electronica.

• They have a distinct voice.

• The proposal is well written.

• This is a good concept.

• There is collaboration with other music organizations doing something exciting.

• I did want more information from the project description. I want to hear what the workshop will be like that will illuminate the creative process of composing and how to get people there. It is a great idea but no explanation of what that will look like. I wanted more information about great composers with young people. Those are things we want classical music to do, but I kept looking for the HOW.

• I have issues with that phrase because not everyone wants to make that process transparent. It is ephemeral.

• “Workshop” is used a lot for placeholder of doing it two weeks before.

• The workshops seem so integral but seemed to be getting short shrift.

• Workshop can also mean something different in theater than in music.



• This is a realistic timeline.

• Being at Z space would be great for them and for young composers and the crowd.

• They have resources to bring together national and international artists.

• The budget is in solid condition. There is money going to artistic, which is great.


• It celebrates the 20th and they are well aligned to showcase their successes.

• The proposal is for a mix of emerging and established, and they are commissioning new work.

• The project will benefit the growth of organization.


• They perform but also engaging audiences in workshops.

• They could do better in reaching out to non-‐classical music audiences and bridging routine -‐ to look at that more about how they can capture audiences.

• They work a lot with the resources in terms of usual, traditional media.


• It is all great, but they could put more focus on social media strategies and look at more cross promotion with other music institutions.

• They are clearly an awesome musical organization and people love them. They are getting young composers. They will pack that place. There is no doubt about that.

• Their normal audience is ethnically diverse. Is that true? They don’t say how.

• It depends on what they are doing. It depends on the composer, the site, and collaborations.

• The composers have a certain rootedness with a community that follows their work. Composers can step forward more and can bring their own followers to add to the ensemble followers.



• They just became a nonprofit so they have really grown.

• They have been an ensemble that has performed with dance. They have done a variety of things beyond the concert setting.

• The company is starting to get national attention and is on the brink of getting more recognition.

• There is a good, diverse strategy to raising funds.

• They have a stable infrastructure and realistic projection of expenses.

• The board contributes.

• They are now a professional company and are capable of carrying out complex projects, contextualize work and working with artists and composers.

• I am familiar with their reputation and work, but I have to extrapolate because the proposal lacks specificity – such as with activities list. I know they can do this but would have liked more details of how they are approaching this.


FOOLSFURY THEATER COMPANY PROJECT SUMMARY: FoolsFURY requests support to fund stipends for artists and technical personnel for the 2013 FURY Factory. A three-‐week festival of cutting edge ensemble theater, the FURY Factory has become one of the region’s most exciting and acclaimed gatherings, and is vitally important to the Bay Area’s live performance ecosystem.


• The sample is effective because it places narrative in a specific way and helps understand where they are coming from in the larger spectrum of theater making.

• They are putting value in the workshopping process and how these artists are evolving in this form.

• It is interesting that in an interdisciplinary way -‐ they are bringing in dance.

• They don’t say anything about dance theater.

• That’s part of ensemble theater and have folks like Deborah Slater. They fall under ensemble theater/performance that incorporates dance, etc.

• Under the Radar has that dance theater element.

• They are experimental about how to bring everything together.

• STAFF: It’s an evolution from the American theater form.

• It is created from ensemble. It is a more democratic, but messy process that can be exciting and fresh.

• STAFF: That’s what people are looking at to draw from other forms as more generative. You could wish for more information to help understand ensemble theater and genre definition.

• They are using the body as a storytelling tool, which is interesting and I’m curious to know more.

• My experience going to see festival is experimental with interesting people, a sense of people coming together, and cross-‐pollination.

• They are going from hodgepodge to bringing in cool companies. The artistic quality continues to get better.

• The training program is a significant contribution to the Bay Area.

• They bring in great people to teach.

• They want to do a smaller scale Under the Radar. They make dynamite work. They are bringing different ensemble theaters to talk about practice, to share, and talk about the field. It makes it something people have to pay attention to.

• In the Bay Area they are an organization leading the experimental theater movement and making it relevant. They are trying to raise the bar.

• The promotional materials are a bit hard to read but they do the job.

• How much is actual performance vs. groups curated in. What is the curatorial process?



• Their plans are clearly laid out. The goals and assessment plans are logically thought through.

• There is a diversity of support.

• The built-‐in collaboration provides a safety net in a way.

• The national network was involved in the last festival, which raised their profile and served their growth.

• The partnership with Arena Stage is major. Using the live stream connection is new. The local and national partnership model is resourceful.


• It is great that the participating artists are required to give feedback.


• This is a key part of their mission and advances the program.

• The festival is a cornerstone of who they are.


• There is a strong educational element.

• Everyone has to do traditional marketing and web presence.

• Looks like they are doing a sketch out.

• It would be nice to have more detail, but I get the sense that they have things plugged in.

• They have a public relations person.

• Having different companies post on a blog can be useful in several areas. It is very possible.



• They are recognized in the field.

• They are trying to stabilize after several years of rapid growth. They are prudent to keep at the same size and stabilize.

• They show major growth and I like that they are trying to keep focused on a mission, and they are keeping things relevant.

• It has been great to watch them over the years. The spirit of the organization is ensemble-‐created theater.

• They are financially sound. It would have been great to get a letter from a participant of the festival.


ORGANIZATIONS WITH BUDGETS SIZE BETWEEN $150,000 AND $1 MILLION

SAN FRANCISCO HIP HOP DANCE FESTIVAL PROJECT SUMMARY: The San Francisco Hip Hop DanceFest is respectfully seeking funding of $15,000 for its 14th DanceFest in 2012, which will take place in four performances over three days at the SF Palace of Fine Arts. Featuring a dazzling array of performances by companies and artists from the SF Bay Area and throughout the world, the festival reflects a high degree of artistry, an array of cultural influences, and serves to bridge generations and communities.


• The artistic excellence is demonstrated by the great work sample. What I like about it is that it not only shows the beauty of the performance, but it also instructs us how to understand the artform. It’s a very complete sample.

• I love the work sample.

• The festival has been really a pioneering one in the hip hop scene.

• Under Micaya’s leadership, they’ve been a game changer in the local scene. She’s curated the festival to not only focus on American hip hop but international hip hop. It’s become a global festival showcasing artists from all over the world.

• It seems like there are fewer local crews performing lately. They have a good international lineup. It’s too bad that they don’t have as many local groups performing, but perhaps that’s just the trajectory they’re on.

• They tried to hold auditions and that process didn’t work out. I wanted more information on how submissions were made. Their advisory board selected the performers from those submissions. I was hoping for more detail there; particularly since I noticed that not all of the board come from a dance background.

• The festival showcases the dancers with high production values as we saw in the video.

• The performers include little kids, adults, and people doing it casually. The curation is very democratic in terms of what shows up on stage and what people can do.

• The narrative made me think of the many kinds of hip hop. I thought I knew a lot, but in their descriptions they were touching on things I didn’t know.



• They had the best timeline and work plan.

• They included a lot of detail in the budget.

• They are very capable of carrying out the event. They have lots of experience organizing things, arranging for visas, working with outside artists, putting on these large productions.

• The majority of their budget is earned income—they are heavily reliant on ticket sales. At this point in their organization’s development, would think they’d try to diversify their income streams. I’d like to see them bring in special event and foundation support.

• Ticket sales are the majority of their income…

• Their tickets are expensive.

• …and attendance has dropped. So it’s important to diversify income and bring in individual donor and foundation support. There is a democratic feeling to the event and strong artistic value, so they have a good opportunity to appeal to people outside of the traditional audience they have attracted—more than many other groups. It’s something they can make happen not just for themselves but the broader community.



• The purpose of this organization is to produce the festival so the event supports their mission clearly.


• They are really interweaving this sense of community, family and expression by bringing in children. It’s a really broad cultural experience.

• I’ve gone to the festival over the last four years. There is a lot of empathy and cheering that I sense and hear in the crowd. Many people in the audience take classes with Micaya or are friends of crews on stage. It’s electric. The audience is invested in every crew up there, but you also sense that there are strong connections to specific groups. The event has a special vibe because of those personal connections. People call out individual dancers’ names.

• I wish there were more opportunities to have more contextualizing events as part of the festival. It’s a showcase of performance, but I would like to see her expand towards more interactive kinds of opportunities; taking it outside of the box of the standard proscenium seating.

• The organization is focused on producing the festival. But they do hold master classes as part of the programming.

• Yes, that’s happening before and after the festival. But within the festival there’s room for expansion.

• Director: Are you saying that in regards to audiences? Can you clarify what you mean?

• The audiences attending the festival are primarily coming from the dance community. It’s folks who are into dance and hip hop. And within that community, they are bringing in folks from the outside. People fly in for the festival. There are lots of tourists that participate. But I think there are opportunities to do more and diversify. They’ve definitely attracted a variety of people.

• There are lots of kids and families.

• Yes, there is a really diverse audience pool. That is my point. They have that incredible diversity and it is a great opportunity to educate. Just because people are coming in, it doesn’t mean they understand the art form.

• People have a lot of curiosity about the work so it seems like they could build more alliances that leverage opportunities. They might build partnerships for interactive events with organizations like the Exploratorium.

• I’m also stuck on the costs allocated for marketing and social media. They have the capacity to get the word out. They have a big Facebook presence. That’s significant. They have a professional public relations person—they have the capacity. I just wish they included the details about what their outreach involves. They have the artistic quality reflected in their video. I would guess that they make use of that kind of material given their social media platforms but it’s not clear.



• Even though they don’t have a Board, they do have an Advisory Board giving in-‐kind support. It would be nice to see some minimal support from that Board in terms of financial contributions. I didn’t see that in their CCDP.

• They had a fundraising letter campaign one year, but didn’t continue it the next. I was curious about the reasons there.

• I noticed that they are looking at about $4,318 in merchandise income but they’re spending $7,768 on merchandise costs. Are they losing money on product sales? There may be other things wrapped up in those budget lines so I was hoping to get more detail to clarify.

• They are very self-‐sufficient, but I think they have a lot of room to grow as well.

• They’re at a place now where they should have their own 501(c)3 and Board. I think not having that institutional structure is stopping their growth. It’s very reliant on individual knowledge and work—if something happened to Micaya, they don’t have a foundation for the future.


• It looks like they’re paying a lot for their Booking Manager. Not sure if I’m just not used to the numbers for these kinds of festivals—especially relative to the percentage of the budget going toward the artists on stage.

• I think the booking manager is the person really in charge of artist contracts, managing artists’ travel and housing, and coordinating those logistics. It’s a big job.

• Staff: So is your point that there wasn’t information in the staff bios to explain these roles?

• I just have questions because it seems like a small number of groups to coordinate relative to what is budgeted for that position. It isn’t like there are the contractual complications of presenting a big performer like Adele…

• But it’s more complicated than what you run into with a big headliner like that. Those folks come in with staff who know how to deal with all of the logistics. The people coming in to perform for this festival are not necessarily the kinds of professionals who have that elaborate support staff. The festival staff needs to do all that work to coordinate logistics, contracts and production details.

• Director: So the point is that they should line up job descriptions and the budget line item expenses to help clarify these questions.


Playground

PROJECT SUMMARY: PlayGround requests support for the 17th annual Best of PlayGround Festival, PlayGround’s annual showcase of the Bay Area’s best new playwrights and their short and full-‐length work. The festival will include 27 public performances of 18 short and full-‐length plays as well as a series of symposia, master classes, and community dialogues on new plays and Bay Area writers, taking place at Thick House, May 2-‐26, 2013.


• This is different from the many festivals that come together just for that event; they have a longer developmental role in fueling many creative voices.

• The festival plays an important role in the theater community. They engage with every group in town.

• They play a very important role in the entire Bay Area.

• This group is very unique. They produce a festival for local playwrights. They are an incubator who develops these artists to do bigger things. Alumni have gone on to stage works at Shotgun, San Francisco Playhouse, and other venues.

• They have a strong track record of alumni directing full length productions.

• They’re bringing together the community of writers and playwrights and giving them this opportunity. This is a real chance for writers who are based locally. That’s a great thing.

• Their project has a youth element with the young playwrights’ project where young people write plays that open the festival.

• The organizational leaders don’t direct the curation of plays to stage—instead the selection process includes outside theater leaders and the audience.

• The curatorial voice of the festival is not clear. Who selects the work? What values are used to make those decisions? They mention that the decisions are made by consensus based on their institutional values, but they don’t say what the values are and who is doing that selecting. The process is not clear other than it’s done by a panel. So it’s hard to assess the curatorial vision.

• They award six to seven new play commissions; which is great.



• In terms of the timeline, there’s a lot going on with the festival so I’m not sure how it all comes together.

• They have the capacity to pull this off from their track record of producing 50 past festivals. They are very capable.


• Their mission is to invest in local playwrights—to make sure they have a livelihood and stay in the industry. Sometimes I don’t know how people survive, so I like that they support artists being able to stay in the field.

• The organization serves as an incubator and a hub for local talent. They provide professional development and have a track record of how that impacts the field.


• It looks like there is only 50% repeat attendance—not sure what’s behind that.

• That’s not unusual.

• Is it because audiences are drawn in based on friendships and personal connections?


• Yes. That’s often the case.

• Audience is based on friends, word of mouth, and social media. Outreach is really based on the artists and playwrights being involved in the process. The actors are involved as well.

• Their tools for outreach are diverse. They use a lot of community networks to foster word-‐of-‐mouth.

• They mention that the audience plays a role in shaping the plays. I wanted to know what happens and what that means.

• Their impact is inherent in supporting local playwrights.



• Their budget seems high. I wasn’t sure about the benefits line?

• A good proportion of their budget is made up of artist salaries.

• This is the first time they’ve fully funded the Director which includes his benefits.

• They seem to pay other people as consultants. I’m not seeing commissioning fees in their budget.

• Director: The project budget notes describes a $1-‐2,000 commission per play.

• They’re at a critical point in their growth. Jim Kleinmann founded the organization and is now on staff full-‐time. There’s a big jump in their budget because of this, but that’s a good thing. They need someone there at this point in their programs. There’s probably going to be a bit of flux in the organization, but they’re going in a good direction.

• Kleinman is a skilled professional. It’s not surprising that the details are spelled out and the organization is in good financial standing.

• They’ve moved to the point where they’re going to be audited this year or next year. They’re now at that level with their finances.

• There was a big jump in the number of individual contributors. Board support has also grown. They have a healthy and diverse base of support.

• They have a diverse pool of resources.


FRESH MEAT PRODUCTIONS PROJECT SUMMARY: This proposal requests $15,000 to support the 3-‐day 11th Annual Fresh Meat Festival of transgender and queer performance at The Brava Theater June 15-‐17, 2012. Awarded funds will support the participating artists’ performance fees and theater rental costs.


• They have an awesome work sample.

• Sean is an award winning choreographer.

• I’ve been to some of the performances. One thing I admire about the organization is that they don’t just churn out work. They have a deliberate process for revisiting it over time.

• The festival has a strong curatorial direction. The performers are eclectic and good artwork is being shown. They have the list of who they’re presenting. They have a vision and theme. They create a context for everything they present. The approach is really savvy and sophisticated.

• Not only is it exciting to see the sociopolitical work and the community building, but the production values and diversity of performers are strong. And they’re working at a national scale.

• They’re giving voice and opportunities to transgender artists. It’s exciting. They work across genres.

• The festival is a good opportunity for the artists involved. The quality is high.

• They very clearly state their expectations. It’s very simple but the expectations are clear.

• They’re a very good example for other organizations.



• I was struck by the fact that they’ve already raised money for the festival. It was clear they’re in a strong enough position that even if not funded, they can put on the festival.

• Their budget notes are really clear.

• Their use of data is impressive. They are reflecting on it and analyzing the information they are gathering. They do steady and solid work.

• In their evaluation process, it would be valuable for them to include not just board and staff members, but artists and audience members as well. When you have a festival structure where artists are coming in, it’s helpful to have them reflect on their side of the process. It might already be happening, but since they were so specific with other details it would have been good to see it articulated.

• It’s great that artist pay is one of their measures for success.


• It strikes me is that they seem to be a community and cultural service organization that also puts on kick ass art. They honor community but do it in a way that is artistically excellent. They show that it’s possible.

• The festival feels representative of their community.


• Their clarity in talking about their work is reflected in their outreach. Their community spreads the word and gives them money. Their community partner program is great. They are articulate about how the groups who help them do that.


• I love how they build partnerships. Everyone just assumes that if you’re trans or LGBT and put on work, the community is going to come to see you. But this organization actually does the work to outreach.

• They are clear about their publicity plan—there are details about how they are using Facebook and Twitter. Their outreach is really reliant on free publicity rather than marketing and that’s great. The events are extremely well attended and have a good track record.

• They have good letters of recommendation and cool press coverage.

• I’ve talked to people in the community and they all say good things about the group.

• As an audience member I feel like part of the community of the organization artistically even if I’m not part of it in terms of my social identity. They have a clear set of values but have remained open to other people.



• Their strengths are reflected in their funding support.

• This was one of the most fun narratives to read. Sean and the organization are nationally recognized and know how to talk about their work.

• They have such a diverse pool of resources and revenue. They have good Board support.

• This is a group with an involved board. They have 100% contributing financially—they’re not just volunteers.

• They’ve been around a little while so they’re not exactly a young organization, but for their age, it’s good to see that the Board President is not the Artistic Director. They’re allowing someone else to run things. They’ll also be growing their Board this year.

• They’re a fairly young organization with room to grow.


WOMEN’S AUDIO MISSION PROJECT SUMMARY: Women’s Audio Mission is seeking support in the amount of $15,000 from the San Francisco Arts commission’s Organization Project Grant for our Recording & Performing Residencies: Preserving Culture program, which provides underserved traditional folk artists and ensembles from diverse cultures with access to recording services, enabling them to produce, present, preserve, and distribute their musical works for posterity.


• The work sample demonstrates the importance this organization’s production values in capturing folk traditions and how we understand and revisit the work. It shows a sensitive capture that highlights the formal dress, instruments, and the performer’s explanations; it’s quite powerful.

• This is about community access and preservation. It feels very balanced.

• They’re working with a number of different pieces that are aesthetically and structurally grounded and compelling.

• There are several powerful things: the preservation of music and traditional work; the provision of resources rarely presented to those artists; that it’s outside of the formal channels of the governmental or commercial systems. This is important for the preservation of oral history and folk traditions.

• This is compelling because they not only have the recording and performing residencies, but are building the capacity to use technology. That’s important to these groups. It’s not just the work you can do in an office or home. This requires access to studios, financial planning, and a range of professionals and resources that can make or break a project.

• It’s not clear why they chose these particular groups. I want to know more about their curatorial thought process. Is there a theme associated with their selection?

• In terms of curatorial vision, they talk about who is making the selections. I’m familiar with some of them, like Dee Spencer, but all of them are real professionals who have been steeped in many musical traditions.

• I wasn’t familiar with the organization. I got excited reading through the application.

• I like that there’s an organization focused on giving women a chance to become audio engineers—it’s sorely lacking.

• In terms of staff biographies, I only saw details in Terri’s—I was looking for biographies for the people working behind the scenes.

• Director: Our application just asks to provide details on key staff.

• And they do have the artistic group’s biographies.

• I was just hoping for more information about the production staff.



• The project is pretty sound. This is an expansion of the work they’ve done in exposing cultures.

• Their work plan and the stated benchmarks along the way were effective laid out.

• Artists are getting paid so I like that.

• They have a track record with this specific project—they piloted the program in 2011 with the artists we saw in the work sample. They’ve partnered with KPFA and launched performances at Slims and the American Music Hall and created a niche in supporting these groups through those kinds of events.

• I have questions because there are so many facets to the project. They are preserving culture through recordings and live performances. But there are no specifics for the performances: when or where? Has a venue been selected?

• Director: That component of the project is in 2013.


• OK. So there is more time.

• Director: You can also look at what they’ve done for their past events. Is there something comparable?

• With the live events, recording and the training of the engineers, it felt like a lot. It was hard to figure out how it comes together logistically.


• Given the way the organization works, it makes sense that this is one part of a larger organizational strategy and mission.

• They are aligning two areas of the cultural landscape. It’s both the preservation of culture and building the audio engineering toolkit.

• I wondered how the folk preservation project fits in with the organization’s focus on developing women as engineers. There is a piece of the narrative that talks about the interns doing that work, but that felt like a by-‐product. I would have partnered with an organization that is working with the folk groups to bring them in—there’s other groups doing world music that they could collaborate with. This feels like a new kind of series for themselves. Their focus is on women becoming engineers so I expected more women’s musical groups coming in.

• Director: Some of the groups identified are women’s groups. Also, in their organizational overview, they describe the musicians they work with more broadly.

• There are all women’s groups—like the mariachi group—that they are working with. But it’s not restricted to just women musicians.

• There wasn’t information about the women engineers in the project. They talked about their school. But they didn’t include information about the students, how they would be selected, and what their role would be in the project.

• In the narrative they talk about the engineering work they do.

• I understand how that works in the overall organization, but not for this particular project. Do their students apply to be included in this project in particular? How are the women integrated into this part of the process?

• Director: In the narrative where they talk about the audience for the project, they note that 15 women and girls will have hands on training. They also talk about the many solid connections they have to community groups.

• In another point in the narrative it mentions that they will be part of the engineering process.

• The work plan also has some information.

• I wanted more detail about how they’re being brought into the process.

• Director: This ties back to their core mission and the evolution of the program. So given their track record, do you have evidence that they can connect the dots and pull it off? Or is there a red flag here?

• The women handling the recording sessions and learning through the process felt like a byproduct that is secondary to the art being created. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

• Director: To clarify: the project is not about art being created; it is about preservation and capture of artwork. That capture is what is being done by the girls.

• I didn’t have a strong a sense of that capture process in relation to the live performance presentations.

• I had a similar reaction. Maybe the work is about the basket holding it together. The artist part is sexy, but I didn’t see as much of the other part of the process.

• They could have done a better job of clarifying how the components fit together.

• I assumed that the details of the particular youth and mentorships would be coming together closer in to the project. The work plan has more detail about what they’re doing. I need to extrapolate in this case, but the schedule of activities from the past year gave me a sense of the depth of their work, even if it wasn’t centered on the specific girls who benefitted. I think the project is a great melding of serving these different needs. I have a good sense of mentorship involved. It didn’t bother me that there were less clear parts.


• If this wasn’t led by a professional in the field who is also a professor, I might have been less confident in the project. This is also a growing organization, not a pop-‐up, so I have greater confidence in it. The studio experience is both planned and reactive. The women are coming in from underserved communities. This reflects the multidimensionality of the organization and the ways they’re finding these niches to bring together.

• If this was the only project of the organization it would be a red flag, but it fits into an umbrella of work. I can extrapolate and see how everything fits together.

• Director: They also have a letter from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts that talks about the outcomes from last year’s pilot project.

• The letter from ACTA does help clarify things.


• I like that they’re giving unique folk musicians the opportunity to record and present to a larger community through web and media recordings. It’s a chance to get their name out there.

• Their audience is focused on women and girls in terms of creating access. There are many ways this organization can build a following, whether web-‐based or through other kinds of engagement.

• I only have questions about their budget for advertising and marketing. It’s only $700? It’s not clear what that covers. That’s almost nothing. What happens when they go into the live performances?

• staff: They describe free publicity strategies in the narrative.

• Director: They talk about web hits, e-‐subscribers, and social media.

• They’re also free events. They have links to the Pixies and PJ Harvey, so you know…they do have good connections out there.



• They’re very capable of accomplishing this project. They’ve received national attention for bringing women into engineering.

• Board participation in fundraising has increased. It seems like a lean organization.

• Looking at their budget, the kind of support they get, and the people involved, I have confidence they can pull it off.


DOOR DOG MUSIC PRODUCTIONS PROJECT SUMMARY: Door Dog Music Productions (DDMP) respectfully requests $15,000 from the San Francisco Arts Commission OPG Program to help support the US artistic commissioning and live technology production fees for “The Opera Project”, a trans-‐Pacific multi-‐dimensional opera employing the use of simultaneous live performances and interactive virtual technology in both San Francisco’s Eugene & Elinor Friend Center for the Arts and Taipei’s National Theater Concert Hall with live feed from Beijing’s Zhenyici Peking Opera Theatre, slated to premiere over 2 days on November 9-‐11, 2012 as part of Door Dog Music Production’s 13th annual San Francisco World Music Festival.


• As can be seen in the work sample, this is quite an accomplished production with very high values in the preservation of culture. They are showcasing the work in a really great way and maintaining the authenticity of the art forms while exposing it to audiences.

• It’s really exciting that these are not just museum pieces. These artists are innovating and creating new works in their traditions.

• The caliber of the artists is very high, so I had to trust that they know what they’re doing. The work sample gave me a sense of their skill.

• I don’t think they addressed how the artists for the project were selected.

• The work sample was good to see even if it didn’t include an example of them working with live feeds.



• This narrative was very difficult to read through. The introduction to the organization was an almost one-‐page run-‐on sentence. The writing made it difficult to follow the thread of what was being said and what they were proposing. It was difficult to follow; they didn’t address all of the questions.

• They want to hold simultaneous activities with incredible artists from all over the world. Logistically it’s quite an undertaking. They’re managing visas; coordinating across different parts of the world. Their work is focused on non-‐Western countries that often make it challenging to bring in artists.

• This is a really logistically difficult project. It requires live satellite feeds. They are holding simultaneous events in San Francisco, Beijing and Taipei. Even communication needs for this project will be quite a feat.

• I didn’t have a strong sense of the final product when looking at their scope and plan. The live streaming of simultaneous performances adds a much more complicated element to what they’ve done in the past. I know they’ve worked with video but this is different. Their work plan could have been clearer. It’s extremely ambitious to create new work at this scale. I felt like I needed more information and clarity.

• In terms of working with the live feed, it’s becoming standard. It’s not unusual to see. They may not have done it themselves, but they can hire the technicians.

• They work with people at a high level so I know they can connect with the people they need.

• I’ve had to deal with simultaneous performance feeds in my own work. People are incorporating it nationally, as well as internationally in China and India. The experience is becoming better for performers as they’ve been addressing delays and lag in the feed. Here in the Bay Area, Berkeley and Stanford have been working with the technology to make that minimal. It’s evolving quickly and increasingly becoming a part of how people are working.

• This blows my mind. I don’t even know how to even imagine it. I have questions about the live feed, so it’s good to know the feasibility of the technology. I haven’t seen live feeds like this being used outside of the San Francisco Opera.

• In their update they note that the 3rd city has changed to the city of Baku instead of Beijing. All the venues they’ve identified are pretty large settings. I don’t think the technology will be an issue at these venues.


• When you say “large settings,” what kind of capacity are we talking about?

• At the Jewish Community Center, they can be at over 400 with their stadium seating configuration.

• They account for all the expenses in their planning. In their budget, they are really specific. They’ve taken the logistics into account. They include estimates for all the technological requirements and live feeds to get this off the ground. I do wonder if the visas and travel fees will be more expensive than what has been projected.

• They have diverse and generous support, but are heavily dependent on foundation support for this project. It’s going to be a challenge to pull this off. I feel like they need a strategic plan around diversification of financial support moving forward; especially for this kind of project.

• The budget is really big—they’ve secured a lot, but there are some holes

• The $50,000 from Wattis is a big deal; especially since everyone is tapping them for funding.

• In their budget, they do identify the expenses tied to airfares, visas, transportation, etcetera. And under the production and exhibition line, they do include the costs for research and the satellite—those are pretty specific estimates. I have confidence they can pull this off.

• Their measures for success and evaluation didn’t really satisfy what I was looking for.


• This would continue support of the festival—which is a gift to San Francisco.


• The audiences they serve are definitely enriched. They are educated by the work the festival brings to the City.

• The organization needs to reach out a little more—outside the insiders of the world music community. They need to create more bridges with other music lovers in the city. The festival is somewhat under the radar; even though it gets lots of support. They could be more front-‐and-‐center in the local music scene.

• The support they give to music from around the world is really critical at this point in history. They’re bringing things into alignment globally. We’re already seeing the impact of these forms in other genres of music, so they could generate more broad support. This is very timely.

• Maybe with more free events, they might create more opportunities for exposure. They might consider aligning with other organizations outside of the regular festival to enhance that support.

• Not a large percentage of their budget is being put into advertising but it is still a lot. The festival is still under the radar so are they getting much out of that investment?

• The outreach is fine.

• Their outreach to immigrant communities wasn’t clear. Without a clear plan it can be hard to do that work; I wanted to hear their specific ideas. But they do have some community partners. They note the support from the Arab Community Center and Jewish Community Center, but I wanted more detail there as well.



• I applaud their visionary risk-‐taking artistically, but think they need that foundation of broad financial support on the organization side.

• The organization is stable in terms of its budget. They have a great track record.

• They have a lot more potential to generate income. I’m not sure if they are recording the artists, but they might be able to generate revenue for the future through that arena. I also wonder what kind of support they get from China’s government. Will they be building support from other governments where they hold events?


• This is an organization that is not in a deficit, but has recently come back to balancing out after struggling. It’s a challenge that they haven’t done this before, have no contingency plan in the budget and have more than 25% of the budget still pending. Wallace funds are tough to get; it can be all or nothing.


ASIAN IMPROV ARTS PROJECT SUMMARY: Asian Improv aRts seeks a grant to support a 25th Anniversary Festival tentatively scheduled to be held November 15-‐17 at ODC/SF Theater.


• The proposal lacked a lot of detail. It didn’t seem like they were inspired by the project themselves.

• I had to read this over and over again. I had a very difficult time finding their passion for the project. They have a problem statement. They talk about the culture of the arts and arts organizations, social exclusion, but didn’t expand on those details. It was difficult to read—“A. B. C.” rote.

• I don’t understand how the project is new and invigorating. They’ve done some at events ODC Theater, but I don’t know what is unique about this project. There’s no sense of their curatorial vision and passion this time around.

• They mention the impact this can have on new generations and that they are going through a reflection period. This is the 25th year of the festival, but I wanted to see more; even if it’s about bringing back past performers, because they’ve worked with great people.

• The application doesn’t speak to who they are and the importance of their legacy. It’s really sad. It feels like they need help getting the message out about what the organization has done here in San Francisco. They’ve established an Asian American arts consortium here in San Francisco. They’ve created a distinct voice in their art by fusing jazz with Asian expressions and modes.

• This 25th festival would feature some of our city’s most well respected artists. These are Grammy winners and treasures in terms of Iranian jazz musicians. Folks like Wayne Wallace, John Carlos Perea, Melody Takata, and Jon Jang. It’s sad that if you don’t already know who they are, the proposal doesn’t help you realize that they are treasures in the community.

• This is a hugely important institution, so it is frustrating that the proposal doesn’t communicate the role of the organization. They’ve played an important role in fostering artists. That information should be in here. Unless you already know the work of the organization, this doesn’t communicate how important they’ve been.

• The organization was established in 1987 so I had some expectation that the work samples would excite me more or that their documentation would talk about the strength of the art.

• The work sample did not help. It was bad—bad sound, bad visuals. It didn’t show who they are.

• In my preliminary notes, I wrote that I really wanted to see the work sample. I know of some of the artists they’re working with as provocative thinkers, but this didn’t make a persuasive case for the project. I hoped the sample would turn my assessment around. They can do better than this. This feels like an awkward pairing because we know they can do better.



• Their budget notes are scarce and don’t give a lot of detail breakdowns. They mention panel fees and artist fees but don’t detail that out.

• The proposal felt very vague in general. The budget notes were vague. For instance, they talk about targeting Zellerbach and the San Francisco Foundation, but didn’t give a breakdown of each ask.

• The timeline was helpful.


• Their project and mission talk about a vision that isn’t necessarily carried out in bringing in new Asian American artists.


• staff: In the narrative they list the artists for whom they’ve created opportunities and the relevance and generations involved in the program.

• I did see that, but it wasn’t enough.


• Their marketing plan is based on social media and connections with Asian American Studies Departments. But I had a hard time finding the details. There were no letters of recommendation. The press clippings were hard to sort through to find where they were really talking about the work. The clips write about what happened but didn’t convey any excitement.

• They talk about civil rights and empowerment, but there was no passion, sense of those themes in the work and how they’re engaging with the audience.

• They’re projecting a paying audience of 150, but are looking at an overall crowd of 500. With that many free tickets they need to really blow the horn and get people out.



• They’ve had a couple of folks running the organization for a while—the same staff, board, and artists. I don’t have a sense that they’ve brought in and organized other Asian American artists.

• They have a budget surplus. They can take hits and keep going. It shows they’ve been careful with their finances.


SF FRIENDS OF CHAMBER MUSIC PROJECT SUMMARY: Chamber Music Day . Live + Free is an all-‐day festival showcasing the quality, diversity and vitality of chamber music in the Bay Area. In 2012 this dynamic event featuring 30+ ensembles in performances of baroque, classical, jazz and contemporary music, will take place throughout the SF Conservatory of Music. SFFCM collaborates closely with musicians and presenters to engage new audiences, and introduce new voices to seasoned listeners in a welcoming, accessible, and free event.


• The work sample was fun to watch and clearly fun for the attendees.

• This is a fabulous idea. It’s a big visionary idea. They’re bringing together this community and showcasing the variety of chamber ensembles in this region.

• The line up of artists are well curated with a lot of finesse and expertise.

• The curating is great.

• I really like that they talk about their curatorial vision and giving people an entry into different styles and genres. Audiences can create their own personalized program by walking through the way they want. Unfortunately they don’t have the specific groups listed yet.



• I wanted more of a breakdown of artist fees. All of our applicants should be breaking that down.

• They have tremendous potential for economic growth and to get more support because it is a free event. They can collaborate with other presenters or corporate sponsors.

• They have a good track record in receiving the funding that is still pending.

• They have been close to a deficit. I would recommend that they build in a small contingency for their budget. They may need more breathing room for an organization of their size.


• This really helps people to find out about these kinds of ensembles and how to follow them later. This furthers visibility and educates the public about a diversity of genres. The list of artists involved includes people who are all really important in this community.


• Their partnership with an institution like the DeYoung is brilliant. And it’s great for it to be free and accessible.

• Something that jumped out was that 98% of their audience said they would come back again.

• I’ve never heard of this event but I must go. In terms of target audience, they’re very open, but don’t seem to have specific plans to reach specific groups. They’re gearing this toward music lovers, but I would love for them to reach out to other folks who might not be music lovers. I want to go this year now that I know about it.

• They’ve gotten some attention, but I agree that they need to do more outreach and more publicity to get the word out to the general public. But they’re on the road to success.




• Their advisory board includes people that know this community very well and can help this team.

• The members of their board are really diverse. They are a hard-‐working, dedicated group of volunteers. They have all the makings of a great track record.

• The board giving has doubled in the last year—which is great to see.

• In their California Cultural Data Project profile, there was a big swing-‐-‐-‐I wasn’t sure if there was an explanation for that.

• Director: They have a re-‐granting program with Grants for the Arts funds. That might be the cause.

• Director: Following up on the earlier note, I couldn’t find a note about the source of the other contributed funds.


PLAYWRIGHTS FOUNDATION PROJECT SUMMARY: Playwrights Foundation will present the 35th Anniversary Bay Area Playwrights Festival in July, 2012. The Festival gives the theater-‐going public access to the development of new plays by some of the most gifted new writers working today, while serving the needs of those playwrights and bringing greater visibility to the Bay Area as a thriving new play community.


• Their curatorial vision is very clear and strong.

• The curatorial process involved an advisory group reading through plays and meeting to process. It’s a very thoughtful structure.

• The list of artists they’ve supported in the past speaks for itself. Even the younger playwrights have shown results. And even outside the superstar names, the work regularly goes on to full production. It’s really exciting.

• They provide a structure for the development of young talent.

• They’re a great institution that supports and nurtures playwrights. They do a good job of doing what they do.

• They’re incredible and this sounds fantastic. Good for them.

• They’re one of the only applicants who is using their upcoming anniversary to add a new focus that also reflects on the past. They’ll be working with people that they’ve supported in the past as available.

• Over the last 10 years their reputation has really exploded.

• For the staged readings, they put an emphasis on casting really well. By bringing in the right people they give the work a chance to stand out—it’s folks who can really fill the roles. The big emphasis they put on that component makes a difference.

• My organization has produced a lot of work that has come out from the artists they support. It kills me that we have also passed on some writers that went on to really big productions.



• The application is really solid.

• Their funding is really well secured from solid sources.

• The evaluation process asks artists to reflect on the process. They do that both during the process and afterwards. It’s a very strong design.

• Their timeline is great. It gives them lots of time to plan in advance.


• They make a good argument for what they do and the ways they’ve supported artists—their role in the ecosystem. They have a strong collaborative relationship with producing organizations. They are very credible in their ability to serve as an incubator.


• In terms of outreach and audience development: they see playwrights as their key audience. They have a great retreat and in-‐depth exchanges between artists. They also have a good sense of the outside audience. This is well thought through.

• They included letters of support from participating playwrights. They communicate so well what the organization does and the impact it’s had on their careers.


• They’ve done the planning for promotions. Their plan factors in a lot of lectures so that audiences can hear from the playwrights themselves.



• The way they describe their personnel and key staff is exemplary. It makes it clear what they do and their roles in the project.

• They’re celebrating their 35th anniversary. They have a track record of supporting young talent that goes on to be huge and important in the field.

• They’ve had some past financial issues, but they’ve also made some adjustments to get squared away. They’ve worked on their earned income and brought in contributed donor income. They’ve stabilized the organization. They’ve been fixing those issues.

• They do a great job in partnering with local and national organizations.


ABADA CAPOEIRA PROJECT SUMMARY: ACSF requests support for its “spirit of Brazil Festival”, which commemorates 20 years of performance and arts education in the Bay Area. The Festival joins together ACSF’s performance troupe and founders, with guest Brazilian artists from around the world, as well as local artists and ensembles. The Festival includes staged performances, and master workshops and lectures. A “meet and greet” reception complimented by art exhibits and performances by local Brazilian artists will kick-‐off the Festival!


• This is a group that really represents the mastery of capoeira.

• What distinguishes them from other groups is that they are led by a female master of the art form. She’s one of the top female practitioners in the world.

• There’s a heavy emphasis on the professional development aspect of the proposal. This is a real opportunity for people to learn from master artists. That’s an insulated activity more than being tied to the performances—although the performances are there.

• They have a balance between performance and education. I like that they both look back at existing work and develop new work. It’s very healthy for the local creative ecology.

• I’m familiar with their work and am impressed. The work sample demonstrates the performative side of the work.

• I didn’t see anything about the curatorial and artistic vision. But they’re bringing in masters of the form and know what they’re doing.



• They’ve done the project planning for this event. I’m confident they can do this.

• Their goals are very clear.

• This was a passionate narrative that made it easy to read and easy to look at. It’s important to remind applicants that things like that help read through these applications!


• This project is a celebration of 20 years of work.

• This is a very essential program. There are a lot of anniversary projects but this communicates the excitement. And it talks about why it’s important to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the anniversary.


• The impact of their work is obvious.

• They are well regarded in the community.

• She’s created a Bay Area community of capoeiristas. They’ve both brought people in from Brazil and taken local people there. They’ve set up a cultural exchange that’s brought the vision from the home country here. It inspires people. They’ve been doing this a long time, developing the form here. They have a lot of classes and workshops over the year.

• They have clear objectives about reaching out to kids from Tenderloin and Bayview-‐Hunter’s Point. That’s a good idea given that the roots of the form are in the culture of poor slaves. It’s so empowering.

• They talked about those partnerships in the Tenderloin and Bayview-‐Hunter’s Point, but didn’t identify specific groups. So it’s not clear what’s in place.




• They have a good track record.

• They had a small drop in tuition because of the economy.

• The organization had a deficit in 2010. They had to use some savings to address it and are regenerating the funds to replace those savings.

• They’re one of those organizations that has flirted with financial issues. I get the sense from them that they’ve hit speed bumps but know how to deal with it. There is a large 10% contingency built in to the budget. They’ve learned and adjusted—like capoeira itself!

• They are building their infrastructure. The Executive Director is currently focusing on fundraising. They’re moving in the right direction to develop their strength and stabilize finances. I don’t think it will impair them from doing this event.


CROATIAN AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTER PROJECT SUMMARY: This proposal requests $15,000 to support the 2013 San Francisco Tamburitza Festival, an event that celebrates the long-‐standing influence of the tambura on the cultural lives of Croatians, featuring 3 of the nation’s leading Tamburitza groups and master artists. In 2013, five acclaimed Croatian American Tamburitza ensembles and soloists. Awarded funds will support the fees of the participating artists, and the Festival’s technical production, outreach, and promotional expenses.


• They’re not only collaborating with other groups in the Bay, but they’re also bringing in folks from other cities. They’re serving as a gathering place for other practitioners. They’re looking at the music more broadly across the country. They’re serving a role as a regional or national center for this work. They’re presenting the festival to local audiences but building across geographies.

• They’re expanding to a 2nd day of the festival. This is a well put together and many-‐layered event. The diversity comes from the combination of performances and dialogue with their community.

• The Balkans have incredible musical traditions so this is great.

• They’re working with master artists in their traditions.

• When I’ve been to the festival in the past, it was very lively and interactive. They make you get up and dance. It’s very community oriented and the music was outstanding.

• I enjoyed the music at the festival.

• Production values are not necessarily as important here as much as the community enjoying this and the intergenerational dimension.

• Audience members make suggestions to the director about artists to invite and he takes that into consideration when curating. They clearly have some high level artists headlining.

• Director: They also list the credentials of the selection panelists.

• And include a list of the artists presenting.



• Their goals are clear and modest. They have the resources to be a little more ambitious in projects as they go further.

• They have a staff member dedicated to publicity and outreach and a clear sense of what they consider success.

• I would have liked to see them involving artists in the evaluation process and outreach. They can talk to them about how to make the festival stronger.


• They are addressing their cultural impact on the larger Balkan community—this serves their mission.

• They are a community resource that serves the needs of a particular ethnic community. They’re trying to expand their reach to serve related immigrant communities.


• It’s a pretty specific group they are serving but the group is well served by the project. They’ve been observing trends and changing needs in the community.


• I noticed that there is an emphasis on getting younger audiences. They talk about bringing in younger Board members and a younger outreach staff member. But I would have liked more detail about the outreach activities themselves. They didn’t have specifics. That’s always the challenge.

• I’ve been to the festival in the past. They’ve had lots of young people.

• They are doing the right things to get the young people to build that.

• Staff: They describe how the outreach coordinator is attending other events and connecting with Croatian businesses.

• I did see that description, but there wasn’t something specific to outreach to young people.

• They also talk about master classes but I’m not sure that’s specific to young audiences.



• They are in a good budget situation as an organization.

• The Executive Director had been volunteering for years and is finally being paid more recently. He’s very dedicated.

• Daley has coordinated over 200 events so this is clearly in his wheelhouse.

• They’ve been doing this for a number of years and have shown steady growth.

• Their plans were very credible. I trust their ability to implement the plan.


EXIT THEATER PROJECT SUMMARY: EXIT Theatre is seeking funds to support the 2012 San Francisco Fringe Festival. The SF Fringe is a 20 year old theater festival, open to all artists, that presents over 150 performances by over 35 performing groups over 12 days in September in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood.


• This is a community effort. Great groups have sprung from Fringe.

• The curation is done by lottery so it can be a mixed bag. Performances can range from not strong to really good. But it allows folks who normally wouldn’t get a chance to get the chance.

• They also do a Best of Fringe as a way to feature the strongest work a week later. If you miss the show during the main run you get to see it there and it also celebrates the strong work.

• It’s an experience. In Paris you go to see the Effiel Tower. In San Francisco you go to Fringe. Traditional curation is out the window. If you get picked you just do it. It can be exciting.

• Director: They talk about how performers have to pay an entry fee to the lottery so it stops there from being a total seat of your pants thing—there’s an investment.

• I didn’t know about the lottery system. From what you’ve seen in the past, does it bring in at least a handful of high quality work? The names they list aren’t familiar to me so I can’t tell. I know that it can range from newcomers to experienced folks but is there a proportion of good stuff?

• I don’t know about the quality at this point. Cutting Ball Theater and Rob Melrose are getting national attention and they started with Fringe. It gives people that chance to be seen. Usually you have to wait for a presenter to give that opportunity to you. In this case, you can produce the work yourself at a reasonable price.

• Groups also need to pull together things to get in for promotional material deadlines and prepare descriptions for the calendar. So people can’t just show up that day and wing it.

• Director: So you’re saying that there is a baseline level: they need to pay an entry fee and need to do the work to draw people in.

• So how do we judge artistic excellence and curatorial vision?

• Director: The curatorial process they describe is the lottery. You can look at what’s being discussed as the relevance of that model to the field. That is their chosen vision. You can also look at the discussion of whether there is a baseline of quality. You can look at originality. You can also look at Exit’s role as producers of the festival. They’ve stepped in as producers of the festival so you can look at the strength of their leadership.

• The Best of the Fringe shows a certain determination at that end. The curators see the work and make selections in real time. It’s an interesting polarity. They’re curating stuff in the environment in which it develops rather than coming in with a pre-‐set idea of what you’re working with.

• Director: They talk about providing opportunities as part of the larger artistic vision.

• That kind of a blind, open process allows in folks who might not have the opportunity otherwise. There’s something to that kind of neutrality.

• They are part of the network of Fringe festivals. That is their vision and point of reference. The idea of open access has its own integrity. Theater people embrace it.

• Their work sample is kind of a bummer—it wasn’t the strongest sample. There’s a lot more solo performance being featured now-‐a-‐days. I don’t know if that’s the trend of what’s been coming into the festival. It would have been great to have something that introduces people who haven’t been to the festival to some of the small ensemble work, too.

• I think the number of solo acts shows that bringing together groups and hiring directors can take a lot of time for these artists.

• They included great letters of recommendation.




• The timeline is very thorough.

• Their project budget is solid. They’re looking at grants they’ve gotten in the past. They included thorough budget notes.


• This is a Bay Area institution. In the community, everyone is one-‐degree of separation from the Fringe. Many great groups have started through them. They’re a real gem in the Bay.

• Everybody has had their Fringe experience. They’ve either done their show there or worked with people have done their show there.


• I appreciate that the performers get 100% of their box office. It encourages them to really hustle to bring in audiences. And that’s not always the case at these festivals.

• The Fringe is very driven. People come out to see work. You hear about it in the theater community. It’s very well known.

• As an audience member, tickets are cheap so you can also jump to other performances if the one you’re in isn’t working.

• You can go watch and see Rhodessa talking; it could be an ensemble performance; it could be a dance performance.

• The organization’s vision is to make it participatory. There is a lot of audience feedback. In a way, people curate with their feet.



• The financial picture is solid.

• The festival has been going on for years.

• They’ve been doing this for a long time. They have a long history of carrying this out. Richard and Christine have been running the organization for a long time. They’re minding the store.

• They always have lots of volunteers. They have it down to an art and science. I don’t know all the behind-‐the-‐scenes details, but as an audience member, things are done well and then you see the work.


ARAB CULTURAL & COMMUNITY CENTER PROJECT SUMMARY: The Arab Cultural Festival is the largest celebration of Arab arts and culture in Northern California. Since 1995, this day-‐long event has showcased the arts, entertainment, cuisine, traditions, and, most importantly, the spirit of Arab Americans and of the Arab world. The festival reflects and embraces our community’s diversity and its contributions to the Bay Area's cultural landscape.


• I thought this was a very strong application. That’s been amplified by the work sample clip we saw.

• The proposal speaks to the range of artists they work with -‐ from popular to traditional forms. It shows their inclusivity and the plurality of the work.

• I got some sense of the music, but it is hard to assess the artistic excellence from the sample. It seems like it’s going to be more of a broad range; more community groups, with some professionals. I don’t mean that as a negative.

• Director: They included a review of the performances in their press clippings.

• I saw the review’s description of the artistic work. But I thought they could have done more to show that by giving more in the work sample. I’ll take their word for it, but since it’s such a high profile opportunity I want that to be maximized.

• I do recognize one of the artists they’ve named: Yasir. I know his work—he’s very well respected. So that speaks to the quality. But it would have been helpful to have a list of all the artists.

• I was a little disappointed by the work sample. From the narrative I thought there would be more cultural demonstrations. But it seemed like the typical Sunday bazaar in the square. It would have been good to see more clips of the artists performing. I wanted a sense of who else was involved. They could expand on that further since we are the Arts Commission.



• Their timeline is solid.

• In terms of the planning, it looks like from what we have that they are in good financial standing. There are no red flags.


• This will have a very positive impact for them. I as an immigrant know how important it is to have a place you can go to be at home outside of your country. This is great for newly arrived immigrants, Arab Americans and that intergenerational connection and congregation.

• Holding the festival in a busy part of town where there’s lots of space makes a very strong affirmative statement. It speaks to the organization’s commitment to access and creating a celebration of culture. They are broadening what is considered appealing.

• I just want to reiterate this has a high significance and relevance for a community that has been stereotyped a lot. To have it in such an iconic spot is very smart of them.


• They seem to be reaching their target audience. It’s smart that their plans included social media, word of mouth and BART advertisements. That’s really clever. It attracts a larger, broader audience.

• And the location is accessible because it’s so close to a BART line.


• When cultural events include food and merchandise vendors, I wonder if the cultural performances just become entertainment and people don’t engage with it. So it was good to see the video and see that people were engaging with the work.

• The sample was very exemplary in the way that it showed feedback from attendees. They used it as a chance to show the crowd; to show who was there, the diversity.

• It was good to have people speak to their experiences in the video since there wasn’t a letter of support that could give that perspective.

• They have close ties to education and social services through their other work. They’re really working in their community.



• They have a professional staff.

• The organization has a nice financial cushion.

• I didn’t see artist fees in their California Cultural Data Project budget but I wasn’t sure if that was grouped under professional fees.

• I saw 2008 and 2009 numbers in CCDP, but is there anything for 2010?

• Staff: We didn’t catch that omission earlier.

• It would have been helpful to have that information.

• They seemed to make mistakes in their formatting. On the application form they had the same numbers for 2011 and 2012. Along with the CCDP not including the most recent numbers, it feels like they didn’t pay as much attention to the details as they should have.

• I have similar questions about the budget. There was a big program revenue drop in 2009; a 86% drop. There was also a big drop in their contributed revenue from individuals. I have a question about their earned program revenue…

• Would that be classes?

• That wasn’t clear. It would have been good to know. But they also have a $200,000 contingency built in so they have a financial buffer.


QUEER CULTURAL CENTER PROJECT SUMMARY: This proposal requests $15,000 to support Creating Queer Community, a DIY capacity-‐building professional development program that will enhance 10 emerging LGBT artists and arts organizations’ ability to conceive, create, promote, finance and produce compelling art projects as part of the June 2013 National Queer Arts Festival. Awarded SFAC funds will underwrite 10 productions at an average cost of $1500, including artists’ fees, space rental, publicity, and technical production expenses.


• The program is a combination of boot camp and commissioning process. It’s an interesting model for support.

• They included a roster of the artists they’ve presented in the past; it’s a high caliber of artist.

• I’m not familiar with their work, but it’s been helpful to see that many of the groups that they’ve been supporting have also applied to this grant with strong projects.

• The artists they’ve worked with attest to the good work.

• I feel a little mixed about it. This provides an important service. Artists have to devote so much time to being administrators and being entrepreneurial these days. So this is important. They provide good guidance and detail the process of helping artists organize and think in a logical way as administrators.

• This is valuable. Even if it is difficult for artists to be doing the other work, it is good practice to self-‐produce. It does a service to artists when they understand the process of presenting and what it takes.

• This covers a lot of ground and feels holistic in its approach. They’re empowering artists with a set of skills.

• I love the process. They’re bringing artists along in specific ways. They’re working with the sheltering umbrella of peer development. It works better than just throwing people together.

• The whole long-‐term investment shows a lot of foresight. It’s wonderful that an organization with their capacity is sharing resources in this creative way.

• There’s a process for feedback. The participants need to really listen. It’s very valuable.

• This is focused on working toward the festival and supported by the small grants they’re giving out. I assume that the amounts don’t cover the whole cost of producing the work. Given that it needs to stretch so far, the grants seem like a small amount. The support is spread a bit thin given what it covers.



• This was very thorough.

• They have a great track record in terms of project planning. They expressed it well in writing. It was a great narrative. They have a sound project plan. I didn’t see any red flags with that.

• They have an exacting schedule of activity.


• This has a huge impact in terms of the organization’s mission of nurturing Queer arts in San Francisco.

• This advances work of the organization.

• Over the years they’ve done good work in the community. The fact that the groups they support are also here needs to be attributed at least in part to their support.



• The audience for this is drawn from their constituency. It’s a small group but the connection is very deep. This doesn’t need to go to a larger scale at this moment. It’s clear that the work has a lasting impact.

• Participants have expressed their appreciation of the process.

• Their evaluation process is with the groups involved in the professional development process. Participant feedback seems constructive.

• The link to the National Queer Arts Festival adds another dimension to the audience development strategy.

• In terms of whether they are reaching their audiences: Yes. Yes. Yes. They use the community to get the word out. They do email blasts. They publicize it. The artists themselves are responsible for making sure this is successful. It motivates them to get out there and sell tickets to their communities. It insures events do well at the box office.

• They have a strong online presence. It is clear that the big audience is connected to the web presence. Their audience seems general, but they serve a broad community.

• The work sample gave a sense of the diversity of the local queer arts community they work with.



• QCC is a great organization. Their leaders are top notch.

• They’re surrounded by amazing leaders. Pam Penniston, Jeff Jones and the work of Carolina Ponce de Leon and Marie Acosta in the workshops. There are responsible professionals guiding this process.

• They have a track record.

• They have a capable Board of people who are all in the arts, planning and fundraising fields.


YOUNG AUDIENCES OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA PROJECT SUMMARY: In conjunction with the Presidio Trust, YANC will present a series of four public programs in The Presidio. Each Young Audiences at the Presidio program will include a performance, a teaching/engagement workshop in which children participate in art-‐making with artists, and a perform/inform element for children to demonstrate their learning. At least one program will include visual arts. This project is an outgrowth of a pilot project we mounted in July 2011 with great success.


• I’m mostly familiar with them as working with classical music, so I was pleased to see them working with other art forms.

• Taiko performances will work well in the Presidio. Percussion forms carry through many genres and cultures so it’s a good choice to have as a strong anchor for the program.

• This was not a proposal I was excited about at all. It just felt flat. There wasn’t enough description of what they’ll be doing. They have a broad vision of some components and some world music information, but they don’t describe anything else. It almost feels like the Presidio drove this project and asked them to apply.

• I’m struck by the promises that some proposals try to make. In the work sample they talk about children having the chance to express themselves, but what they actually show is the artists performing. I didn’t see the children having the chance to do be involved in the work. So they have to be careful about what they promise. If they say something and fall short then it looks like a false promise. Being honest about the good work that is actually being done and not overstating it is fine.

• The curatorial vision could use a little more development. Are they supporting the artists being presented as part of their other school-‐based work? I didn’t really see that in the application.



• I think having multiple events gives them the opportunity to learn as they go and develop a momentum that is hard to sustain with one annual event. That’s worth mentioning. A number of the community building activities take place over a couple of days as opposed over a short time.

• The budget notes were spare. They have other contributed income but didn’t include an explanation of what that means. They list corporate support but don’t include details. Given that this is a brand new project, I don’t know the reliability of these sources.

• The request is a pretty substantial percentage of the budget for this event. They have a lot invested in the proposal.

• They are very dependent on this grant to move forward so that’s a bit of a concern.


• This is an amplification of their mission. The mission is not contingent on this happening, but this is a good counterweight to the school specific stuff that they’ve been doing.

• The project is a gathering point for the work that they do and the audiences they reach through their work. The public presentation underscores how desperately this kind of work is needed. It reflects a desire to reach students not just through schools but to work with them in the public and along with their families.

• Their work in schools is their forte. I don’t know if this is the right place for them.

• This is a service provider trying to become a presenter.



• Doing work outside schools allows them to work with families, too.

• They make some bold statements about how this kind of event will impact the lives of the youth in the future. They don’t say how they will measure that. Will they track the students to determine future impact on their lives? Will they check on future grades? What is the measure?

• They don’t talk about ongoing relationships. That kind of assessment requires a deep, immersive impact over time to have results.

• That was a main issue for me too. It feels like the whole default “Mozart is good for your kids” argument. They have to have more in depth measures that speak to their work specifically. Not just the generalized truisms.

• They’re trying to bring in underserved families, but they’re holding this out in the Presidio. They’re not locating this in the community they’re trying to reach.

• And the log cabin where it’s being held is very isolated even in the Presidio. I worked in the Presidio for a number of years and it was hard for me to find.

• I don’t see a plan to get people out there. Public transportation there is difficult. I didn’t see a bus plan or any other plan. They don’t explain how they’re getting families out there or marketing to them. They’ll get the people who can make it out there and those families will have a good experience. But they mention wanting other kids and I didn’t see a strategy that addresses that issue. They need to be able to reach people where they live, learn, and play. I didn’t see that with this particular effort.

• It would have been more feasible to make this a general, public family event.

• Or they could pick a different location. It’s generally a good location but we need to ask: is it the right place for this audience?

• I understand the reasoning for moving into public programs, but that Presidio location is really hard to find. There isn’t as much programming going on there. It’s used more for retreats because it’s nestled away. I can’t tell you how to get there even though I’ve worked in the area. It takes a map to get there.

• I don’t get a sense of how this will reach their audience. The specificity is lacking. They will leave marketing and outreach to the Presidio Trust. It’s a great way for them to develop new audiences. But I’m not sure Young Audiences is taking the initiative to grow in that area.

• If they don’t have the mailing list and marketing piece, they can connect with the Presidio folks who do have that in place.

• They have the access to families because of the work that they do in the schools. They have that interaction. They have connections to community partners who can be very supportive. There is a demand for free, high quality programs. So it feels like they have a lot of missed opportunities here.

• The letter of support was from the Presidio Trust, not one of the youth or families they work with. I would have liked to hear from one of their audience members.



• They operated with a deficit for a few years but recently switched leadership and received Hewlett funds to help them move forward.

• They seem to have had major financial issues. I wonder if this is the right time for them to take on something like this.


CYPRESS STRING QUARTET PROJECT SUMMARY: Call & Response innovatively embodies the Quartet’s mission to present music as a vital and ongoing process of inspiration. for 2013 we commissioned internationally acclaimed composer Jennifer Higdon, for a 25-‐minute string quartet for soprano (Christine Brandes) based on work by American poet V.S. Merwin. Program activities will coincide with National Poetry Month and include free community and school outreach events. finally, and importantly, this high profile commissioned work will have an SF world premiere.


• This proposal is interesting and unique with the call and the response structure to the work being done by the composers. I wish the work sample showed the “call” that the response builds from so I could get a sense of how the work is translated and inspired. It’s a good programming concept.

• Call and Response is one of the most well regarded programs amongst string quartets. I’ve long been aware of it in the music and presenting world. This is an exciting and multidisciplinary commitment.

• I’ve seen their work many times. I’ve seen the effort they’ve put into their artistic and curatorial vision.

• They’ve traditionally worked with very timely composers.

• They have experience selecting composers. Looking at the listing composers, many of them have a strong San Francisco base.

• They have strong letters of recommendation.



• In their budget they say they will get the necessary funds raised and always do. I would have liked details there but that’s good for them. I take them at their word given their track history.

• The level of individual donations they bring in is very unique for this applicant pool.

• Their workplan is blocked out by quarters.


• They’re a very serious organization and very important for San Francisco music ensembles.

• It’s good to see how they disseminate work around the country and pull in other artists.


• They’re partnering with the library and Litquake.

• They do a lot of outreach to the schools they’ve listed. They have a lot of high audience numbers, but I’m not sure I understand how their numbers are so high. They talk about connections to four schools and a community music center. They mentioned a diversity of ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds. But they’re talking about already well-‐served schools like Lowell and University High. Those don’t necessarily align with what they’re saying in terms of increasing access.

• They’re known for their outreach. They bus the students to their locations. That’s where some of the demographic diversity comes in. They do a great job educating youth and both bringing them to performances and going into the schools.

• Do they mention that in proposal?

• Yes. That’s reflected in the project budget.


• They bring in low-‐income families. But if they’re going to list schools, I want to know what other kinds of outreach they do beyond the already well-‐served schools in San Francisco that they list.

• I’m impressed with their history of commitment to bringing in audiences.

• In the narrative they talk about scholarship tickets and bussing to bring low-‐income families in to see the work at no cost. I would just suggest adding more detail in the future to talk about where the families come from in the city so that it’s clear.

• That’s especially important if they’re talking about audiences from diverse backgrounds and economic classes.

• Their outreach is commendable.



• It’s admirable to see their ability to sustain this through the economic downturn. You see the mettle of organizations tested in this crisis. They’ve sustained their commitment to Call and Response and it shows what they’re made of.

• They’ve been doing this for a while.

• They’ve built a strong professional infrastructure.

• They have an active Board and have committed contributed income from them. It’s a great testimony to the work that they do—they have individuals who support their work at that level. It’s enviable.


ODC THEATER PROJECT SUMMARY: SFAC funds will support the inaugural presentation of the Walking Distance Dance Festival-‐ SF featuring ten ODC Theater Resident Artists, 3 artists from the SCUBA Touring Network’s 10th Anniversary roster and the campus’ flagship company ODC/Dance. Coinciding with the national convening of Dance USA in San Francisco, this festival will provide an enticing range of dance offerings for current audiences and new patrons and, we hope, whet their appetite to continue cultural participation all year long.


• I remember seeing their proposals in the past. This one seems much more thorough and exciting than before.

• The letters of support really speak to their work.

• They’ve been making great work for decades. It looks like they’re back on track. There’s a lot of great dance in the bay.

• The model they’re using for presenting the dances is great. They’ll have a mix of talented up and coming as well as established groups.

• This looks exciting and I’ll go to see it.



• The budget notes were very thorough. They’ve built in contingency plans for lower than expected funding.

• Their budget plan looks reasonable. They’re paying artists.

• They have a great project evaluation component. Everyone is brought into that conversation.

• I wonder how they will evaluate the impact of the project.

• The timeline is thorough and thoughtful. They have it broken out clearly. It sounds like they have their groups picked out.

• It’s interesting that they’re harnessing loyalty for particular groups and trying to maximize that impact for everyone involved. That made me wonder whether this will lead to a kind of cannibalizing of audiences for the more emerging companies. The production values will be high here and with all the competition for people’s attention I wonder if it overshadows their other work? Hopefully it will give new audiences an entry point, but I have slight concerns. They’re being presented in an attractive format and venue at a low cost. Do audiences just take advantage of this opportunity to the point that it competes with their seasons outside of this forum?

• It’s a great way for the community to support their favorite creative lights while finding other ways of amplifying and grouping work since its so much work to sustain for individual groups. Many of the groups coming through for Dance USA have similar profiles, so it’ll be a great way to make connections between ODC and the visitors.

• They have very ambitious and complex programming and strong partnerships.


• They’re timing this project to go with Dance USA. That’s a great synergy. They’re harnessing some of that energy and taking advantage of the fact that it’s taking place here.

• This will have lots of synergy with Dance USA. They’re participating in the touring network.

• The summer period is not when you see a lot of dance being presented so they’ve found a niche.

• This represents a great opportunity for the community during the typically slower summer.

Impact on the Targeted Audience w Whether a large audience, OR a smaller audience, drawn from a specific community, is likely to be well-‐served and enriched by the project


w The credibility of the organization’s plans for securing the desired audience or participants for its project

• They’re giving audiences lots of choice in a short period of time.

• They have fun marketing ideas. They’re pairing up shows that build off of each other. It’s a “if you liked this you’ll like this” kind of framework. They’ve done the marketing research to find out about their audience and have figured out how to reach those people. I would have liked to know what they will do to target that core audience.

• One smart component of the proposal was where they addressed food. They are partnering with local cafes to host artist conversations. They’re tapping into underused opportunities for audiences to eat, reflect and then go back for more.



• A lot went into securing the new building. They’ve struggled with the financing and subsequent growing pains from that. But looking at the narrative of the past years it’s clear that they’re now stronger and recovering.


OTHER MINDS PROJECT SUMMARY: Other Minds will present its 18th annual international New Music Festival to the Bay Area public on February 28-‐March 2, 2013 at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. The event will include at least two commissions and three world-‐premieres. Artists will include: Sunleif Rasmussen, Jose Evangelista, Malin Bang, Henry Threadgil, Dohee Lee, and GS Sachdev, amongst others.


• This is an extraordinary festival of national and international importance. They’re ahead of the curve. They’ve defined the curve. They’re genre busting. They bring in performers known for jazz and other forms. The artists have included Macarthur “Genius” Grant winners.

• I’ve seen their work in the past. I didn’t connect with their work sample, but I can appreciate that they do what they do well.

• The project includes commissions and world premieres. They seldom invite the same artists twice which is unusual but provides more opportunities. Their composers’ retreat is a great process that allows them to work together and learn about one another.

• The residency is an important part where they bring the artists together to exchange and connect with one another.

• The five day retreat is great.



• They seem very detailed in their plan.

• There is already lots of planning in place. Most of the artists and composers are already in place. The budget and staffing is in place.

• Their evaluation is done well. The timeline gives them the time to work so it doesn’t feel rushed.

• Their ticket revenue is down but that’s common in the field at this point.


• The festival is the key part of the organization.

• This is a unique program that makes San Francisco such a center of music vitality.

• This is one of those representative Bay Area festivals that created the Bay’s reputation as a center for exploration and new contemporary music.


• People come to San Francisco specifically for this festival.

• They serve a particular community, but in a way that has great impact.

• I would have appreciated seeing the connection to their audience in the sample just to help me as someone not familiar with their artistic genre.

• Staff: Did you get a sense of that through their audience plans and how they will be served?


• In some ways they have their own tribe. This is a very specific audience. But this is a really important festival. This is not just regional. This is an international gathering of some of the most important living composers in the art form. For example, one of the composers in the work sample is one of the most important composers of this time. One of the other musicians is one of the most interesting musicians in both in jazz and other forms of music. They’re pushing boundaries so it is difficult music. But they’ve developed the audience for that.

• They’re really out there, but they deeply engage that audience. It’s not broad but it’s as deep as you can get.

• They don’t have a home venue. It can be hard going place-‐to-‐place but they have enough of a track record that audiences will find them.

• They’ve been at the Jewish Community Center for a number of years so that helps.

• I wasn’t sure if they want a permanent home since they mentioned that issue, but it’s fine.



• They’ve been doing this for many years.

• They’ve been doing this for a while so they do a lot well.

• Their three-‐year average has had a fairly significant downturn but they have an explanation. The organization’s strength has led to multiyear grants. But they’ve also had to take years off. This has led to some major fluctuations. Given their strength they should be able to remedy the issue.

• Director: It’s not that they have a deficit. In an accrual accounting system, they have to record the grant in the year they receive it.

• Correct. And the grant amounts are so large that it looks like a drastic shift.

• A significant amount of their income comes from the Board so they’re active in helping out.

• They are bringing in funding from Bank of America and other big folks so they’re obviously doing something to warrant that kind of support.


YERBA BUENA ARTS & EVENTS PROJECT SUMMARY: Our 16th Annual Native Contemporary Arts Festival takes place in Yerba Buena Gardens on Sunday, June 16, 201`3 from noon till 3:00 pm. Featuring L. Frank Manriquez, The Medicine Warriors, Chuna McIntyre, Su-‐Nu-‐Nu Shimai Pomo Dancers, Jesus Cortes. Tamika and the Empress, Desirae Harp, All Nations Drum, plus arts and crafts. The festival is a good time to meet old and new friends at this important community event held every year on Father’s Day.


• There is a real mix of work being presented.

• They have a certain amount of continuity in artists year-‐to-‐year. They’re bringing in some diversity alongside that, but they definitely have some reoccurring favorites like Nā Lei Hulu and Marcus Shelby. They’ve become a destination for local artists in the region.

• I’m impressed by the number of events they produce and the number of artists participating. The fact that the artists are all local is really cool.

• The commissioning of work is an important addition.

• They have a great program. I didn’t even realize it runs from Summer to Fall. It just seems like it’s happening every weekend.

• The work sample is great. I’m always hearing about the festival from friends and have seen the clips on YouTube.



• There are significant variances in the budget. In-‐kind contributions have increased significantly. But I didn’t see an explanation for that. Did anyone have a note on that? There was also a change in their earnings, grants, and restricted assets.

• Director: If you take a look at the CCDP, there is a shift in rented space toward donated space. That could be the reason.

• Staff: In their surplus/deficit notes they talk about expenses for equipment so it could be operational expenses.

• Ok, I see that note about purchasing production equipment. That clarifies.

• I also had questions about the shifts in the budget. They could have been clearer in their explanation. There was a big shift in their marketing expenses. I’m not sure what that was about.

• They have the resources in the budget to do this. It’s not an issue.


• They are serving their mission with these events.

• They serve a need. There is a diversity of performing arts presented. They present a range of high quality and important local work.

• They have people casing the crowd with surveys to get feedback.


• What appeals to me is that they’re working with an outdoor space. It amplifies the impact of a space to be in the outdoors over a long period of time. They have events over a blend of weekdays and weekends. They’re bringing in a mix of people: those who make it a destination and workers who are coming on their lunch break.


• They have people in the audience dancing—they don’t have the boundaries that performing arts centers can have at times. They’re providing outdoor access and audience participation. That’s a powerful thing to have in one location in the city.

• The festival is a destination during the summer. Families will carve out time for this in the summer.

• There is diversity in their audiences; including economic diversity.

• It’s accessible for people to get to because of the location.

• This is accessible and free. The word of mouth is great so it markets itself in a way. Because of the location they also have many people who just run into it.



• The current cuts to redevelopment money are an issue, but they don’t have control over that and can’t know what’s going to happen. It’s part of the current uncertainty in funding. They’re not responsible for it but it’s good they have a big surplus.

• It’s good to see them as a 501(c)3 looking for their own support given the challenges in redevelopment agencies.

• Director: Just to be clear, they’ve been independently incorporated since 2000.

• Staff: Along with their surplus they talk about the history of program reserves.


SF SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL PROJECT SUMMARY: The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival requests support for Free Shakespeare in the Park, one of the city’s most eagerly anticipated cultural traditions, and a collective experience that embraces the ethnic, political, educational and economic diversity that is a hallmark of San Francisco. Free Shakespeare in the Park is also a gateway to our vibrant arts community, the first traditional theater experience of 75% of our audience each year, who subsequently seek out additional arts activities.


• The director for this project is well respected in the Bay Area. He brings a strong vision to his work.

• The scale and production values of the event are impressive.

• Wish they conveyed more excitement about their anniversary season. But I know they’ve been trying to stabilize and have had other challenges.

• I’ve seen their work over time. Because of the high costs of rehearsals, they don’t necessarily have time to run through and let the work evolve. Shakespeare in the Park is hard because you’re dealing with amplified sound and you’re in the open. But they’re trying to address a lot of the challenges they’ve had.



• They include good budget notes for this upcoming project.

• Their Hewlett funding went down a bit but that’s common. The fact that they still have funding from them at all is good.

• They’ve retained their Osher and Hewlett funding which gives me confidence.

• It struck me that in their budget, individual giving is fairly low. They pass a hat and I couldn’t figure out how they get so little money for such a large audience. I just wonder what’s happening there.


• The company is such a tradition in San Francisco. They were one of the first theater companies I saw in the city. When I first saw them I thought, “wow, that’s so cool.” The event gives you a sense of the seasons—it’s time for Shakespeare in the Park.

• This was one of the first public events that I attended in San Francisco. They provide an important point of entry into Shakespeare; which is not always the easiest or most accessible thing. They do a great job of creating points of entry and to include families so that’s good. They’re growing local talent. They have a special niche in the Bay doing this work.

• I just want to encourage them to make a great play the center of their work. For a while, they became known for youth camps and the play itself took a back seat. The camps were what made the money. But if they dedicate the time and resources to build excitement and support for the work of art—if they focus on it like they have recently—they can raise the bar. It can be really exciting.

• They give jobs to local actors. They are supporting the ecology of the Bay Area. Even though they work with Equity, they include some non-‐union staff. That furthers opportunities for non-‐union actors. That’s good.

• They often struggle to get the kind of press coverage that they could be getting given their size and track record.



• They’re doing things: putting together trailers and taking advantage of free listings. It’s a free event and has been going on for such a long time so the park is always full. It’s hard to even get an open space in the audience to see the show. They bring in crowds.

• I like that they’re reaching out to low income children in Bayview-‐Hunter’s Point and Sunnydale with camps in McLaren Park. They conduct a matinee family day concert with crafts and advanced youth campers performing. It shows they’re educating and creating context for the work.

• Kudos to them for surveying their audiences and getting some feedback on how they communicate.

• The demographics of their audience cover a broad range. The breakdown they give parallels the broader San Francisco community and it doesn’t seem to be a comprehensive assessment of their audience. It seems estimated. It’s hard to measure because it is an open performance but couldn’t get a sense of the accuracy.



• They’ve been holding this event for a long time.

• As you can tell from their budget, they fell on hard times for a bit and struggled with securing funding. But they describe how the Board and Executive Director have been getting them on solid footing.

• They’re just now emerging from several years of ups and downs.

• Their priority now seems to be Board development. They’ve been successfully engaging their Board.

• They’ve noted that they’ve had a deficit and have been addressing the issue by building capacity.