Possible Changes to Civic Arts Community Grant Program
The Pleasanton Civic Arts Commission proposed an overhaul of the Community Grant Program at it's August 7th meeting.
PLEASANTON — The Pleasanton Civic Arts Commission held a special meeting on August 7th. Here are the key takeaways:
Improving the Community Grant Program
The Community Grant Program offers 1-year grants for non-profits serving residents in the area of arts or youth programs. Following requests from past meetings, the Civic Arts and Youth commissions are exploring ways to improve the program.
The following changes were proposed by the Civic Arts Commission:
City Grant Workshop: The Civic Arts Commission leaned towards making the annual city workshop optional for applicants. Commissioner Jamie Yee suggested the Tri-Valley Nonprofit Alliance host a lesson on grant applications instead.
Mid-Term Reports: Due to time concerns, the Civic Arts Commission favored eliminating the requirement for grant recipients to produce mid-term reports. These reports are typically due four months after an organization receives a grant.
Community Grant Application Questions: Many commissioners were eager to overhaul the grant application questions to reflect the commission’s priorities: diversity, collaboration, and fulfilling gaps in art services.
Splitting the Community Grants Program: Some members, like Commissioner Mary Ann Simmons, expressed interest in separating applications for Civic Arts and Youth grants. “We shouldn’t be affecting their process, and they shouldn’t be affecting ours,” she argued. The Community Grants Program combines applications for both commissions, even though the Youth and Civic Arts Commissions only handle grants in their respective area.
Artist Grants: The commission suggested extending grants to individual artists to support the Pleasanton art scene.
Any modification will require the approval of the Youth and Civic Art commissions in October. If the changes pass, the City Council will receive them for consideration.
Civic Arts Project Update
The Firehouse Center will hold the 2023 Art & Music Fest featuring local artists and musicians on September 8th from 4 to 8 p.m.
And that is all you need to know for this month’s Civic Arts Commission meeting! Please consider sharing the article if you enjoyed it. I plan on writing summaries for other commission meetings, and I hope you will support me in my mission to inform you what local journalism does not.