California Creative Corps Pilot Program Development Update

 

California Creative Corps Pilot Program Development Update

Yes. I waded through the 217 page document for the Sept 22 California Arts Council meeting and sat through the delayed agenda item for the California Creative Corps Pilot Program (scheduled time 1:30 pm actually time 2:50 pm. Time spent on this item about 9 minutes.  I have included the relevant information below but what you need to know is that in October 2021 CAC staff will begins recruitment of  California Creative Corps Program Development Community Panel via a survey shared via social media, etc; Council and staff will be invited to reach out through their networks to encourage self-nominations. So watch for that announcement if you want to be involved.

Here is your summary but read the whole section starting on page 155: California Creative Corps Pilot Program Development

The 2021 State Budget included $60 million one-time General Fund for the California Arts Council to implement the California Creative Corps Pilot Program, a media, outreach and engagement campaign designed to increase: (1) public health awareness messages to stop the spread of COVID-19; (2) public awareness related to water and energy conservation, and emergency preparedness, relief, and recovery; (3) civic engagement, including election participation; and (4) social justice and community engagement.

Using all art forms artists will create public messaging to positively advance local community work. Projects will cultivate trust, belonging, community cohesion, and interdependence—particularly in communities that are most impacted.

These are regional messengers that are culturally rooted to advance civic communication and bring resources to a sector that has been disproportionately economically impacted by COVID-19, including artists who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) that have experienced the highest rates of unemployment in the arts sector (COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on the Arts, 2021).

Program Design: The CAC will implement a statewide grant program with an accompanying media, outreach, and engagement campaign.

·       This program will include training and technical assistance for grantees to apply for the grants.

·       Grants will provide economic support to artists, ambassadors, and cultural workers.

·       During the pilot, the CAC will welcome opportunities for private sector collaboration.

·       Looking to the future, the evaluation of the pilot’s impact may yield a process for future Creative Corps expansion.

·       The CAC Racial Equity Statement and Decision Support Tool practices will be used publicly for evaluation and data collection.

Grant guideline development will begin with the convening of a California Creative Corps Program Development Community Panel ("Panel") to include artists, culture bearers, creative individuals, and/or arts administrators that represent the priority populations to be engaged; representatives from other state departments and agencies engaged in public health activities; individual artists that are already working at the intersection of arts and  wellness, the environment, election participation, and social justice; and potential funding partners.

CAC staff is drafting a panel application form that will be distributed to Council before the end of this month. We hope the Council will use their networks to encourage the self-nomination of applicants as described above.

Timeline

September - October 2021: CAC staff begins recruitment of Panel via a survey shared via social media, etc; Council and staff will be invited to reach out through their networks to encourage self-nominations.

November - December 2021: Community Program Development Panel convenes to draft program guidelines and to discuss marketing and outreach.

January 15, 2022: Program guidelines and applications are released to the field.

January 15 - February 28, 2022: CAC staff markets the funding opportunity and provides technical assistance to potential applicants. Staff recruits panelists to adjudicate applications.

March 1, 2022: Deadline for all applications.

March - April 2022: CAC staff screens applications for eligibility. Staff facilitates the panel process, including applicant interviews and/or site visits, and identifies administering organizations.

May 1, 2022: Administering organizations are announced and contracts are awarded.

June 1, 2022 - May 31, 2024: Grant activity period. CAC provides ongoing support to administering organizations, particularly through marketing and media engagement of project activities.

May 31, 2023: Interim progress report due from administering organizations.

June - September 2023: Staff conducts interim program evaluation.

June 30, 2024: Final report due from the administering organizations.

July 1, 2024 - October 31, 2024: Staff conducts full pilot program evaluation.

The CAC is in the process of hiring a permanent, full-time researcher to lead a Program Evaluation, Outcomes, and Metrics as noted in the timeline above.  

While the Panel will be engaged in articulating specific, community-based metrics of success, the CAC has already identified the following as measurable outcomes for this program:

Qualitative Outcomes:
● Successful engagement of cross-sector partnerships at the state and municipal levels, and with community-based and grassroots organizations.
● Establishment of ongoing relationships with intergenerational community-recognized leaders to define needs and opportunities, and to develop strategies and infrastructure to respond to them.

Quantitative Outcomes:
● Total number of new communities served (counties and cities not strongly represented in prior CAC grantmaking).
● Total number of administering organizations engaged.
● Total number of artists employed.
● Total number of artists employed who identify as representing systemically marginalized communities (including but not limited to Arab, MENASA (Middle Eastern, North African, South Asian); Asian; Black, African American; California Native American, Indigenous, Tribal; Currently Experiencing Incarceration; Disabled; Elders, Seniors; Latinx, Chicanx; LGBTQIA+; Low Income; Neuro-Divergent; Pacific Islander; People of Color; Rural; Returned Residents, Formerly Incarcerated; Students of Color; Trans and/or Non-Binary People; Immigrants (Documented and/or Undocumented), Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Migrants; Unhoused, Transient; Veterans; or Youth.
● Total number of workforce hours.
● Total number of permanent positions created for artists in state and municipal government departments. 4
● Shift in attitude and readiness of community members to engage in healthy behaviors related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
● Shift in attitude and readiness of community members to engage in behaviors that support water and energy conservation.
● Shift in attitude and readiness of community members to participate in election activities.
● Shift in attitude and readiness of community members to engage in activities that support social justice outcomes.
● Total number of community listening sessions conducted.
● Total number of community listening sessions conducted in languages other than English.
● Total number of marketing and outreach collateral developed and distributed.
● Total number of marketing and outreach collateral developed and distributed in languages other than English.

P.S. While waiting for this topic to come up there was some discussion of the grants that were approved for individual artists. They funded 95 Emerging Applicants (2-4 years) that ranked 5.2+ ($475,000 allocation) 66 Established Applicants (5 to 10 year) that ranked 5.4+ ($660,000 allocation) and 21 Legacy Applicants (over 10 years) that ranked 5.2+ ($1,050,000 allocation) for a total of $2,185,000. This was out of 3108 applications received or only about 6% of the applicants got funding. For future funding they will look into raising the number of years spent by a legacy artist. There is a formal process of appeal online but all appeals and complaints are researched and could be found to be valid or not and then resolved by admin. All of the recipients and even the applicants were listed in this document starting on page 61.